Eyes Everywhere: The Power of Focusing on Your Top 3 Health & Safety Risks

Over the years working within and alongside businesses across various sectors, one thing has become undeniably clear to me: the most effective organisations know where to look first when it comes to health and safety. They identify and focus on their top three risks.

It sounds simple, but this strategic clarity can make all the difference.

Why Focus Matters

When you’re dealing with the complexities of a workplace—be it manufacturing, logistics, construction, or even office-based environments—there's an overwhelming volume of risk data to manage. Without a clear focus, it’s easy for businesses to become reactive, chasing incidents rather than preventing them.

That’s why I always recommend starting with the “Top 3.” These are the risks most likely to cause serious harm or disruption in your specific environment. It could be machinery-related injuries, working at height, hazardous substances, or even vehicle movement.

The businesses that take the time to identify these key areas and develop targeted strategies to manage them often see the most tangible results:

• Fewer incidents

• Better employee engagement

• Increased compliance

• Lower costs associated with downtime or claims

It creates a focused approach where leadership, supervisors, and workers all align their attention toward the biggest threats. Involving the workforce to identify these risks is key, they are doing the doing and know better than anyone where risk hides within an organisation.

But Here’s the Catch: You Still Need Eyes Everywhere

Focusing on your top three risks doesn’t mean ignoring the rest. Health and safety isn’t static—it evolves with your business, your people, and your processes. That’s why “Eyes Everywhere” needs to be more than a motto—it needs to be part of your organisational health and safety mindset.

I’ve seen it too often: a business gets confident managing its core risks, only for a “low-risk” issue to creep in and cause a serious incident. A poorly maintained stairwell. A cluttered fire exit. A contractor working unsupervised. These risks might not top the charts, but they can still bring operations to a grinding halt—or worse.

A Balanced Approach

The most resilient safety cultures I’ve seen strike a balance:

• Prioritise the big risks with purpose and urgency

• Continuously monitor the wider risk landscape with vigilance

  
  

This means building systems where workers are empowered to report all concerns, no matter how minor and then using trend analysis to identify areas of concern. It means regular reviews of risk assessments, audits that go beyond the clipboard, and leadership that listens.

Final Thought: Eyes Everywhere is Leadership in Action

When a business adopts the Eyes Everywhere approach, it tells employees, “We care about all aspects of your safety.” It builds trust. It drives responsibility. And, most importantly, it saves lives.

So yes—know your Top 3. Focus on them. Drill down into them. But never stop scanning the horizon. Because in health and safety, it's not just the obvious hazards that matter. It’s the ones you’re not looking at that can do the most damage.

Written by: Mark Grubb