It is sometimes not enough to just do the bare minimum to keep up your business standards – investing extra time, and maybe a little cash, into the health and safety of your employees, clients and visitors, is just another way to improve your return on your investments.

A poor health and safety policy or a lack of proper procedures can only lead to illness and accidents, which will result insignificant cost and loss to your business. Good health and safety practices pay for themselves and they also improve your reputation with your employees and customers.

Your business may have built its success on your reputation for being the best, and your approach to health and safety can affect this reputation. It is also recommended that you make your clients, customers, employees and the local community aware of your health and safety commitments.

So, where do you start? The best place would to involve your employees in health and safety discussions. They are often closer to the source of any potential health and safety concerns than you may be as an owner are, and so might have a better understanding of the risks and problems than you do.

Inform your customers and the community about your health and safety practices, and encourage other business to follow your lead in pioneering the cause. Not only is this good for your image, but you could actually save yourself large amounts of money. A bad health and safety record could cost you millions of pounds – if someone is injured or even killed because of your company’s lack of proper health and safety processes.

Business insurance provides some financial protection, but its best to protect against accidents or illnesses by having a good health and safety policy in place. As a legal minimum, you must have public liability insurance if you employ people who work on the premises, or have clients, customers, suppliers and visitors who use the property for work purposes. You will also need business insurance to cover you against other risks, so it’s a good idea to find the best policy you can.

Often businesses can qualify for various business insurance discounts, such as that recently offered by Direct Line for Business. It therefore pays to do some research into the best insurance options available before taking out any new policies.