Time for some clarity
February 1st 2009 The focus on stakeholder involvement in the HSE’s new strategy is not just an opportunity to invite interested parties to play their part, but a much needed chance to provide some clarity, says Georgina Bisby
While health and safety has been hitting the headlines over the past couple of years with the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act bringing wider awareness across businesses generally, the HSE has often been in the press for the wrong reasons. Its move to Bootle was seen by some as the death throes of a regulator which, following its merger with the Commission, and a fading presence on the inspection frontline was becoming increasingly ineffective and, some said, even irrelevant.
Perhaps conscious of some kind of power vacuum, the rest of the industry was quick to plug any perceived gap. A growing number of organisations and businesses have started to, not only supply an increasing amount of resources, advice and comment on health and safety, but also, set about positioning themselves as the number one authority on the issue.
While knowledge may sometimes be power, in the case of health and safety the sheer volume of information and guidance available meant for many businesses it was starting to become paralysing. The result has been the development of an industry where advice is plentiful, but any obvious system to navigate through it is desperately lacking.
It is no wonder then that our tabloids are awash with stories of “elf and safety” gone mad with examples of unreasonable risk assessments and incompetent advice. However, despite what the industry has considered to be its best efforts to fight these stories it could be argued that it has in may ways been its own worst enemy. The HSE, BSC and IOSH have been virtually falling over themselves to be the first to respond to these stories (and to be perceived as the thought leaders in health and safety) which if anything has painted an even more confusing picture to the general public. A united response from all parties in the safety industry would probably have been far more effective.
Up until last year part of IOSH’s strategy stated that it wanted to be “The definitive voice for health and safety at work.”
Though in 2008 it revised this to it wants to: “lead occupational safety and health thought,” this is still a fairly aggressive objective for what is in essence a professional member body. It is reasonable to suppose that IOSH’s confidence in asserting itself in this way speaks volumes about how it perceives the HSE.
Speaking to HSE Chair Judith Hackitt about the HSE’s new strategy it seems that HSE is trying to redress the balance. “The statement in the strategy about roles and responsibilities is so important because we don’t help anyone by confusing them,” Hackitt says. “The more that we can make it clear to people that we are not in competition with one another, the better. There’s more than enough work here for us all to be very clear about what our roles and responsibilities are and that’s got to be helpful for the business community and SMEs in particular.”
Lord McKenzie emphasised a similar point when I spoke to him at the opening of the BSC’s new Learning Zone recently. Work of groups such as the BSC is very valuable and greatly appreciated, he said. “The British Safety Council’s aim for the Learning Zone fits perfectly in line with the aim of the recently launched HSE Strategy, namely enabling the community to save lives and reduce work-related sickness and injury. The aim for this facility is one that we would look to others to emulate,” he added. But when questioned, he also agreed that there was a need for more clarity within the industry.
Lord Mckenzie said he understands some leaders from the health and safety industry have started meeting together and whether or not an official “umbrella body” has been established it seems like a good idea. Lord Mckenzie added: “Of course we want organisations to develop – it is not for HSE or for the Government to seek to override or impinge on that and we do not wish to stifle individual approaches.” But he also suggested that when people are looking for guidance there is still some work to be done to establish how they know whether or not this advice is competent.
I asked Hackitt where anyone who is confused should turn to as there first port of call at present.
“It depends what people are asking for advice on,” says Hackitt, “if people are looking to understand what the requirements of the law are and so on, and for advice on what their requirements are, then it’s to us that they should be coming. But if they are then looking for expertise to help them with implementation then it’s different. We’ve all got some work to do to clarify the route to the right information for duty holders and SMEs in particular.”
In the new proposed Strategy document this is an area where HSE says it can play a role. Hackitt explains: “Do we have concrete plans, no we don’t. There have been a number of suggestions that are in the aether if you like, not least of which is the Anderson report (the guidance report of which has just been published – see page 6) which was done for BERR which we have commented on. We took part in the risk and regulatory advisory council forum which they set up after talking to us to explore this whole area so there’s a number of initiatives underway looking at what might be done that we are actively involved in. None of them have yet come to concrete conclusions on how that should actually be implemented in practice.
“There is a general feeling that there is a need for something upfront, a first base enquiry that says ‘I think there’s some law I need to comply with which is in this sort of area of health and safety’. In the first instance people need someone to say to them ‘no it isn’t a law but it might be a requirement of your insurer’ or ‘yes it is a law but it’s Fire Safety Regs not health and safety and therefore you need to go here’. So what you require is someone to navigate you to the right place.”
The growing disparity among the safety profession is not just tricky for the HSE but damaging for the industry. The HSE has shown leadership on this issue and its appeal for stakeholder involvement in its new strategy consultation seems to be more than that; it is a call for co-operation.
The HSE’s full strategy can be downloaded at: www.hse.gov.uk/strategy The deadline for sharing your views is 2 March 2009 More articles from HSM News Desk: | 
