10 reasons why health and safety is important to your business

Workplace health and safety is all about sensibly managing risks to protect your workers and your business. Good health and safety management is characterised by strong leadership involving your managers, workers, suppliers, contractors and customers. In a global context, health and safety is also an essential part of the movement towards sustainable development.

---

Why is it important?

It’s good to know the benefits, so we’ve listed 10 reasons why health and safety is important.

1. It is morally right to ensure your workers return home safe and healthy at the end of every working day.

1. By protecting your workers, you reduce absences, ensuring that your workplace is more efficient and productive.
2. Research shows that workers are more productive in workplaces that are committed to health and safety.
3. Reducing down-time caused by illness and accidents means less disruption – and saves your business money.
4. In some countries, health and safety legislation is criminal law and you are legally obliged to comply with it. Legal breaches can result in prosecution, fines and even imprisonment of senior executives.
5. To attract investors and partnerships you may need to demonstrate your commitment to sustainability and corporate social responsibility, which will include how you protect your workers.
6. Increasingly, customers want to buy products and services that are produced ethically – so you also need to think about the work practices throughout your supply chain and deal only with ethical suppliers that protect their workforce.
7. More and more, job hunters – particularly Millennials and Generation Z – seek roles with employers who share their values, so without strong corporate responsibility and sustainability practices you may struggle to attract or retain the best employees.
8. A good health and safety record is a source of competitive advantage: it builds trust in your reputation and brand, while poor health and safety performance will directly affect profitability and can result in loss of trade or even closure of the business.
9. Good health and safety at work secures long-term benefits for you, your business and the wider community.

---

Five things you can do to improve health and safety in your workplace

1. Find out more about risk management – you can find information on this through our website or other credible sources.
2. Lead from the top. Workers are much more likely to get involved and comply with controls if senior management make it clear that health and safety is taken seriously by your business. Actively discourage negative behaviours such as taking risks to save time or effort.
3. Improve health and safety competence in your business. IOSH provides training courses to meet your needs at all levels.
4. Get your workers involved in risk assessment: this will increase ‘buy-in’ and ownership of their own health and safety. Set up health and safety representatives, and if they are already established, support them more visibly.
5. Implement a health and safety management system for your business. This should include an overall policy setting out your commitment, responsibilities allocated to individuals and your arrangements detailing how you will actually control your risks. The UK’s Health and Safety Executive publishes its freely-available

HOW TO STYLE HAIR WITHOUT DAMAGE , 10 HAIR CARE HABITS THAT CAN DAMAGE YOUR HAIR.

 

10 HAIR CARE HABITS THAT CAN DAMAGE YOUR HAIR

HOW TO STYLE HAIR WITHOUT DAMAGE

In our quest for beautiful hair, we often do things that damage our hair. Damaged hair is fragile, so it tends to break. Hair breakage can leave us with frizzy, unhealthy looking hair. If we continue to damage our hair, we may eventually see thinning hair or even bald spots.

The good news is that simple changes can prevent further hair damage. Here you’ll find 10 common hair care practices that can damage hair and dermatologists’ tips that can help you to stop the damage.

1. Washing your hair by rubbing shampoo into the length of your hair. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Gently massage shampoo into your scalp.
   • When you rinse the shampoo from your scalp, let it flow through the length of your hair and resist the temptation to rub it into your hair.

2. Skipping the conditioner. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Use conditioner after every shampoo.

Dermatologists' recommendations for swimmers

1. ---

   Pool chemicals can be hard on your hair. The following can help protect your hair:

   • Wear a swim cap.
   • Rinse hair immediately after swimming.
   • After rinsing your hair, wash your hair with a specially formulated swimmers’ shampoo and follow with a deep conditioner.

2. Drying your hair by rubbing it with a towel. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Wrap your hair in a towel to absorb the water.
   • Let your hair air dry.

3. Brushing your hair while it is wet. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Do you have straight hair? Let your hair dry a bit before you gently comb it with a wide-tooth comb.
   • Do you have textured hair or tight curls? Always comb your hair while it is damp, using a wide-tooth comb.

4. Using a blow dryer, hot comb, or curling iron. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Let your hair air dry when possible.
   • Use the lowest heat setting.
   • Limit the time a hot comb or curling iron touches your hair.
   • Use these tools less frequently, aiming for once a week — or even less often.

5. Applying styling products that offer long-lasting hold. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Try a hairstyle that does not require this product.

6. Pulling your hair back tightly, such as in a ponytail, bun, or cornrows. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Wear hair loosely pulled back.
   • Use covered rubber bands made especially for styling hair.
   • Try a different hairstyle that does not pull on your hair.

7. Wearing a weave or hair extensions. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Wear weaves and extensions that are light, so they do not pull.
   • Get weaves and hair extensions at a salon that specializes in these services.
   • Wear a professional weave or hair extension for 2 or 3 months at most.
   • Keep up your scalp hygiene when wearing a weave or hair extension.
   • Switch hairstyles, so you don’t always wear a weave or hair extensions.

8. Coloring, perming, or relaxing your hair. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Try to add more time between touch-ups, especially when the air is dry. In the winter, try to stretch the time between touch-ups to every 8 to 10 weeks or longer.
   • Have only one service — a coloring, relaxer, or perm. If you want more than one service, perm or relax your hair first, and do it 2 weeks before you color your hair.
   • Use conditioner after each shampoo.
   • When in the sun, protect your hair by using a leave-in conditioner that contains zinc oxide or wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

9. Brushing your hair 100 strokes a day or tugging on your hair to style it. Changes that can help prevent hair damage:

   • Brush and comb your hair only to style it. Hair never needs 100 brush strokes a day. That’s a myth.
   • Use a wide-tooth comb, and use it gently to comb your hair.
   • Avoid pulling and tugging on your hair as you brush, comb, or style it.
   • Remove tangles gently, using a moisturizing conditioner if necessary.

When to see a dermatologist

If changing how you care for your hair does not help you see healthier hair, you may want to see a board-certified dermatologist. Your hair care may not be the root cause of your problem. Seeing a dermatologist is especially important if you are concerned about thinning hair or hair loss. Most causes can be stopped or treated. The sooner the problem is addressed, the better your results.