Health & Safety Update

Benefits of corporate social responsibility explained at specialist BFFF workshop

The business benefits of adopting a comprehensive approach tocorporate social responsibility (CSR) were highlighted at a recenttraining workshop.

Organised by the BFFF health and safety team, the one-day event took place in Stratford-Upon-Avon at the head office in NFU Mutual and was attended by a cross-section of BFFF members.

The course was run by Collins McHugh, a specialist CSR consultancy with more than 15 years’ experience in the field.

Businesses adopting the principles of CSR work to balance the needs of the environment and communities in which they operate while maintaining commercial success.

“CSR is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for any company wanting to maintain and exceed customer requirements, attract the best people, or simply meet environmental and social impact legislation. Excellence in CSR is also increasingly providing a competitive edge when it comes to winning work,” said Simon Brentnall, BFFF head of health & safety.

He added: “We wanted to give members a real understanding of the principles of CSR, as well as practical insights into how they can take the first steps to develop a CSR programme, or make further improvements to existing CSR efforts.”

The workshop provided a full explanation of CSR principles, examples of good and less impressive approaches to CSR and looked at how to link CSR to core business activities.

Other presentations included: what to measure and how to measure it, how to engage people across a business in a CSR programme and best practice in reporting on CSR performance. Ruth Poulten CSR Expert at NFU Mutual also presented on modern slavery this being the second largest form of organised crime.

BFFF members also discussed aspects of their own CSR programmessuch as fighting modern slavery, packaging reduction initiatives andcross-community skills development.

Barry Collins, managing director of Collins McHugh, said: “CSR stillremains one of the most underutilised business tools for reducinga company’s costs. A good CSR programme allows a business tobuild partnerships with customers and suppliers, engage employeesand responsibly manage environmental and social impacts.”

“Cost reductions through effective carbon management or increased tender success, because of a better understanding of the concept of sustainable growth and development, are not just reflections of the responsible nature of your company; they are powerful commercial tools. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Well managed corporate social responsibility can bring improved performance across the whole of an organisation.”

"Well managed corporate social responsibility can bring improved performance across the whole of an organisation.”

Barry Collins, managing director of Collins McHugh.

Work is creating mental health issues for two in five employees

Two in five (39%) UK workers experienced symptoms of poor mentalhealth related to work in the last year, according to a report releasedby Business in the Community (BITC), in partnership with Mercer MarshBenefits and BITC’s Wellbeing Leadership Team. The report also claimsmost employers do not acknowledge or deal with the adverse impactwork has on employees’ health.

According to the authors of the report, of the 39% of employeessurveyed who have experienced poor mental health due to work,a third (33%) said this was caused by negative work relationships.One in four (24%) of those with work-related health problemsexplicitly cited bullying and harassment from their manager asa major cause. The report is based on YouGov survey data frommore than 4,000 employees.

Mental and physical health needs to be considered equally importantby employers. The report sets out key recommendations to showbusinesses how to create positive, inclusive workplace cultures thathelp rather than harm the mental health of the people who workfor them.

Other report findings:

There is a significant disconnect between company board members’ perceptions of how health is treated within their companies and what the rest of the organisation thinks. More than half (51%) of those at CEO or board level believed their organisation effectively supports its staff, compared with 38% of those without line management responsibilities.

There are barriers to managers providing effective support, with more than six in 10 (62%) managers saying they have had to put the interest of their organisation above staff wellbeing.

Only 7% of all employees have received training to recognise workplace stress factors.

One in three (33%) with mental health problems said they felt ignored.

Around one in 10 (9%) were subject to disciplinary action, demotion or dismissal following the disclosure of mental health issues.

One in 10 workers resigned as a result, a figure which has plateaued since 2017.

1) Create good work that enhances mental health. Good work is created by elements including security, fair pay and professional development.

Based on the report findings, Business in the Community has madethree calls to action for businesses to help achieve better health forthe UK workforce:

2) Acknowledge and support employees experiencing poor mental

health, whatever the cause.3) Publicly report your wellbeing performance.

Simon Brentnall said: “The scope of workplace health and safety willbe expanded in the future to include psychological health with a newstandard in development. ISO 45003, Occupational health and safetymanagement – Psychological health and safety in the workplace –Guidance, is expected to be published in 2021.”

BFFF secures assured RIDDOR guidance

BFFF health and safety specialists have secured Primary Authority Assured guidance to clarify which injuries need to be reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013.

Simon Brentnall, BFFF head of health and safety, said: “Consultations with BFFF members and the organisations that enforce RIDDOR revealed confusion about what type of injuries should be reported. So we set about writing detailed guidance supported with a structured reporting process.”

The guidance uses a decision tree methodology to establish if an accident needs to be reported. It has now received Primary Authority Assurance, meaning members who follow the advice can be confident they are adhering to the requirements of the legislation and are following a consistent process across all their sites.

Provisional RIDDOR figures for 2018/19 released by the Health and Safety Executive revealed that during this period 147 workers were killed, (up slightly from the previous year), and 92 members of the public were killed due to work-related activities. The sector with the most worker fatalities was again agricultural, forestry and fishing followed by the construction industry.

Falls from height was found to be the leading cause of these fatalities, followed by people being struck by a moving vehicle.

In line with these statistics, BFFF is still promoting its ‘preventing falls on mobile refrigeration vehicles’ guidance and is planning a standalone health and safety seminar in 2020 on workplace transport and road risk.