Leadership is a core theme for the IOSH Conference this year — not just how good safety leadership can bring about positive culture change, but also why good safety management makes good business sense.
Three CEOs who have bought into the concept of health and safety as good business sense will be taking part in a panel discussion tomorrow morning. Here, they share their reasons why safety is important to them:
Tom Fielden, Northern Powergrid
The electricity distribution industry operates in an environment with serious hazards. We work daily with live electricity and working at height is routine. Yet over past decades, the entire industry has travelled a path towards a “lower risk” status awarded by HSE, and we aim to constantly improve. At the same time, the industry has reduced costs — electricity networks cost one third less in real terms than they did at privatisation.
At the CEO Breakfast Briefing we’ll be explaining why good safety makes good business sense. The simple reason is that incidents and accidents bring no upside. Northern Powergrid sees improved safety as part of virtuous circle that drives improved quality, greater productivity and therefore lower cost. A careful and methodical approach to work is usually a better-quality approach and good tools last longer than cheap ones. As an example, Northern Powergrid recently equipped operational staff with industry-leading arc flash protective clothing. It’s expensive gear, but it looks smart and does a vital job. It’s an investment in the workplace, and it’s already paying back for us.
John Barradell, City of London
The City of London Corporation has unique H&S challenges. Given the breadth of services we provide, managing risk is key to the overall success of the organisation.
It can be easy for people to see safety as getting in the way their work and slowing progress. However, the truth is that working safely improves productivity, efficiency and can often deliver substantial savings. This aligns our business objectives to ensure that safety is a key partner in business delivery and is exploited to drive and deliver savings and reduce waste.
We need to make sure that people are involved and understand what they need to do to stay safe. Therefore communication of our processes, safe systems of work and procedures must be clear and be implemented underpinned by a positive culture; leadership is vital to fostering and embedding this culture. Health and Safety Management is good business management and one that we are committed to continuing.
Paul Hackett, AmicusHorizon
I’m Chief Executive of AmicusHorizon, a housing association providing 28,000 homes and employing over 800 staff.
Like most businesses we have to be efficient to survive. This is increasingly important in housing with our regulator monitoring the value for money we offer, and direct financial pressure on our residents. I don’t believe cutting health and safety is the way to go, and would be shortsighted.
Good health and safety brings a number of business benefits. AmicusHorizon is building a great reputation, and protecting this is very important to me. Our investment in health and safety protects and even enhances this.
As with a lot of health and safety, quantifying this is difficult, but I know it adds value. I can see how much it can cost when things go wrong. A recent example in housing is where poor systems led to a balcony collapse. It cost that organisation its reputation, a £3.5 million repair bill, and no doubt a hefty fine when they’re sentenced, and after all this, higher insurance premiums.
Perhaps rather than trying to justify the business case for health and safety, we should ‘flip it’ and say, ‘Could you afford not to do health and safety?’
The Safety Conversation with SHP (previously the Safety and Health Podcast) aims to bring you the latest news, insights and legislation updates in the form of interviews, discussions and panel debates from leading figures within the profession.
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