Keeping up with the changing world of work
April 3rd 2007

In a speech at the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) conference, at the International Centre, Telford on Wednesday 28 March, Chief Executive of the HSE, Geoffrey Podger explained how the world of work had changed since the Health and Safety at Work Act was first introduced in 1974.

“If we are going to ensure the world of work is as safe and as sustainable as possible, then we need to be flexible enough to respond effectively to the challenges as they arise,” said Mr Podger.

A key aspect of his speech was to outline the new ways that HSE are working in response to these changing times, “Partnership is one of our key strategic themes. We cannot be responsible for improving the nation’s occupational health and safety on our own.“

By working closely with local authorities, and other organizations such as the Institute of Directors (IoD) the HSE hopes to achieve mutual objectives.

Through a new authoritative guidance on directors’ responsibilities for health and safety, HSE with the IoD is reaching out to boards and directors to secure their commitment to ensure successful health and safety performance.

Mr Podger also urged sensible risk management, saying that the principle of health and safety is to ensure the good health of all, and not to stop people living normal lives. Sensible risk management is about taking practical steps that benefit all.

The HSE has seen much progress since the year 2000. The average days lost per worker due to work related ill health and injury has dropped from 1.8 to 1.3. However, he stressed there was no room for complacency – there were still 28 million working days lost each year due to ill health, while occupational ill health costs the UK economy over £11 billion each year.

Setting out a clear challenge for employers Mr Podger concluded, “Health and safety will always be a ‘Forth Bridge’ problem: as soon as restoration is finished, the need is to start again. Nevertheless, we have seen improvements – the challenge to all of us is to maintain our present success whilst working on new and reactive areas.“

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