EU WEEK OF HEALTH AND SAFETY
October 1st 2008 The BSIF is delighted that this year the theme of the EU Week of Health and Safety is Risk Assessment.
"From a BSIF perspective this provides us with two opportunities", said a BSIF spokesman. "There is no doubt that one of the most important aspects of good health and safety management is the initial risk assessment. If this is carried out effectively it will ensure that the optimum protection for employees is provided and that where protective equipment is deployed the most suitable products will be selected.
“In addition, this theme provides the BSIF with a platform to promote its view that when companies employ the services of safety professionals to carry out these risk assessments, they should be able to refer to an independent assessment of the competence of these specialists rather than having to rely on dated qualifications and selfwritten CVs."
Much has been written on how to carry out the statutory requirements of risk assessments and the over-kill recommended by many who benefit financially from the creation of a "mystic art" coupled with the expenditure of many hours of professional time writing multi-page reports. The BSIF is able to assist with the sign-posting of competent professionals through its Info-Desk and would recommend any manager with doubts about risk assessment to consult one of the excellent leaflets, freely available, on this subject. A good place to start might be the HSE information desk. More articles from BSIF Enterprise: | 
