The People Bulletin

When the Health and Safety Executive started publishing the names of employees killed at work on its website in April 2009 (see note 1 below), the human impact of work-related fatalities became instantly visible. This, of course is only the tip of the iceberg as the following extract from the Institute of Directors’ website (see note 2 below) neatly summarises:

• More than 200 people are killed at work in the United Kingdom each year. This does not include work-related road deaths.
• In 2006, 30 million working days were lost in the UK to occupational ill health and injury, imposing an annual cost to society of £30 billion (more than 3% of GDP).
• Surveys show that about two million people suffer from an illness that they believe to be caused or made worse by work.
• Many thousands of deaths each year can be attributed to occupational illnesses, including some cancers and respiratory diseases.

Responsibility for health and safety

The IoD goes on to remind employers that ‘protecting the H&S of employees or members of the public who may be affected by your activities is an essential part of risk management and must be led by directors’. In other words the responsibility must be taken seriously all the way up the line with best practice and procedures being driven from the top. Not only is failure to comply with prevailing health and safety legislation a criminal offence with sanctions that include fines, imprisonment and disqualification, but failure to include health and safety as a key business risk in board level decisions can have ‘catastrophic results’. The following examples from the Health and Safety Executive (see note 3 below) illustrate how the failures of leadership

Examples of accidents at work

(a) Competent advice, training and supervision
Following the fatal injury of an employee maintaining machinery at a recycling firm employing approximately 30 people, a company director received a 12-month custodial sentence for manslaughter. The machinery was not properly isolated and started up unexpectedly.  An HSE and police investigation revealed there was no safe system of work for maintenance; instruction, training and supervision were inadequate. HSE’s investigating principal inspector said: ‘Evidence showed that the director chose not to follow the advice of his health and safety adviser and instead adopted a complacent attitude, allowing the standards in his business to fall.’

(b) Monitoring
The managing director of a manufacturing company with around 100 workers was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for manslaughter following the death of an employee who became caught in unguarded machinery. The investigation revealed that, had the company adequately maintained guarding around a conveyor, the death would have been avoided.  The judge made clear that whether the managing director was aware of the situation was not the issue: he should have known as this was a long-standing problem. An area manager also received a custodial sentence. The company received a substantial fine and had to pay the prosecution’s costs.

(c) Risk assessment
A company and its officers were fined a total of £245,000 and ordered to pay costs of £75,500 at Crown Court in relation to the removal of asbestos. The company employed ten, mostly young, temporary workers; they were not trained or equipped to safely remove the asbestos, nor warned of its risk. The directors were also disqualified from holding any company directorship for two years and one year respectively.

Legal responsibilities of employers

Health and safety law is enshrined in the general duties set out in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA). These cover not only the duties of employers to employees (s 2), but also to others visiting the premises (e.g. volunteers, clients and members of the public), and the responsibility of employees to take reasonable care of themselves and others (s 7). The Act has enabled the creation of specific requirements through regulations that have taken the form of statutory instruments (such as the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and a range of other specific regulations). In summary, employers must:

• Provide a written health and safety policy if they employ five or more people.
• Assess risks to employees, customers, partners and any other people who could be affected by their activities.
• Arrange for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of preventative and protective measures.
• Ensure they have access to competent health and safety advice.
• Consult employees about their risks at work and current preventative and protective measures.

Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which took effect from 6 April 2008, an offence is committed where failings by an organisation’s senior management are a substantial element in any gross breach of duty of care owed to the organisation’s employees or members of the public, which results in death. The maximum penalty is an unlimited fine and the court can also make a publicity order requiring the organisation to publish details of its conviction and fine.

Health and safety in practice

In October 2007 the IoD and the Health and Safety Commission provided a four-point practical plan for ‘organisations of all sizes’ and for ‘use by all directors, governors in the private, public and third sectors’. It helpfully uses case studies checklists, suggested good practice and statistical examples that demonstrate the financial benefits of having a successful health and safety policy. The document is downloadable from both the IoD and HSE websites (see notes below) and is arranged into the following steps:

Step 1. Plan the direction of for health and safety. The board should set the direction for effective health and safety management and establish that it is much more than just a document, but rather an integral part of the organisation’s culture, values and performance standards. All board members should lead in communicating health and safety duties and benefits throughout the organisation. Executive directors must develop policies to avoid health and safety problems and respond quickly where difficulties arise or new risks are introduced. Non executives must make sure that health and safety is properly addressed.

Step 2. Deliver health and safety. Delivery depends on an effective management system to ensure ‘as far as is reasonably practicable (the caveat used in HSWA) the health and safety of employees, customers and members of the public. Organisations should aim to protect people by introducing management systems and practices that ensure risks are dealt with sensibly, responsibly and proportionately.

Step 3. Monitor health and safety. Monitoring reports are vital parts of a health and safety culture. Management systems must allow the board to receive both specific (eg incident-led) and routine reports on the performance of health and safety policy. Much day-to-day health and safety information need be reporting only at the time of a formal review. But only a strong system of monitoring can ensure that the formal review can proceed as planned – and the that relevant events in the interim are brought to the board’s attention.

Step 4. Review health and safety. A formal boardroom review of health and safety performance is essential. It allows the board to establish whether the health and safety principles – strong and active leadership, worker involvement, and assessment and review – have been embedded in the organisation. It tells you whether your system is effective in managing risk and protecting people.

The availability of free, practical and accessible guidance leaves no excuse for organisations not to ensure their existing policies and procedures are fully compliance. You don’t want your organisation to end up on that fatality list or in any unwelcome newspaper headlines.

1   www.hse.gov.uk/foi/fatalities/2008-9.htm

2  www.iod.com/hsguide

3  www.hse.gov.uk/leadership