Calls for more eyes and ears on the ground, as IoD launches director's guidance
November 5th 2007 Leading health and safety at work: leadership actions for directors and board members is a joint initiative from the IoD and the HSC providing health and safety guidance for directors in light of the passing of the Corporate Homicide and Manslaughter Act which comes into force in April 08.
Speaking at the launch, Lord Mckenzie of the Department of work and pensions stressed, now is the time to review health and safety performance and for directors to ask: "are we the board playing an effective role?"
The eight page document aims to help directors address this question and sets out four steps: plan, deliver, monitor and review suggesting core actions and good practice for each stage.
New chair of the Health and Safety Commission, Judith Hackitt took the opportunity to encourage directors and board members to get more involved with health and safety. "You don't have to be an HSE inspector to inspect health and safety in a business," comments Hackitt. "We need more eyes and ears on the ground in the form of directors and board members examining what is really going on in a business.
“It is visible leadership from the top of an organisation which truly makes for an effective health and safety culture which in turn delivers good health and safety performance and much more. I am still confounded by the number of people who see ‘health and safety’ as a barrier to doing things, as experience and evidence shows that the reverse is true.
“The challenge before us is changing behaviour. This guidance makes it clear what directors need to do but it is their action and delivery which will really count”.
Miles Templeman, director general of the IoD adds: "Too often health and safety are words used as excuses by organisations that have not developed their thinking in this area. The IoD hopes that the new guidance can help organisations integrate health and safety into business decisions in an appropriate way, not one that stifles appropriate activity."
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