Every business in the UK is governed by particular laws, rules and regulations that can vary from industry to industry. It’s vitally important to be aware of these rules and regulations that govern your business, or you could find yourself on the wrong side of them. That’s not a place you want you or your business to be.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why you really need to keep your business compliant with the law and what you can do to ensure you are compliant at all times.
The Risks and Consequences of Non-Compliance
If your business is discovered to be non-compliant with any rules and regulations that govern it, there can be consequences. For starters, you could face a fine if you’re found to be in breach of any laws. Further to this, and likely the worst-case scenario, is the authorities could close your business down. Neither outcome is good for business.
Another thing to consider is the possibility of a lawsuit. Let’s say, for example, a customer was injured on your business premises and it was found that the accident only occurred because your business wasn’t compliant with workplace health and safety standards. That customer could file a lawsuit against your company for damages. This is not only costly on every level but also paints your business in a bad light.
A lot of hard work, time, effort, learning, promotion and money goes into building a business and making it profitable. You don’t want all your hard effort to unravel because you simply were not fully aware of what was required of you by law.
Know the Law
In order to be compliant, you must first be aware of any laws that govern your business. Ideally, everyone in your organisation should understand what’s required to be compliant. This takes study and research and an ability to comprehend what’s needed and expected. If nobody in your organisation is aware of what the compliance laws even are, how can your business possibly abide by them?
The easiest way to achieve this objective is to assign the task of compliance to a particular employee or to hire a full-time compliance manager. The compliance manager will learn everything there is to learn about the laws that govern the industry your business is in and can then put together a report that is distributed to every team member. This way, everyone has access to compliance laws and can learn them. This is necessary as everyone who works in the company needs to play their part.
If need be, copies of compliance laws can also be plastered around the workplace; such as in the restrooms, the kitchen where employees prepare and eat their meals, in the office, reception, anywhere they are readily visible for all to see.
Compliance Management Software Can Help
It doesn’t matter whether you have a worker employed as a compliance manager on a full-time basis, part-time, as a consultant or otherwise, having dedicated software to help keep you compliant is an investment worth making.
This specialised software offers compliance management solutions to make the task of industry compliance that much easier. The main idea of the software is to make the task of compliance more defined, more streamlined and far easier to monitor.
The software allows you to input important data relating to compliance and it can even link up with registers regarding compliance laws, compliance reporting, obligation registers and more. You’ll be able to view everything at a glance, analyse your business processes, be aware of business risks so you can counteract them before they present a problem, as well as print out reports whenever you need to.
Compliance can be complicated, but with dedicated software, it’s so much easier to deal with.
These software programs often come with apps for smartphones and tablets, so you can keep tabs on everything even when you’re away from the office computer.
If your business is medium to large-sized, then investing in compliance management software is something you may want to look into.
The Wrap
It’s important to be compliant with the law, so you first need to understand what’s required of you, then arm yourself with some tools to protect your business.