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Health and Safety in the 21st Century
Chair of the HSE Judith Hackitt has addressed delegates at the National Safety Symposium on the subject of ‘Health and safety in the 21st century - A balancing act’.
The symposium, hosted by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), is now in its 33rd year and provides a forum for health and safety professionals in the public sector for updates on progress and best practice.
Giving her vision of health and safety in the 21st century, Hackitt went back to the roots of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and revisited the fundamental principle that 'those who create the risk are best placed to manage it'. As a result, her message was “we in the HSE are not responsible for managing health and safety in your workplace – you are.”
Highlighting real health and safety issues affecting Britain's workforce, Hackitt went on to slam critics who have repeatedly concentrated on 'elf and safety' stories, saying:
"There is a need to draw a clear distinction between real health and safety - stopping people getting killed and the nonsense and jobs-worths who shamelessly use 'elf and safety as an excuse. You should know that the HSE does not care about banning conkers, pancake races or playground games such as British Bulldog. Health and safety does not stop anyone from doing their job - it actually enables them to do it more safely and efficiently. This ranges from finding better ways to help emergency services to perform risk assessments and anticipate problems before they find themselves in life or death situations so that they can quickly adopt the right measures, to enabling small firms to comply with legislative requirements in a simple and proportionate manner."
Hackitt also revealed that the HSE board is due to launch a new strategy for workplace health and safety in early December, which will optimise the performance of the overall health and safety system and clarify the roles of the regulated, the regulator, the workforce and others affected by health and safety in Great Britain.
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IOSH Urges Action on Young Deaths
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been told at the Labour Party Conference that the time has come to put an end to teenager deaths and injuries at work.
Mr. Brown and other party conference delegates were told by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) that too many employers are failing to induct or supervise young workers adequately. Employers are also failing to hear teenagers’ calls for help or training to enable them to do their job safely.
Richard Jones, from IOSH, said that in the last decade, 64 workers under the age of 19 have been killed in the workplace, and over 15,000 seriously injured.
IOSH also asked the Government to make health and safety training mandatory for all young people before they leave school.
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Fleet Managers Risk Murder-Style Investigation
A police forensic collision investigator has reaffirmed warnings from legal experts that the police will investigate at-work road deaths as if they were murders under the new Corporate Manslaughter Act.
David Kirk, a forensic investigator for Kent Police, speaking at a fleet industry conference, said that following a death involving an at-work driver, fleet mangers can expect an immediate and in-depth investigation by the police.
“You will feel like you are being treated like a criminal,” he warned.
“And that is because it is a criminal investigation. We will investigate a road death starting with the most serious offence of murder and then work down.”
Following an at-work road death, managers can expect homes and offices to be raided, computers and documents to be seized and a thorough investigation of policies, procedures and checks on areas ranging from vehicle maintenance to licence checking and drink and drug screening.
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More Legislation on the Way?
Equalities Minister Harriet Harman has paved the way for another raft of diversity laws by announcing to delegates at the TUC conference in Brighton that a body will be set up to decide what more needs to be done over the course of the next year. Harman said:
"I am setting up the National Equality Panel, which will chart where we have made progress during the past 10 years, and where we need to make much more progress."
London School of Economics professor John Hills will chair the new panel, and is expected to involve trade unions in its work.
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