Create change in the workplace by investing in Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging (DIEB).

 

What is DIEB?

 

Firstly, let’s look at what DIEB is. Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging are important qualities that employers and HR must invest in at work to promote wellbeing and fairness among their employees.

Diversity is having a culture that values uniqueness: people of different backgrounds, cultures, genders, and races.

Inclusion means inviting diverse groups to take part in company life.

Workplace equity is the concept of providing fair opportunities for all of your employees based on their individual needs.

It’s belonging that makes each individual feel accepted for who they are.

 

Why is this important?

 

There are  many benefits derived from DIEBs in the workplace for the employer:

 

• Increased range of ideas. One of the key benefits of diversity in society is the vast range of ideas that can be explored. 

 

• Diversity in the workplace will often result in a much broader spectrum of creativity, from people with different backgrounds, skills and experiences. A wider range of different perspectives will be highly beneficial across all teams; from marketing to finance.

 

• Increased employee engagement. Generally speaking, employees who feel included and wanted will be more engaged and motivated to do well. In turn, a more engaged team will often yield better team performance; making it a win-win for employers.

 

• Boosts company reputation & simplifies recruitment processes. Diversity in the workplace will help to build a great reputation for the company; especially important when you are looking to hire and retain talent. Especially in terms of graduate recruitment, DIEBs can play a huge role in attracting candidates to your business; if done well, it can also help you stand out from the bigger firms.

By working towards equity – for instance, asking different individuals from different groups to spearhead meetings – dissatisfaction could be curbed, ultimately bringing down employee attrition.

 

 

Most studies surrounding diversity in the workplace have found that for every 1% increase in gender diversity, company revenue increases by 3%.

 

 

 

 

How to promote DIEB in the workplace

 

Plan for Improving Diversity in Hiring

Ireland is known for being a friendly, accepting nation of diverse backgrounds. A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 57% of recruiters say their talent acquisition strategies are designed to attract diverse candidates. 

 

Diversity in hiring leads to the following positive outcomes:

Appeal to a wide range of applicants. A larger pool of applicants increases the likelihood of attracting  top talent  who are going to buy into the diverse company culture, stay around for longer, and be have high levels of productivity.

 

Decrease bias. Decreased bias in recruitment, as well as adhering to anti discrimination legislation, allows for the best candidate to be chosen on merit rather than any other grounds of possible recruitment bias. 

 

Reduce the likelihood of hiring the wrong person for the job. A candidate will not be chosen just because they are the right fit based on existing staff, but rather because they are the best candidate based on suitability factors, such as education, qualification, work ethos and having given a successful interview. 

 

We explore further ways to promote DIEBS in our Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging online course. 

 

 

 

Managing Mental Health for Remote Workers

 

Timely advice has been published by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) on virtual assessment of working conditions for remote workers. While there is concentration in the advice on the physical conditions and equipment needed it is a good idea to consider how to help reduce stress for employees as part of a health and safety policy in the workplace.

 

Working in an office or remotely can produce a stressful environment for mental health. An employer is obliged under legislation to provide a safe place of work for their employees and employees are entitled to expect that provision is made by their employers regardless of where they are working. Mental health is an important part of a safe place to work. Mindfulness Practice can help reduce stress. A simple way to help reduce stress would be to provide access to a course on mindfulness practice.

 

People working remotely are missing out on the normal social interaction in the office environment which can create its own stress. People working in an office environment are subject to a different set of circumstances. Both can benefit from Mindfulness practice. Myelearnsafety.com provides a mindfulness practice course that can give you a simple guide to the topic and help start you on the way to reduce stress in your workplace, particularly if you are working remotely.

 

Other courses will also help you assess your workstation requirements when working remotely and the staff at myelearnsafety.com can provide expert competent assessment of remote working conditions and provide the relevant advice.

For further advice contact cormac@elearn.ie or on +353 1 278 1938.

 

Article written by Vincent Traynor 

 

 

Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults

Vulnerable adults are those who are restricted in capacity to guard themselves against harm or exploitation. All persons have the right to be safe and to live a life free from abuse and/or neglect, regardless of their circumstances of gender, age etc.  The term ‘safeguarding’ in the context of these standards means putting measures in place in services to reduce the risk of harm, to promote people’s human rights, health and wellbeing, and empowering people to protect themselves.

Elder abuse defined

Elder Abuse is defined as a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person or violates their human and civil rights. (Protecting our Future, Report of the Working Group on Elder Abuse, September 2002). Sixty five years of age is taken as the point beyond which abuse may be considered to be elder abuse.

Source – Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection 

The HSE Health Act Regulations

Health Act Regulations, 2013. This policy applies to older persons or persons with a disability that, as a result of physical or intellectual impairment, may be at risk of abuse. The person may be in receipt of a care service in his or her own home, in the community or be resident in a residential care home, nursing home or other setting. Equally, the person may not be in receipt of a care service.

Some of the principles underpinning the policy include:

• Respect for human rights
• A person centred approached to care and services
• Promotion of advocacy
• Respect for confidentially
• Empowerment of individuals
• A collaborative approach

Source – HSE 

Types of abuse

• Physical abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Psychological abuse
• Financial abuse
• Institutional abuse
• Neglect
• Discriminatory abuse

 

World Elder Abuse Day

On the 15th of this month (June 2019) it was World Elder Abuse Day. This day was first introduced back in 2006 and it was to bring attention to the issue of elder abuse in our global society and as a public health and humans rights concern.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day provides an opportunity for all of us to focus our attention on elder abuse. It challenges each one of us to redouble efforts to promote respect and dignity for all older people and to help eradicate abuse of older people. Everybody has a role to play and the challenges posed by elder abuse cannot be met solely by any one individual, organisation, or state body, it is all our responsibilities.

 

Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults Course

We at MyElearnSafety want to be part of the solution to this type of abuse so we are created a Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults Course . This course will enable service users to understand fully what safeguarding a vulnerable adult entails: What is  a vulnerable adult? What constitutes abuse? How to respond to signs of abuse; How to respond to concerns of an elderly person who may have suffered abused.

Our ‘Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults’ course is approved by the Irish Association of Healthcare Assistants (IAHA).

Construction Site Safety Best Practices

Construction Site Safety

Assess the risks

Slip, trips and falls

According to OSHA, falls are the leading cause of death in construction. Think about the exposed high-rise buildings or buildings with scaffolding around them. Even falls from ladders cause a significant amount of on-the-job industries. Injuries occur when workers do not install scaffolds securely or use ladders incorrectly which is the leading cause of accidents.

 

Hazardous materials/ Chemicals

A concerning rising safety hazard in the construction industry is the mishandling and misuse of hazardous materials.

The use of hazardous materials and chemicals is commonly identified as a key hazard in manufacturing industries but can often be overlooked in construction. Perhaps unknowingly, construction workers are handling, using and emitting hazardous materials every day on site.

Access all hazardous materials and Chemicals that will be on the construction site before the work begins and make sure the workers know the safety procedures around them.  For more information on how you can educate your employees on hazardous materials and chemicals please click here.

 

Electrocution

Electricity is one of the great inventions of the past century, but there’s no getting around the fact that it can be extremely dangerous if it’s not handled properly. Any construction site has the potential to expose construction workers to electricity. Many tools and pieces of equipment require electricity to operate. This is why it’s so critical for any type of construction worker to receive appropriate safety training for the use of electricity on a job site.

It’s also important for construction workers to have access to appropriate safety gear and equipment if they are required to work with or around electricity.

 

Heavy and/or powerful tools

The greatest hazards posed by hand tools result from misuse and improper maintenance. The employer is responsible for the safe condition of tools and equipment used by employees. Employers shall not issue or permit the use of unsafe hand tools. Employees should be trained in the proper use and handling of tools and equipment.

These tools also often cause hand-arm vibration. According to the HSE; By law, as an employer, you must assess and identify measures to eliminate or reduce risks from exposure to hand-arm vibration so that you can protect your employees from risks to their health.

 

Mental Heath

Dermot Carey, Director Safety and Training, Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said;

“Research shows that 10 people a week in Ireland take their own lives – 8 out of these ten are men. The construction sector is 96% male. We know from feedback we have received that workers in the construction sector are part of these statistics. As an industry we have focussed a lot of our effort in the past at managing safety issues – recently we have realised that we need to give time to managing people’s wellbeing…. the slogan for the day is “ Mind Your Head”. 

For more information on how you can educate your employees on Mental Health please click here.

 

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

The fundamental principle is that personal protective equipment (PPE) should only be used as a last resort. The safety and health of employees must be first safeguarded by measures to eliminate workplace risks at source, through technical or organisational means (e.g by substituting hazardous chemical ) or by providing protection on a collective basis (e.g providing scaffolding instead of harnesses).

The employer has to make an assessment of the hazards in the workplace in order to identify the correct type of PPE to be provided and to ensure that PPE is appropriate to the risk. Care must be taken in selecting PPE as certain types give reasonably high levels of protection while others,  that may appear almost the same, give relatively low levels of protection. Source – Health and Safety Authority

 

If you would any further information on how you can be more safe or have questions please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us either by mailing Shane@elearn.ie or calling Tel +353 1 693 1421.