Regulation debated as IOSH gives evidence
Health and safety professionals have reiterated their call to regulate their profession during an appearance by senior members of IOSH before the Department for Work and Pensions Select Committee.
Policy and technical director, Richard Jones, president Ray Hurst and trustee Ian Waldram appeared before the Select Committee to give evidence to the DWP’s inquiry into the future of the HSE/C.
The IOSH panel were quizzed on a range of issues, including what can be done to tackle the negative public perception of health and safety in the UK, how the occupational health of the nation can be improved and the differences in enforcement between the UK and elsewhere.
After being asked a question by John Penrose MP on the issue of controlling consultants “overselling” their services and HSE reports of “60-page risk assessments”, Mr Jones commented: “There are no controls and that’s why we are calling to make health and safety a regulated profession. The trouble is at present anyone can set themselves up as a health and safety consultant or adviser. We’ve produced a very short guide detailing what good practice for consultants should be like. All our members need to abide by that.
“We’ve also produced an employer’s guide to hiring consultants saying that this is what you need to look for. There’s a list of key questions they need to ask and we’re hoping this sort of advice will help.”
Mr Jones made it clear that competent advice doesn’t over-interpret requirements and Ray Hurst and Ian Waldram supported this, highlighting that over-cautious decision-makers may not be IOSH members or may not have access to competent health and safety advice.
Emphasising that IOSH’s focus is on prevention, Mr Jones also reiterated the health and safety profession’s willingness to help “fill the gap” in supporting workers returning to work: “There are less than 10,000 occupational health professionals and occupational hygienists out there. We have in excess of 32,000 members – this is one of the reasons we are developing a partnership with DWP.”
He said that IOSH has proposed awareness training, allowing 10,000 health and safety professionals to take this on: “We’d suggest the government fund this as they will be the main financial beneficiary – occupational injury and ill health has a societal cost of up to £31 billion a year, yet schemes like Workplace Health Connect cost just £20 million over two years. The savings on societal cost would be enormous.
“If the government succeeds in its aim of supporting one million people to come off incapacity benefit, that’s a lot of potentially vulnerable people and there needs to be somebody there in the workplace to look after them. We have strength in numbers and our members can help managers to integrate people back in the workplace safely and sustainably.”
Negativity from some media outlets towards health and safety was also criticised, Mr Jones commenting: “HSE resources are having to be diverted into rebutting these stories. We are also committing a lot of time and effort in debunking these things. Most of the stories relate to the public or affect public opinion and are centred on fairly trivial hazards rather than the big issues we see.
“The trouble is that often having responded, the media often choose not to publish our response. It’s as if they don’t want to hear the truth. Media coverage of health and safety in the UK tends to be quite negative and often misleading.” Part of the solution, he suggested, was better health and safety and risk education, starting in our schools. Small and medium-sized organisations
Leading health and safety at workLeadership guidance for all directors, governors, trustees, officers and their equivalents in the private, public and third sectors. Small and medium-sized organisationsAdvice on using this guidance for small and medium-sized organisations Note: this advice does not replace the guidance; rather it is intended to help you to use it. - This guidance applies to organisations of all sizes.
- But if you run a very small organisation you may find that HSE's health and safety advice for small businessis more relevant.
- Owners and partners – the guidance talks a lot about what directors and boards should do, but many small organisations will not have either directors or boards. If you are the owner or partner of such an organisation, you are strongly advised to follow this guidance – it is easiest to interpret references to what boards and directors should do as referring to what 'you' should do.
Core actionsThese are the same whatever the size of your organization: 1 Plan- Plan how you are going to manage health and safety; if you employ 5 people or more you need to write your plan down.
- Check your plan with your staff – winning their involvement can ensure your plan works.
2 Deliver- Put your plan into practice
- Provide the resources to carry it out
- Assess and deal with the real risks that you and your staff face, sensibly, responsibly and proportionately – don't waste your time and effort on trivial risks and unnecessary paperwork
- If you take on new work practices or new people, consider whether there are any health and safety issues to take into account
- Use competent advisors to help you – see HSE's advice for small businesses
3 Monitor- Keep in touch with events and developments – in small organisations it is often easier to do so, so don't waste this advantage
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