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June 2, 2009

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HSE strategy urges all stakeholders to ‘be part of the solution’

Health and safety cannot be contracted out, it is not about ticking boxes, it is at the core of all our businesses, and it is the responsibility of all us to improve and promote it.

This was the reminder issued to all stakeholders by Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell as he launched the HSE’s new strategy for health and safety in Great Britain in Westminster today (Wednesday). Referring to the document, entitled ‘Be part of the solution’, as “an incredibly serious and important policy”, Mr Purnell said: “My government is proud of having devoted significant resources to the development of health and safety in the UK, which, although it has one of the best records in the world, has seen no significant further reductions in injuries and ill health in the last five years. We are therefore committed to redoubling our efforts in this area.”

He praised the HSE for making it clear with the new strategy that health and safety delivery is everybody’s responsibility. The Executive’s chair, Judith Hackitt, said this was the aim from the outset and that the support from stakeholders is now evident. She added: “This is a a strategy with the right direction and tone for taking health and safety in Great Britain forward. Now the real work can start to turn it into something that will save lives, reduce suffering, and deliver real business benefits. The challenge is clear and the prize for succeeding is immeasurable.”

In addition to shared responsibility, the other key messages of the strategy are the need to take a realistic and common-sense approach, and the importance of strong and committed leadership in organisations. On the latter, Judith Hackitt said it is vital that managers are “visible and consistent in winning hearts and minds and uniting everyone in the organisation around a common cause”. While the Executive’s research carried out in advance of the strategy launch found that nine out of ten business leaders said they believed in this approach, Hackitt emphasised that “we now need nine out of ten of them to actually do it!”

The published strategy — which went through rigorous consultation by way of roadshows and face-to-face discussions with stakeholders all around the country earlier this year — is not markedly different from the draft version published at the end of 2008. Two changes that have been introduced as a result of feedback, however, are the clarification of the need for risk education to start early, in schools, and the emphasis, under the broader umbrella of training, on the development of “soft skills” — giving people the confidence to make the right risk decisions.

Judith Hackitt also announced that, as part of the HSE’s drive to reach and address the needs of small businesses, it is making £1 million worth of its key guidance and ACoP documents available free on its website — a revamped version of which was also launched today to coincide with the new strategy. She explained: “This is an important demonstration of our commitment to working with SMEs, and we want to identify other ways to help them, too. Health and safety is crucial to small businesses — an accident can cripple their operation, so getting the right advice to them is our challenge.”

Enforcement remains at the heart of the HSE’s approach, with Hackitt pledging to continue to “secure justice in cases of wrongdoing”. She added: “Our approach to individual organisations in this respect will depend on their approach.”

The strategy has been well-received among stakeholders. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber, speaking at the launch, said the union movement shared a joint mission with the HSE and that its 150,000+ safety representatives “make an enormous contribution to the development of safety culture in British workplaces”. He pointed out that there are still key challenges in some sectors — construction and waste, for example — but acknowledged that this is recognised by the strategy, which he described as “short on rhetoric but big on vision”.

Sir Steve Bullock, of the Local Government Association, said the part to be played by local authorities would be crucial, as they represent “the tier of government closest to the people, for whose health and well-being we have an overarching responsibility”. Another of its most important roles, he added, is as a major purchaser of goods and services. He said: “It would be absurd for a local authority to aspire to high health and safety standards for its own workforce and not for the workforces of those who supply it.”

IOSH, which has signed the pledge to be part of the solution, said the strategy provides “a clear picture of the challenges facing the HSE, what it plans to do about them, and how it will get others involved”. Added chief executive, Rob Strange: “There is much that needs to be done, and health and safety professionals will have a crucial role in ensuring that the vision becomes reality.” Rob reiterated the Institution’s previous call for more resources for the HSE, so that the strategy can “really come to fruition”, and urged business-leaders to sign up to the pledge “to show their commitment to keep workplaces safe”.

EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, which also launched its joint delivery plan with the HSE for the manufacturing sector, said the success of the strategy depends on coordinated delivery by the HSE and other organisations. Commented head of health and safety policy, Steve Pointer: “We felt it was important to agree a delivery plan at an early stage, and we very much hope that others will follow our lead, producing delivery plans to help turn the strategy into a reality.”

Judith Hackitt confirmed that the HSE’s delivery plan is ready and will be the first step on the path to implementation. She said: “Given that the strategy is about evolution and not revolution, it is a continuation of the work we have already started, but we will see some new things in there — in the way of training, and in encouraging joint problem-solving between managers and workers.”

As yet, the HSE has not clearly defined how it will measure delivery progress but whichever methods it does choose will look at the progress of the system as a whole, promised Hackitt. In terms of targets, she said these are already in place as part of the Executive’s current business plan, but “others will be developed, going forward” — particularly in the form of leading indicators “to tell us where we need to do more, because it is not enough to just measure outcomes”.

The strategy document and ‘Be part of the solution’ pledge to which stakeholders are asked to sign up, can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/strategy/index.htm

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