New IOSH president Nattasha Freeman got her year off to a healthy start by announcing the launch of a new pilot course designed to train health and safety professionals in proactive interventions on health and return-to-work issues.
On taking over the presidency from Ray Hurst, Nattasha announced that the health was going to be put back into health and safety. She said: “The Department for Work and Pensions has co-funded a pilot course, ‘Proactive interventions — occupational health support’, which launches in December.
“The aim of the course will be to better arm practitioners in assisting employers in working proactively to prevent people going off unwell as a result of work-related illness, and to assist those wishing to return to work, so that people work to their capabilities and not just to pay the mortgage.”
Nattasha added: “My theme of return to work will also look at those who didn’t plan a return but need to subsidise their pension. IOSH is looking at putting together literature on employing older people, as a guide for employers who may not appreciate that these people return to a different environment with a very different safety culture.”
Nattasha said the profession continues to suffer from an unfortunate and undeserved image, which the media loves to perpetuate, and which continues to distract the profession’s attention from what should be its core focus — the safety and health of people in the workplace.
She paid tribute to her predecessor Ray’s efforts to tackle this issue: “We need to educate people on the right health and safety message because that makes a difference to all of you. We share the same dip in morale every time a certain tabloid prints a sensational untruth. My hat off to you Ray — dispelling the myths will continue to be a full-time job.”
As well as return-to-work, Nattasha’s other themes are “communication, communication, communication” and she went on to explain that this means working closely with the HSE, DWP, health-care professionals, other safety organisations, the emergency services and government ministers.
“The second communication relates to assisting SMEs and transient workers,” she said, “those we used to call migrant workers but who come to work here and cling to their cultures and methods of working because it’s only a matter of time before they return to better working conditions and more pay than they left behind.”
Her third communication is about connecting all of the things that make up IOSH: branches, groups, and standing committees, and getting each part to work together in a more efficient way.
Ending on a rallying cry, Nattasha said there is much for the profession to be proud of: “We are a breed apart. Inside every safety professional is a lawyer, an engineer, a mediator, a counsellor, an HR manager, a spokesperson, a teacher, a mentor, a problem-solver, and a politician. Part of the job sometimes requires using the old crystal ball, too.
“Knowing what a man is likely to do to save time and money is why we ask for method statements and risk assessments: better to keep people safe than be liked. We continually work on being better.
“Each of us has, at some time, had to persuade the people we work with and for that we have no hidden agenda, are not control freaks, are not out to use up all the budget, and are capable of more than a tick in the box on the company requirements list.”
The new president concluded: “Start spreading the news — we are here to stay because no one can make that difference like we do.”
