Practitioners must rise to the challenge of recasting health and safety in people’s minds – this was the rallying cry at the opening session of the IOSH 2012 conference in Manchester Central this morning (6 March).
Addressing the record number of delegates at the event, IOSH president Subash Ludhra said the conference’s theme of ‘changing perceptions’ was not just aimed at politicians, the press and the public but at practitioners themselves, who must “never lose sight of their duty as standard-bearers for good health and safety”.
Referring to concerns about over-zealous consultants and less than competent advice, Subash asked the audience: “Are we truly able to get into boardrooms and influence decision-making? Can we really demonstrate our contribution to organisations? Our challenge is to convince directors and politicians that good health and safety makes good business sense, and improves corporate reputation and image.”
His theme was also taken up by HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger, who emphasised that although the regulator does see the need for consultants and recognises their value, “it is still our view that the high standards of the profession are let down by some”.
Telling the story of an inspector colleague who had described one consultant’s approach as “not so much gold-plated than diamond-encrusted” the HSE chief said the main problem with businesses that receive and come to rely on over-the-top advice is that they give up on compliance and stop looking at what really matters.
The Occupational Health and Safety Consultants Register (OSHCR) set up last year, he explained, has attracted a large membership of more than 2800 and the key endeavour now is to “look at how to best develop the scheme and raise standards even higher”.
But senior policy officer for health and safety at the TUC, Hugh Robertson, lamented the fact that so much emphasis is being place on overzealousness. He asked: “Is this really the problem? No one has ever died because of an overly-written risk assessment. The real problem is people not doing risk assessments at all!
“We are creating a myth of over-zealous interpretation of legislation and all this means is that employers will stop thinking they should be going the extra mile and will do the bare minimum instead. We don’t want to see health and safety practitioners dumbing down their advice.”
You can see a video of Subash’s opening address to delegates below:
Hugh Robertson’s real world comment apart – It’s the usual grovelling, ill-informed public /government appeasing TOSH. IOSH also appear to be planning another year of jollies and yet more obstacles for those who work in health and safety to overcome. IOSH is out of touch, and more interested in meddling in other countries affairs and patting themselves on the back; rather than actually improving compliance within the UK.