People talk a lot about the work–life balance, but what does it mean? Life cannot be divided up into equal parcels of time, or commitment; half my life will be spent working and half my life will be my own. The world is not that simplistic.
We all need to work, unless we are lucky enough to have won Lotto. Sometimes our work will dominate our lives. For me, this year has been a lot about work. Safewise has been busy with the demand created by the implementation of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. This has impacted significantly on my ability to interact with my family and my friends. When this happens for a short term, or a defined period, we can cope. We work hard, and then we pick up the pieces of our lives and move on.
Other times, our personal lives will take priority. This may be due to the arrival of a new baby, or a sick parent, for example. The important thing is that we communicate with the people in our lives, our family and our friends, or our boss or fellow workers. We let them know that we have demands on our time, and what we would like from them.
However, there can be a major impact on the health and safety at work when a worker has some personal issues. These may be happy or sad, but they take the worker’s concentration away, creating a risk of inattention resulting in an accident. Getting to know your workers can help prevent accidents. Workers do not need to tell you the full details of their life, but they will appreciate the support you can provide.
How can Safewise help? We work with organisations that need more health and safety knowledge, or more time, than they have. For more information, contact us.
