Effective compliance management can save businesses millions in insurance premiums
One of the major issues we continually see in the training world is regulatory compliance; something that affects us every day in the workplace
Organisations which do not adhere to the laws and regulations that they are governed by run the risk of reputational damage, a decrease in growth potential and in one of the worst case scenarios, huge fines and penalties. In the UK, one of the most important examples of legislation which applies to all working sectors is Health and Safety.
According to a recent report by the British Safety Council (BSC), in 2010 UK companies alone spent £55 million on admin and legal costs with a further £1,732 million attributed to insurance premiums due to non-compliance to Health and Safety legislation. A large proportion of these figures came from the manufacturing sector, an industry where workforces are often exposed to high-risk environments involving machinery and hazardous substances. Over the past five years, 4,500 major injuries were reported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), emphasizing the necessity for regular risk assessment.
Happily, organisations are working towards resolving this. A study by the BSC, which states that in the current economic climate there is a £1.58 ROI to £1 cost ratio for compliance with Health and Safety laws and regulations, has proven a major motivational factor for companies meeting their compliance targets. Reputational risk and law enforcement are also contributing factors; although it still remains costly for organisations to meet these standards.
A comprehensive learning management system that has a specific compliance module, like Enterprise Study’s Compliance Manager, can deliver huge dividends in managing compliance based training and enable organisations to prove compliance.
Sunseeker International, a global leader in luxury motor yacht design and manufacture, have been able to centralise their learning and development with Compliance Manager. It allows the tracking of mandatory training such as manual handling, alongside core trade skills including marine mechanical engineering. "This is a regulated training requirement and ES Learning Management System (eLMS) makes it easy to report on how much training is required, which allows me to accurately plan what training is needed and how much it will cost. Having confidence that the right staff havethe right training also mitigates risk and helps avoid injury." Alex Bowman, Training Manager at Sunseeker International.
Another client, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust (SHFT), were looking for a new learning management solution to provide more comprehensive reporting on their staff compliances, to meet their primary objective of providing better patient care. “With no central training database and no central authority to ‘connect the dots’, it really was difficult to evidence statutory or mandatory compliance. Implementing ES’s Compliance Manager module has provided us with the accountability we needed.” Richard House, Deputy Head of Leadership and Development at SHFT
To this end, regulatory compliance management should be high on every organisation’s priority list.