IOSH has launched its first-ever manifesto, focusing on the four areas
it believes are vital to improving people’s health and safety: health,
education, small businesses and good advice.
Speaking at the launch of ‘Creating a healthier UK plc’ at the House of
Lords yesterday (Thursday, 7 May), president of the Institution,
Nattasha Freeman (pictured), said a more proactive approach by all was
needed to address the 36 million working days lost each year through
work-related ill health. She told the gathering of IOSH dignitaries,
HSE and other stakeholder organisation representatives, MPs and peers —
including Safety minister Lord McKenzie of Luton: “The workplace needs
to become a far more inclusive place, adapting to help people stay in
work rather than letting them leave when they may still be capable of
doing something and then trying to get them back.”
She went on: “We know that ‘good work’ is good for health, and I
believe health and safety professionals can play a key role in working
with others to try to keep people in work and the workplace to promote
good health and well-being. This can be achieved by working in close
partnership with occupational-health experts, doctors and other
professionals.”
The manifesto sets out the challenges, as IOSH sees them, in the four
key areas, outlines what the Institution is already doing in pursuit of
each of them, and sets out the commitments it would like to see from
others, in the form of government and regulator action, and support
from stakeholders for IOSH campaigns.
Nattasha also revealed the results of a YouGovStone survey,
commissioned by IOSH to gauge employers’ attitudes towards taking
workers off incapacity benefit and getting them back into the
workplace. More than a quarter (27 per cent) of the 720 business
leaders questioned said they would give those on IB, and older workers,
the opportunity to return to work — although almost half (49 per cent)
said they felt unable to do so because of the economic situation. More
positively, 75 per cent said the recession has not resulted in cuts to
their health and safety budget — asked which of six areas they would
make cuts to first, only 8 per cent said health and safety (joint least
popular option, with staff development).
Lord McKenzie welcomed the survey results as “heartening” but added
that he was “struck by the mix of messages”. He told the gathering:
“The research IOSH has commissioned underlines the challenge we face
more generally in light of the global recession, and why we should
invest — particularly in supporting people in and back to employment.
That is why the DWP has been allocated an additional £5 billion for its
employment programmes.”
Underlining the vital role played by all those present and with a stake
in health and safety, the minister concluded: “This reminds us again of
the importance of the right
health and safety message, and also of not tiring in the delivery of
our consistently unified message each and every time we think it is
important to do so. There may be times when we risk repeating our
message to the ‘converted’ but those times when our message gets
through to somebody for the first time will more than compensate. We
should worry about saving lives, not about repetition.”
To find out more about the IOSH manifesto, or to get involved in and/or
support any of its campaigns, contact policy and technical director,
Richard Jones, at [email protected]
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
