The HSE will publish its new strategy for health and safety in late
May, when it will not only explain what it, as a regulator, will do to
bring about improvements in occupational health and safety but ask the
health and safety community what it will do to contribute to this goal.
Giving the keynote address at the IOSH Conference this morning in
Liverpool, HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger told delegates that as
well as investigating new ways of intervening, the Executive needed to
explore new ways of getting people to “sort themselves out”. One
particular area where this could be achieved, he said, is competence.
Asked from the floor whether the HSE should introduce a new definition
of competence as part of the Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations 1999, Podger was adamant that this was not necessary. He
argued that it was not the HSE’s job to wander round telling employers
that they need people with specific qualifications for specific jobs.
He added: “Such a move can lead to a tick-box mentality that doesn’t
resolve the issue. Duty-holders have a responsibility to ensure
employees have the right qualifications.”
He said it is important for the HSE to recognise that a high level of
technical ability already exists in industry and that “this country is
not supposed to be a state-run country”. He added: “We need to support
other bodies who are able to raise standards in this particular area
[of competence].”
While there are cases to which the Executive is devoting a large amount
of regulatory focus and resource, such as the Government’s nuclear
new-build programme, it is necessary in many sectors for the regulator
to be precise about “how it intervenes, where it intervenes, and for
how long it intervenes”.
Stressing the message of the strategy —employers taking ownership of
health and safety — he explained that a generic definition of
competence is perfectly adequate and sits comfortably with
well-established generic definitions of health and safety regulation
and laws. “It requires people to show they have gone through a process
of thought and come up with a reasonable answer. So it is not a general
get-out clause that it is often presented as.”
He added that he would encourage inspectors to become chartered safety
practitioners and participate fully in professional organisations, as a
way to develop themselves. However, he emphasised that it was up to the
individuals themselves whether or not to take such a route.
Unsurprisingly, the recession also featured prominently in discussion,
and Podger insisted that the downturn must not be used “as an excuse to
lower standards”. He warned that the slump has brought a whole host of
complications, and highlighted that one of the most dangerous times can
be at the point of recovery, when people are re-employed in jobs too
quickly, and without proper training.
