Professional development
Vision Zero
Personal injury claims
How OSH professionals could benefit from Industry 4.0
Progress made on the first global OSH campaign
What to do when responsibility for documents falls on you
Safety, health and wellbeing in the world of work
November 2019
ioshmagazine.com
MODERN SLAVERY Act now on checking your company’s supply chains and contractors
FC Cover_November 2019_IOSH Cov1
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Less haste more safety
The consequences of rushing health and safety training can be fatal. So Managing Safely takes exactly the right amount of time to get participants up to speed. That’s why our three day health and safety course is the most popular for line managers, in any sector, worldwide.
Managing Safely Tried. Tested. Trusted. www.iosh.com/managingsafely
Comment Official magazine of
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is the world’s leading professional body for people responsible for safety and health in the workplace.
Published by Redactive Publishing Ltd Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL +44 (0) 20 7880 6200 Acting editor Nick Warburton +44 (0) 20 7324 2725 nick.warburton@redactive.co.uk Deputy Editor
O
n the first day of its annual conference this year, IOSH launched its white paper, Tackling Modern Slavery Together (bit.ly/2lfGpAv). The institution is calling on the government and businesses to take concerted action to reduce and eliminate modern slavery practices, both in the UK and overseas.
Kellie Mundell Senior Designer Joe McAllister Advertising Display sales +44 (0) 20 7880 7613 ioshdisplay@redactive.co.uk Recruitment sales +44 (0) 20 7880 7662 ioshjobs@redactive.co.uk Advertisement production Rachel Young +44 (0) 20 7880 6209 rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Publishing director Aaron Nicholls Redactive aims to provide authoritative and accurate information at all times. Its publications are, however, for guidance only and are not an official information source. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher and editor. For changes to your address, please contact IOSH membership team on membership@iosh.com or 0116 257 3198.
Cover image: iStock
ISSN 2396-7447
© IOSH 2019
IOSH Magazine is printed by ISO 14001 certified printers and despatched in oxo-degradable polywrap. Printed by Warners Midlands plc, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, PE10 9PH
As our cover feature (p 18) notes, exploitative labour has many faces, but the spectrum of human rights abuses includes forced labour, bonded labour, human trafficking, servitude and child labour. At a time when threats to worker rights have rarely moved from the headlines, it is depressing to discover that Britain could be home to 136,000 slaves. That is the conclusion drawn from the 2018 Global Slavery Index, an independent assessment of government progress towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 (bit.ly/2uZTG09). The people involved are fellow employees, many of whom are foreign workers who are often unaware of their rights and cannot easily escape exploitation, trapped in an abusive work environment coloured by coercion, deception, punishment, threats and violence, both mental and physical. For OSH professionals, labour exploitation in the UK is closer to home than many may realise. According to a report from the Chartered Institute of Building published in 2018 (bit.ly/2JJEHD0), construction ranks second only to the sex industry as the sector that is most prone to exploitation. But abusive practices are also being reported in sectors as diverse as agriculture, car washing and care homes. At the food and drink sector conference on 1-2 October (p 42), Mark Heath, deputy director of business change at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), warned delegates that the food services industry, and food packaging and
processing, were exceptionally prone to modern slavery practices. The reality is that labour supply is a lucrative business, and easy pickings for criminal gangs that have been able to infiltrate supply chains. Heath’s message to the profession is to ask questions, to have that sensitive conversation with workers who may be unaware that they are victims. IOSH has been vocal on this pressing issue (see ‘IOSH activities’, p 22). The institution’s white paper urges government to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act 2015 by implementing the recommendations put forward by a Home Office review published in May this year (bit.ly/2EvFIJJ). IOSH argues that transparency and high-quality reporting are crucial to the multi-faceted response needed to stamp out this repulsive practice. From the local to the global level, IOSH has outlined a plethora of actions that it is urging the profession, organisations, the UK government and the global community to execute (p 20). Although many responsible employers are making inroads, much more needs to be done to eradicate labour exploitation. Echoing the GLAA’s speaker, the place to start is at home, and ensure modern slavery is not involved in your operations.
Nick Warburton Acting editor
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Contents November 2019 In focus
p5 pXX
Corporate failure led XXX to employee death XXX Investigators found DHL had failed to complete a comprehensive health and safety audit after taking over the site in 2015
News 4
5
XXX
Taxi drivers in central London have, on XXX average, the highest levels of exposure
‘Serious corporate failure’ lands DHL with £2.6m fine 1 in 4 young women fear the sack if they report sexual harassment, study finds
XXX
IOSH-funded study on pXX diesel XXX engine fumes
6
Amputation on recycling line leads to £1.27m fine Bupa wins appeal over £3m Legionnaire’s fine Company director convicted under s 37 after telehandler crush
pXX p18
XXX Modern slavery
7
XXX Construction ranks second to the sex industry as the sector most prone to exploitation
Occupational health and hygiene partner Clare Forshaw said line managers played a key role in dealing with common health problems in the workplace
7
Retail crime ‘epidemic’ leading to PTSD among shop workers
8
Cement firm handed £1m fine over factory fatality Contractor and roofing co in court over KFC roof fall
10 Bus firm and council fined after woman killed by lorry Taxi drivers exposed to highest levels of diesel fumes, research finds
p42
Food and drink sector conference
4
Builder jailed over digger death
pXX p10
Lack of risk assessemnt lands steelmaker with £1.8m fine
IOSH News
13
12 No Time to Lose launched in Canada New Australian resources to fight silica exposure Major awards for IOSH and its chief executive 13 Rail leaders urged to prioritise safety as fatalities increase
14 Effects of outsourcing on workplace safety and health roundtable
Rail industry conference Construction Safety Week in Ireland
12
Research highlights seafarers’ mental wellbeing risks IOSH call for research proposals now open 15 Q&A: Karen Henfrey, IOSH employee Spotlight on dangerous substances Future Leaders Conference Three new IOSH fellows
2 NOVEMBER 2019
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18 COVER STORY
Features
Regulars
18 Time to act
Column 7 John Allen
With modern slavery on the rise, companies need to check their supply chains and contractors
16 Events 17 Reviews
24 Your consultation
The Conscious Effect: 50 lessons for better organizational wellbeing
A look at the feedback so far on IOSH’s review of membership grades
51 Lexicon
27 Go fourth
T is for THERP
The advent of ‘the fourth industrial revolution’ brings opportunities for OSH professionals
52 Off duty Martin Marmoy-Hayes, JEM health and safety consultant and fell walker
32 Engage and connect Reliance on procedures has come under fire, but worker consultation may be the way forward
37 We need disclosure
53 Recruitment
27
24
What to do if you face responsibility for exchange of documents in an injury claim
42 Food and drink sector conference Topics at the conference included supporting staff with health issues and tackling modern slavery
45 Payers to players A round-up of progress on ISSA’s Vision Zero – claimed to be the first global OSH campaign
45
52
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News
For the latest IOSH news and views, visit ioshmagazine.co.uk
Lack of risk assessment lands steelmaker with £1.8m fine Cardiff-based steelmaker Celsa Manufacturing, which has a history of safety breaches, has admitted failing to carry out a risk assessment before an explosion at its city centre plant left two workers dead and one seriously injured. Electrical engineer Peter O’Brien, 51, was working with mechanical engineer Mark Sim, 41, in the basement of the site, where scrap metal was turned into steel and used to reinforce concrete. The men were draining hydraulic lubrication oil from an ‘H system’ accumulator. A flammable atmosphere developed in the accumulator and was ignited by an electric heater. The court was told that the machine, which “effectively worked like a domestic pressure cooker”, exploded in “catastrophic fashion” as the men carried out the maintenance. The heater, which became exposed, should have been switched off but remained on, causing the blast. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigators said the explosion, which would have happened without warning, killed the pair instantly. Their
A flammable atmosphere developed in the accumulator
colleague, Darren Wood, was seriously injured. The HSE found that Celsa had failed to assess the risks to which its employees were exposed when draining lubrication oil from the accumulator. Manually draining using a procedure
referred to as a ‘blow down’ had developed through the workers’ local custom and practice. This ‘procedure’ was not fully understood or consistently carried out by employees, exposing them to the risk of explosion.
Builder jailed over digger death The director of a building firm has been sentenced to ten months’ imprisonment after he fatally crushed an employee with a digger. Robert Harvey was operating the machine when Nicholas Hall was pinned against a wall by the excavator bucket, causing fatal injuries. The court was told that Harvey’s company, Front Row Builders, was constructing a vehicle wash bay for Peter Lawless Road Planing at an industrial estate in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, on 7 May 2016. Harvey was using the digger to lower cement and blocks into the excavation pit for the three men working there, including Hall, to use in building a wall. He tipped the bucket to empty the mortar contents and shouted to
Hall to “scrape the rest out with a shovel”. Hall was pinned against the wall by the excavator bucket and died of blunt force injuries to his chest and abdomen. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Harvey had failed to undertake a sufficient assessment of the risks to those who had been instructed to work with him and was not appropriately trained to use the excavator. He pleaded guilty to breaching s 7(a) and s 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was jailed for ten months at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
Prosecutors told Cardiff Crown Court that anyone operating the accumulator should have been fully trained, including in maintenance, but some employees had “little or no training in the assessment of risks”. The company admitted breaching reg 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations. It was fined £1.8m and ordered to pay £145,771 costs. “The company failed to assess the risks of the maintenance work and identify suitable control measures to prevent an explosion,” said HSE inspector Lee Schilling after the hearing. In May 2011, the steelmaker was fined £50,000 over a worker’s serious hand injury, its third prosecution in six months. In February that year, Celsa was convicted of failing to ensure its employees’ safety and fined £100,000 after a worker sustained serious burns while maintaining electrical systems at the Cardiff plant. In November 2010, the steelmaker was fined £200,000 after a 3.7-tonne crane fatally injured one of its employees. To read the full story: bit.ly/32FjlvI
“Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to their workers in the safe system of working,” warned HSE inspector Helen Diamond after the sentencing. “If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the death of this worker could have been prevented.”
Hall was pinned against the wall by the excavator bucket
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In Short HSE issues stress criteria The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published new guidance on how it deals with reports of work-related stress. But it comes with a reminder that it is outside its scope to investigate concerns “solely related to individual cases of bullying or harassment, but may consider these if there is evidence of a wider organisational failing”. The HSE said it was redefining its operational guidance to establish a consistent approach to handling complaints of stress at work because many of the concerns raised with it were outside its remit and “more relevant” to other regulators. bit.ly/2OHnB9T
Liverpool docks loading fine Port operator the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company has been ordered to pay £300,000 after a banksman was seriously injured when he was crushed by a bundle of steel weighing nearly two tonnes during a loading procedure. HSE investigators found no suitable risk assessment had been carried out relating to the hazards arising from loading bundles of rebar on to reversing flatbed trailers. bit.ly/2W1ZDaS
Image: iStock
New partnership to help SMEs and ‘micro’ firms tackle health issues A working group has been set up to help small, medium and ‘micro’ businesses in Wales tackle mental health and musculoskeletal disorders – two of the biggest health issues facing workers. The Wales Health at Work Partnership has several objectives, including sharing approaches, tools and workplace experience for managing the risk and reducing the incidence of the principal causes of occupational ill health in Wales. bit.ly/32z4vqx
‘Serious corporate failure’ lands DHL with £2.6m fine The death of an employee at the Coventry tyre distribution centre of logistics company DHL has resulted in a multi-million pound penalty. Robert Baynham was crushed when a stack of tyre stillages toppled and fell through an internal office roof where he and three colleagues were working. An investigation by Coventry City Council found that the tyre warehouse was used principally for the bulk storage and distribution of Bridgestone tyres. However, it also handled “cross-stocked” tyres, which were stored temporarily and ranged in size from small car tyres to extra-large agricultural ones. Warwick Crown Court was told that, on 2 February 2016, a tall stack of eight cross-stocked stillages had been placed next to an office in which Baynham, John Knight, Bernard Halpin and Jason Gordon were working in the early hours. The stack toppled, possibly after being knocked as a second stack was being put next to it, and the top two stillages, each weighing 578 kg, fell through the office roof. The Coventry Observer reported that the prosecution said there was no guidance that different stillages should not be mixed – but Bridgestone had indicated for its tyres that, if they were, the heaviest should be at the bottom. Investigators found DHL had failed to complete a comprehensive health and safety audit after taking over the site from another company in September 2015. They told the court tyres were stacked too high and too close to the internal
office – an inherently dangerous practice which had become a common occurrence and was not one that staff had ever been warned against. Similar incidents had happened previously, so DHL was well aware of the risk. The company – which has a turnover of £1.4bn – was fined £2.6m for what Mr Justice Jeremy Baker described as its “serious corporate failure”. “Although there may have been an individualised failure to make a proper risk assessment, there was a corporate failure to do so,” he said. “The cause and effect of those failures is that a stack containing an excessive number of stillages had been placed in an area where people were working. “When the driver was in the process of making a new stack, contact with the first stack caused it to topple over and fall on to those working in the office. There is no question that these failures have led to a human tragedy.” Abdul Khan, cabinet member for policing and equalities at Coventry City Council, said: “DHL has received a significant fine and probably the largest following a health and safety prosecution by the council. Most importantly, lessons have been learned by DHL and safety management at the warehouse has improved.” Last year DHL was fined £2m after Krzysztof Sontowski sustained fatal injuries when he was crushed between a large goods lorry and the wall of a loading bay. In 2017 the logistics firm was ordered to pay £266,000 after Michael Addison was crushed when a 770 kg unstable load fell on top of him.
1 in 4 young women fear the sack if they report sexual harassment, study finds A quarter of young women say they would be reluctant to report sexual harassment at work for fear of losing their job, a study has found. The survey by charity Young Women’s Trust revealed that just 6% of young women who have been sexually harassed in the workplace say they have reported it. This is despite TUC research showing that 63% of young women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. When asked what would put
them off reporting such behaviour, one in five said they feared being given fewer hours at work and one in three said they did not know how to report sexual harassment. Anxieties around being fired for reporting sexual harassment were found to be higher among young women of colour, or with a disability or long-term health condition – with 30% and 37% respectively saying they were scared this would happen. Eight respondents in ten said they had been treated less
positively by their employers because they rebuffed unwanted sexual advances, while 5% said they had to leave their workplace for another job due to sexual harassment, assault or abuse. The charity is calling on the government to make it mandatory for all employers to protect their workers and volunteers from harassment and victimisation. To read the full story: bit.ly/2JcWZtE
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Amputation on recycling line leads to £1.27m fine Waste disposal firm Mid UK Recycling has been prosecuted after a worker’s arm was dragged into a conveyor belt, which led to a shredder. The employee was working as a line operator when the line on 26 April 2015 became blocked, with waste wrapping around the axle and stopping a lower conveyor. As the worker attempted to remove the blockage, his glove was dragged into the in-running nip between the belt and the powered roller of the conveyor. His left arm had to be amputated above the elbow. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that the company, which recycles agricultural, commercial
and industrial waste had failed to prevent access to dangerous parts of the conveyor. In effect, the Castell key system had been bypassed, allowing the machinery to be operated in automatic mode with persons still inside the enclosure. At Lincoln Crown Court, Mid UK Recycling – which was sold in June to rival New Earth Solutions (West), a subsidiary of the Ireland-based waste recycling group Beauparc – admitted breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was fined £1.275m and ordered to pay costs of £45,065.
Bupa wins appeal over £3m Legionnaire’s fine Private care provider Bupa has won its appeal against a £3m fine over the death of a pensioner at a nursing home. The Court of Appeal reduced the fine to £1.5m on the ground that Bupa’s parent company profits were wrongly taken into account. Last June, Ipswich Crown Court fined the firm £3m (bit.ly/33KQQfW) after it pleaded guilty to failing to implement measures to control and monitor the hot and cold water systems at Hutton Village Nursing Home, which led to the death of Kenneth Ibbetson, 86. He moved into the care home, managed by Bupa, in March 2015 but soon reported feeling unwell. He died on 23 June 2015 in Basildon Hospital after contracting Legionnaire’s disease. The judge in the earlier crown court hearing concluded the most likely cause of the infection was the failure to flush and disinfect pipes after refurbishment work. Samples taken from taps in Mr Ibbetson’s ensuite bathroom
Kenneth Ibbetson died after contracting Legionnaire’s disease
found a high concentration of the bacteria in the water. But Mr Justice Julian Knowles, sitting with two other judges at the Court of Appeal, said: “The defendant in this case was Bupa Care Homes and the offence in question arose out of its breaches of duty. “It did not delegate these to its parent. It alone bore criminal liability.” The judge said nothing in the ruling was “intended to minimise the loss” that Mr Ibbetson’s family had suffered.
“This incident could so easily have been avoided had the company ensured that the system designed to keep people away from dangerous machinery was properly maintained,” said HSE inspector Scott Wynne. “Companies should be aware that [the] HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.” According to documents filed at Companies House, Mid UK Recycling, (now trading as MUKR) had a turnover of £37.6m in 2017. The firm, whose headquarters are in Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, employs 420 staff and operates from six other sites in the county. It has been hit by a series of serious fires in the past 12 months and was fined £880,000 in 2017 after an agency worker died when he was dragged through a waste-sorting trommel and then through an industrial waste shredder. Two of its directors were handed suspended prison sentences.
Company director convicted under s 37 after telehandler crush The director of a waste management firm has been ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work after an employee was seriously injured by a faulty telehandler. In April 2017, Justin Tinsley, who had only just been employed by Michael Toon, was working at the company’s yard in Poole, Dorset, which processed and recycled builders’ waste and soil. Tinsley was struggling to manoeuvre a telehandler, which became stuck. With the engine running and the door blocked, he climbed through the window to allow company director Toon to free the machine. Poole Magistrates’ Court was told that the telehandler moved unexpectedly, crushing Tinsley between the machine and a gate post. He was in hospital unconscious for weeks and has not fully recovered from his injuries. HSE investigators found Tinsley was being trained by Toon to drive the telehandler, which had several serious
long-term faults, some relating to braking. Toon pleaded guilty to breaching s 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Under s 37, if an offence is committed by a company with the consent or connivance of a director, that person will be deemed to have a case to answer. As well as the unpaid work Toon was fined £1,500. After sentencing, HSE inspector Ian Smart said: “Michael Toon was well aware of the unsafe condition of the telehandler yet allowed it to be used by an inexperienced employee. “The HSE promotes safe-stop procedures where drivers should apply the parking brake and turn off the ignition before exiting any mobile machinery. Justin [Tinsley] could not do this as the telehandler was in such poor mechanical condition.” To read the full story: bit.ly/2MEtIKk
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John Allen IOSH content developer Sustainability and human capital are indelibly linked with safety and health. Development of the first concept started to emerge in the 1970s. Initially concerned with environmental sustainability, it gathered pace in 1987 with the publication of the United Nations’ (UN) Brundtland Commission report, Our Common Future (bit.ly/30LjLQs).
More than 100 workers are physically attacked every day
Image: iStock
Retail crime ‘epidemic’ leading to PTSD among shop workers A report is calling for action to stem the rising number of violent crimes against retail workers, many of whom develop posttraumatic stress disorder. The research, undertaken by City, University of London, uses data from retail trade union Usdaw, industry bodies and government figures. It urges the government to take action to protect employees and send a clear message that violence and verbal aggression will not be tolerated on the high street. The Co-op-funded report, It’s not Part of the Job, supports the grocery chain’s Safer Colleagues, Safer Communities campaign. It found that the rising number of crimes against shop workers reached a five-year high in 2018. More than 42,000 assaults or threats were recorded in the industry, with 115 colleagues physically attacked each day and many more verbally abused and threatened. “The strain of constant abuse and fear of physical violence is causing some shop workers to change their shift pattern, their place of work or, in the worst cases, terminate their employment entirely,” the report said. Criminologist Emmeline Taylor, the report’s author, set out seven key recommendations for action to tackle assaults and abuse against shop workers, including: a review of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act (ASBCPA) 2014, specifically to consider the impact that financial values set out in the legislation have had on levels of theft; new legislation that would
carry higher penalties for attacks if the shop worker is enforcing the law on agerestricted sales, such as cigarettes or alcohol; change expectations regarding age-restricted sales to move the onus on to customers to voluntarily prove their age, as opposed to shop workers having to enforce the legislation; measure hate-motivated offences in shops and provide adequate support for those targeted; and deal with the root causes with better mental health provision and drug treatment programmes. “Multiple data sources show that the frequency and severity of violence towards shop workers is increasing,” said Taylor. “Often ignored as ‘retail crime’ and therefore somehow victimless, let’s not forget that behind each and every statistic is a person who has directly experienced violence or verbal abuse while simply doing their job. The accounts provided in this study by victims highlight that more needs to be done to protect shop workers. “There are several actionable recommendations for the industry, government and communities that, if implemented, I believe will begin to reverse the upsurge in violence occurring in our shops. But tackling violence requires long-term meaningful investment in communities, coupled with an effective criminal justice system that works to address the root causes of crime. Violence is preventable, not inevitable.”
Although sustainability is commonly described under the headings of social, economic and environmental, the focus has been on the last one. Safety and health issues, which can be considered to sit under the social heading, have not received the same level of attention globally. Linked to the above is the concept of human capital, which is concerned with the most important resource for most organisations – their workers. How they are recruited, retained, engaged, trained, rewarded and protected are the fundamental aspects of human capital, and organisations that fail to address such issues will not be sustainable in the long term. A series of industrial disasters in the 1980s highlighted the importance of improving OSH, with some organisations forced Significant in the out of business due to penalties evolution of OSH and loss of reputation. sustainability has been Significant in the evolution of the move to encourage OSH sustainability has been the move to encourage organisations to organisations to report on report on metrics metrics, on the basis that what is measured is managed. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has expanded the number of metrics from four to ten (GRI 403). This is to promote wider and more meaningful reporting of relevant statistics so that progress on safety and health issues can be measured and guide the future focus of attention. Performance reporting has been ad hoc and sporadic, with much disagreement on what should be reported. The Center for Safety and Health Sustainability has helped to progress the management and reporting of relevant issues. Emphasis has also been placed on the role that supply chains in organisations have in influencing good OSH practice, and the impact that responsible purchasing of goods and services can have. Large organisations can be instrumental in setting standards and assisting smaller ones to meet them. This can influence the future of safety and health in valuing and protecting workers, and the sustainability of organisations. OSH professionals can be decisive players in encouraging and standardising reporting of metrics and working within organisations to prevent shortfalls in performance identified. The World Health Organization and the UN have also recognised that, because of the ageing demographic of workers and current patterns of retirement, the social security systems of many countries could be bankrupt within 15 years. The sustainability and human capital concepts have been used to apply pressure on organisations and governments to keep people at work longer. The ability to do so will depend on the sustainability of human capital policies and actions. OSH professionals can foster good practice, encouraging organisations to enhance human capital policy and actions to safeguard the interests of older workers and have a sustainable employment system for the future. A holistic approach to sustainability, informed by human capital, will benefit workers globally and enhance the profession’s reputation.
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Cement firm handed £1m fine over factory fatality The UK division of building products manufacturer Cemex has been convicted of safety failings after a worker was killed at its concrete block and paving factory in West Lothian. James Brownlie sustained fatal injuries on 13 May 2017 while doing maintenance and repair work on a dry sided conveyor at the site in West Calder, part of which ran under a centering machine. The machine has two arms on a mast that lower and centre the bricks, pushing them together under hydraulic pressure ready for packaging and distribution. But it was not isolated at the time and part of the 64-yearold’s body interrupted the path of the light beam between the sensor’s emitter and reflector. This caused the machine’s lifting mast to activate and descend, striking Brownlie on the body and causing internal injuries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Cemex UK Operations had failed to ensure the centering machine was isolated before work started on the conveyor. On 9 October at Livingston Sheriff Court, Cemex UK pleaded guilty to breaching
The machine was not isolated at the time of the incident
s 2(1) and s 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £1m, reduced from £1.5m to reflect the early guilty pleas. After the hearing, HSE inspector Kim Ross said: “This
Contractor and roofing co in court over KFC roof fall Two firms have been fined more than £225,000 after a worker fell through a fragile roof while building a KFC drive-through. On 21 July 2016, a roof was being installed on the fast-food chain’s new restaurant in Coulby Newham, North Yorkshire. While moving materials, the worker stepped backwards on to a fragile mesh roof that was not loadbearing and fell about 3 m, sustaining multiple fractures of his lower left back. HSE investigators found that, in failing to prevent access to the fragile roof
tragic incident led to the avoidable death of a man, which could have been prevented easily if [the company] had taken action to ensure the centering machine was isolated prior to the maintenance and
area, the roofing contractor, Metcalfe Roofing & Building Services, had failed to plan and carry out the work at height in a safe manner. The investigation also found the principal contractor, PDR Construction, had failed to plan, manage or monitor an aspect of the construction phase without risk to safety. PDR pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and was fined £225,000 with £8,000 costs. Metcalfe admitted breaching reg 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £2,000. After the hearing, HSE inspector John Heslop said: “This incident highlights the importance of a thorough risk assessment, appropriate planning and adhering to a safe system of work that is regularly monitored and managed by those in control of that work.”
repair work being carried out. “If this had been in place before the incident, James Brownlie’s death could have been prevented.” Cemex UK, a Mexican-owned corporation which operates in more than 50 countries and employs 43,000 people worldwide, has been prosecuted multiple times for health and safety breaches. It was fined £700,000 in January 2016 after John Altoft fell 7 m from scaffolding at the firm’s site in Rugby, Warwickshire and died. Twelve months earlier, the firm was fined £60,000 after mechanical fitter Gary Ian Ward was killed while inspecting a stone crusher at its Northumberland quarry when the machine, which lacked a lock-off switch, moved and suffocated him. In 2013, Cemex was prosecuted after a worker broke both legs when he was struck by a falling 400 kg metal track. It was fined £35,000. In 2011, it was fined £200,000 after a steam and dust explosion killed a worker at its factory in Warwickshire. The force of the explosion at the Rugby cement works was so great that it blew Peter Reynolds, 28, through the side of a building and on to the road 10 m below. To read the full story: bit.ly/2pHUHMa
The worker fell about 3 m through a fragile roof mesh
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Data Source: Allainz & Klein Insurance Brokers
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Bus company Cambus and Bedford Borough Council have been convicted of health and safety breaches after a woman was fatally hit by a lorry at a bus station. Nicola Berridge, 53, collided with an HGV during the redevelopment of Bedford station on 13 February 2015. She had walked through a gap between two buses to step on to a pedestrian crossing partly blocked by the lorry, which was delivering sand to the congested site. Berridge walked in front of the eight-wheel vehicle as it began to pull away and she sustained “catastrophic and immediately fatal injuries” in the collision. St Albans Crown Court was told that the lorry driver had checked his mirrors and moved forward slowly but did not see Berridge, most likely because
she was out of his field of vision. The jury was told the bus station site was often congested and there was a problem with contractors’ vehicles being parked in the working part of the station. Bedford Borough Council, which owns the bus station and organised the £8m redevelopment programme, pleaded guilty to four charges of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. These included failing to ensure people in its employment were not exposed to risk, failing to make a suitable assessment of the risk to pedestrians being struck by construction vehicles, and not taking reasonable steps
Taxi drivers exposed to highest levels of diesel fumes, research finds A study funded by IOSH has found that cabbies experience greater exposure to black carbon, an indicator of diesel engine fumes, than other professional drivers. The researchers, from King’s College London, recruited 140 professional drivers working in central London. The sample, which also included couriers, truck drivers, waste removal and emergency services workers, were asked to carry black carbon monitors, which were linked with GPS trackers, for 96 hours. The monitors measured exposure levels once a minute. Drivers were also asked about the type of vehicle they had, their working hours and whether they drove with their windows or air vents open.
The results showed that, on average, professional drivers were exposed to 4.1 micrograms of black carbon per cubic metre of air (μg/m3) on the road, about four times higher than their exposure at home (1.1 μg/m3). Researchers said the levels recorded at home were similar to those experienced by office workers at their desks. Professional drivers also experienced extremely high
to ensure its contractors could work safely. It was fined £300,000 and £16,803 in costs. Cambus, a trading name for Stagecoach, denied the charges but was found guilty of failing to discharge a duty to non-employees under the Health and Safety at Work Act between 25 February 2013 and 14 February 2015. It was fined £350,000, with costs to be awarded at a later date. The jury acquitted road surfacing contractor DJT Surfacing of the same charge. To read the full story: bit.ly/2BAsslc
spikes in exposure to black carbon, often exceeding 100 μg/ m3 and lasting as long as half an hour. During the same period, researchers found that pollution levels at a busy London roadside (Marylebone Road) were 3.1 μg/ m3 on average and, away from the roadside, the average level in the capital was 0.9 μg/m3. Taxi drivers had the highest levels of exposure on average (6.5μg/m 3), the study found. Emergency services workers had the lowest (2.8 μg/m 3). The research, carried out in collaboration with researchers from Queen Mary University of London, was previewed at the European Respiratory Society International Congress on 29 September. The full findings with guidance and resources will be published early next year. To read the full story: bit.ly/2PaH0Qs
In Short
Engineer sustains burns from hi-vis shirt A doctor is warning of the dangers of wearing hi-vis shirts in direct sunlight after a field environment engineer sustained first degree burns that matched the reflective strip of his shirt after a day’s work in Western Australia. In a letter to The Medical Journal of Australia, Dr Iona Vlad said she had never seen anything like it and could not find a similar case in medical literature. bit.ly/2P6TE3d
Mental ill health in construction survey A new study has revealed that almost six in ten people in construction have work-related mental ill health, and more than one third have had to take time off work as a result. The UK Construction Week survey found that more than half of workers have had mental health issues at some point, most often stemming from financial problems (45%), long hours (41%) and the physical strain of the job (41%). bit.ly/2B7aFSD
Swim school fined A three-year-old was severely burned after a maintenance worker spilt sodium hypochlorite on the side of a teaching pool. While the child was sat waiting for her lesson to start, she began to complain her leg was hurting. Medics confirmed she had first- and second-degree burns. First Strokes Swim Schools in Colchester was fined £10,500 for its lack of COSHH assessments and having no safe system for hand-dosing the pool with water treatment chemicals. bit.ly/2W6GTqF
Image: iStock
Bus firm and council fined after woman killed by lorry
10 NOVEMBER 2019
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IOSH News No Time to Lose launched in Canada IOSH vice-president Louise Hosking presented the No Time to Lose campaign at the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE) 2019 Professional Development Conference. With research by CAREX Canada showing that in Canada around 152,000 people are still exposed to asbestos at work, mainly in the construction sector, and over 800,000 workers in transportation-related occupations are at risk of breathing in diesel fumes, CSSE is supporting the campaign. At the conference, held in Winnipeg from 22 to 25 September, Louise
encouraged delegates to download the free resources to help raise awareness of the causes of occupational cancer in their workplaces. She also urged them to support the campaign and pledge to act. No Time to Lose is currently supported by 360 organisations worldwide and around 130 leading businesses have signed up to its pledge to manage harmful exposures at work. Louise said: “Even small changes to policy and procedures can make a difference. The IOSH No Time to Lose campaign,
New resources to fight silica exposure in Australia A partnership between IOSH and Cancer Council Australia has led to the development of online resources on managing exposure to silica dust, which can cause lung cancer and other diseases. With an estimated 230 Australians still developing lung cancer every year because of past exposure to silica dust at work, the materials are designed to ensure employers and employees are provided with information on where it is located and how the risks can be managed. Silica dust, one of the foci of the No Time to Lose campaign, is created when crystalline silica in materials like stone, mortar or tiles are broken down and released. Professor Tim Driscoll, Chair of Cancer Council Australia’s Occupational and Environmental
Cancer Risk Committee, said: “Each year in Australia about 600,000 people are exposed to silica dust in the workplace, from materials such as artificial and natural stone, bricks and concrete. “We regularly see workers cutting granite kitchen benches, tiles or bricks or demolishing materials without proper protection in place – which is a real concern. These new resources for workplaces explain the risk simply and provide a call to action for employers and workers to make sure proper control measures are used.” IOSH has previously joined forces with Cancer Council Australia to develop free guidance for businesses on preventing exposure to diesel engine exhaust emissions. bit.ly/2qD59oM
IOSH President Professor Andrew Sharman (left) joins host Sir Trevor McDonald (right) to present the Director of the Year Award for Corporate Social Responsibility to Dara McCarthy, director, RMF Construction Services at the Institute of Directors’ annual ceremony in London.
backed up with research, online case studies and practical materials, prompted a wide range of discussions.” CSSE Executive Director Perry Ruehlen said: “The Canadian Society of Safety Engineering supports the shared purpose of the No Time to Lose campaign, joining in partnership with other organisations and businesses worldwide to tackle cancers caused by work. “Our members know how vital it is to prevent exposure to carcinogens. The practical, far-reaching No Time to Lose campaign is one good way we can all collaborate to fight occupational cancer. We look forward to sharing its resources and helping safety and health practitioners make a positive difference in their workplaces.”
Major awards for IOSH and its Chief Executive IOSH Chief Executive Bev Messinger was named ‘Rising CEO Star’ at the Charity Times Awards 2019, after overseeing the institution’s transformation to enable it to deliver its fiveyear strategy, WORK 2022. Part of this transformation included the ‘Attraction and Induction’ project to improve IOSH’s offer as an employer – and this was named ‘Change Project of the Year’ at the awards ceremony, held at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London, on Wednesday 2 October. Bev joined IOSH in October 2016 and has led the organisation through a period of change. This has included the development and implementation of its new strategy, launched in April 2017, to enhance the occupational safety and health profession, collaborate with like-minded organisations and influence and strengthen its impact globally. She appointed a new senior leadership team and began a five-year ‘Transforming Together Programme’ to make IOSH more modern, flexible and agile. After picking up her award, Bev said transforming IOSH is key to delivering the strategy. She added: “As Chief Executive,
I am proud to lead an amazing team who are delivering this transformation and would like to thank all the staff at IOSH for their hard work. I am also grateful for the support of our members, in particular the Presidential team and our Council, and our Board of Trustees.” Dr Bill Gunnyeon, Chair of IOSH’s Board of Trustees, said: “These awards demonstrate how IOSH has grown and developed over the past three years. A wide-ranging transformation programme has been ongoing to ensure the successful delivery of our WORK 2022 strategy and to better support the needs of our global membership. “That we have been able to do all this in such a relatively short timescale is the result of the strong leadership provided by our Chief Executive, Bev Messinger, together with the hard work and commitment of our great team of people who work for IOSH and our many member volunteers across the world.” bit.ly/2LU7nbq
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IOSH News
Rail leaders urged to prioritise safety as fatalities increase UK rail industry leaders have been urged to ensure managing risks to workers and passengers are a priority as new figures reveal the number of fatalities and injuries last year. Published by the Office of Rail and Road, the figures show that 17 passengers were killed and 377 suffered ‘major injuries’ in 2018–9, up from nine and 354 in the previous year and the highest numbers for a decade. Meanwhile, two rail workers lost their lives and 6,247 were injured in accidents, 158 of them classed as ‘major injuries’. And there were 329 fatalities involving members of the public – those classed as neither passengers or workers – down from 336. David Porter, Chair of IOSH’s Railway Group, said while much work has been done to prevent accidents, there has been added
pressure caused by a growth in passenger numbers, increased network usage and the need to make efficiencies, changes and improve train performance. He said: “The same approaches and techniques which have secured success in the past may not be sufficient to sustain improvements when there is less tolerance in the system. There are no easy answers and simple exhortations to do better miss the point. It will need careful analysis, thought and skilled leadership and management to ensure health and safety is appropriately prioritised and risks are managed consistently and effectively. “In our view, the capabilities and
IOSH Rail Industry Conference IOSH’s Rail Industry Conference will ask whether enough focus is being placed on the prevention of accidents and ill health. With greater demand for punctuality and improved trains meaning the next strategic planning phase is set to see greater focus on economic performance, IOSH’s Railway Group is determined to ensure health and safety remains at the forefront of minds. The conference will ask if senior leaders are placing an appropriate emphasis on health and safety in their strategic planning and whether enough is being learned from past incidents. David Porter, Chair of the IOSH Railway Group, said: “While our rail network is much safer now than ever, we cannot take our eye off the ball. But the industry is changing in response to growing passenger numbers and the
demand this puts on the system. “Our conference will aim to get to the heart of the issues, to ask the questions that need to be asked over whether enough focus is being given to preventing accidents and ill health in our industry. Industry leaders must ensure health and safety is prioritised.” The conference is being held at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum, between 9am and 4pm on Tuesday 19 November. Speakers will include: Ian Prosser CBE, HM Chief Inspector of Railways for the ORR; Greg Morse, of the Rail Safety and Standards Board; Andrew Haines, Chief Executive of Network Rail; and Dr Pete Waterman OBE, Chair of the Railway Heritage Trust. At the event, the winners of the International Railway Group Awards will also be announced. Visit iosh.co.uk/events to book a place.
competence of industry leaders to effectively govern and manage health and safety risks is key. As scrutiny of financial performance increases, strong leadership on health and safety is necessary to ensure that there is appropriate attention on the risks to people, as well as the risks to the business.” Mr Porter added: “Of course, the statistics cannot convey the suffering and loss to family, friends and colleagues from the death of a loved one; or the ongoing pain and suffering to those injured. And these figures don’t take account of how many workers have become ill as a result of work activities. And they do not convey the significant underlying potential for serious injury.”
IOSH sponsors Construction Safety Week in Ireland IOSH sponsored Construction Safety Week in Ireland, 21–25 October, with the aim of promoting good safety and health on construction sites and healthy workplace cultures. Organised by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), the Week encouraged construction companies of all sizes throughout Ireland to organise safety events and share their successes and achievements using the social media hashtag #CIFSafety19. This year the focus was on a range of topics including mental health and wellbeing in the construction industry, working safely with hazardous substances and working safely at height. IOSH collaborated with the CIF to develop a series of articles covering developments in these areas and focusing on recent research funded by IOSH which has direct relevance to the construction sector. The Week reflected on positive initiatives taken and celebrated achievements in safety performance. It highlighted how enormously management and awareness of safety and health issues have progressed in the construction sector in Ireland over the last decade, with more employers and workers investing time and money to drive improvement.
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IOSH News
Roundtable event shares insights into how outsourcing can affect workplace safety and health Experts gathered to discuss the occupational safety and health implications of outsourcing across a range of sectors as part of a roundtable event on 5 November at Cranfield University. Organised by Drs Colin Pilbeam and David Denyer from Cranfield University, the event saw the researchers discuss the preliminary findings of a new IOSH-funded study, scheduled for publication later this year. The study considered how occupational safety and health performance can be sustained or enhanced following outsourcing in a variety of sectors and how practices vary when working with different types of contractors. The study involved an extensive review of safety and outsourcing literature and showed that reviews of client-contractor performance are infrequently held and are often carried out poorly, stifling learning and improvement. Organisations in three sectors – manufacturing, logistics and pharmaceuticals – were interviewed as part of the study. They outsource a wide variety of tasks, including construction and facilities management as well as specialist activities. The event identified cross-sector applications for managing contractor health and safety and discussed ways in which organisational change can have an impact on safety management practices and procedures. The researchers also explored further opportunities for related collaborative research.
Research highlights seafarers’ mental wellbeing risks Cargo shipping companies have been urged to provide on-board internet access, improved accommodation and recreational activities for employees as new research highlights the issue of mental wellbeing at sea. With many seafarers working long hours and being away from home for months at a time, they are at high risk of suffering from mental health issues like depression and anxiety, academics from Cardiff University’s Seafarers International Research Centre found. Funded by IOSH, their research set out to discover the extent of this risk, what factors were behind it and what can be done to manage it. More than 1,500 seafarers completed a questionnaire on their experiences, while interviews were conducted with a small group of seafarers, employers, maritime charities and other stakeholders. Half of employers asked stated they had not introduced any policies or practices to address mental health for a decade. Seafarers indicated recreational and interactive activities were the best ways of combatting depression. When questioned in an interview about suffering from mental ill health, one seafarer said: “Between pressure, workload, no days off and you are a gazillion miles away from home with limited communication, what do you think is going to happen?” Another said: “Three months on land is nothing. You can’t see your kids grow up, you can’t see anything. You are just like an Uncle coming and going.” Another interviewee said: “I believe internet goes a long way in keeping you sane, trust me. […] not having this feeling that you are totally excluded from the rest of the world.” The researchers recommend employers take steps to address the major difference between happiness levels of seafarers onboard and at home, and that they should be aware of the evidence indicating that recent-onset psychological disorders are increasing among serving seafarers. The report states the provision of free internet access would make the most significant contribution to improving mental health and
Seafarers’ mental health and wellbeing
www.iosh.com/seafarerswellbeing
Research summary
wellbeing. With boredom highlighted as a key issue, other areas recommended for action include better terms and conditions of work, relationships on board, accommodation and recreation. Specific recommendations from the researchers include: at least one activity from basketball, squash and swimming at least four activities from table tennis, darts, barbecues, karaoke, bingo, and card and board games a gym with at least three pieces of equipment at least two facilities from a sauna, a book and DVD library, satellite TV with cabins and a library of interactive video games comfortable mattresses and furnishings within cabins shore leave at every opportunity for all ranks varied, good quality food at a reasonable price. In addition, organisations are urged to provide self-help guidance on improving mental resilience, provide contracts that balance work and leave time, introduce and enforce antibullying and harassment policies, train officers on creating a positive on-board atmosphere and set up confidential counselling services. The research report can be viewed at www.iosh.com/ seafarerswellbeing
IOSH call for research proposals now open IOSH’s 13th call for research proposals is now open. IOSH is calling on experienced researchers, academics and other experts around the world to submit proposals that support its strategic vision to create workplaces that are safer, healthier and more sustainable.
In particular, IOSH welcomes research with a focus on non-health-related fatalities and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Applicants are encouraged to propose collaborative research with other like-minded funding bodies and applications from
researchers outside the UK are especially welcomed. More information is available on the IOSH website, including guidance for applicants and the research fund application form: www.iosh.com/researchfund The closing date for bids is 18 November.
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IOSH News
Q&A: Karen Henfrey, IOSH employee of 26 years Karen Henfrey retired from IOSH last month, where she worked for 26 years. We spoke to Karen about the changing face of safety and health over the years and how IOSH’s Managing Safely course has kept people safe for decades.
Q
Hi Karen. How has the public perception of safety and health changed in your opinion?
A
“When I joined IOSH in the early 90s, safety and health was viewed as necessary and there to keep people safe, but newspapers at the time were partly to blame for negative perceptions of the profession. Many reports inaccurately referred to things being shut down or stopped as ‘health and safety gone mad’. “Thankfully, this belief seems to be changing in recent years, with more people and companies becoming aware of
Future Leaders Conference opens doors for new and aspiring professionals
the importance of safety and health in workplaces and managing physical and mental wellbeing.”
Q A
What was it about Managing Safely that you found so inspiring? “As my role evolved, I took Managing Safely in 2001 and again in 2014. From when I first took the course, I knew that it was going to be well-received by the industry and highlighted why safety and health is so important for so many people. Managing Safely helps to save lives, prevents injury and teaches people about the importance of identifying and removing hazards. It can be the difference between life and death. “Knowing that the knowledge I gained from the course could have potentially saved lives is gratifying. I instilled this knowledge in my children at a young age, helped
by the training I received, and they have absorbed and retained it in their own personal and working lives ever since.”
Q A
Now you have retired from IOSH, what will you be doing next? “I will be volunteering at my local library, using my health and safety knowledge to keep visitors safe. I will miss working at IOSH, but I won’t be saying goodbye to the skills and experience I gained. That stays with you for life.” The full written feature with Karen is available here: bit.ly/2mJe6L5
Dangerous substances highlighted in European Week for Safety and Health at Work Hundreds of events on the management of dangerous substances took place during European Week for Safety and Health at Work (21–25 October), organised by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EUOSHA). The theme this year was its campaign ‘Healthy Workplaces Manage Dangerous Substances’, which highlights the importance of managing dangerous substances at work to prevent ill-health. Cancer, respiratory illnesses and skin diseases are some of the health issues caused by exposure to hazardous substances at work. These include chemicals such as paints and glues; carcinogens including asbestos and silica dust; and natural materials like grain dust and crude oil. In Europe, almost 80,000 people a year die from cancer caused by carcinogenic exposure at work.
IOSH is an official partner of EU-OSHA’s campaign, which aligns with the No Time to Lose (NTTL) campaign to raise awareness of occupational cancer globally and help businesses take action. During the week, IOSH Vice-President Tim Eldridge gave a presentation on the asbestos phase of NTTL at Enterprise Europe Network’s event in Bradford. He encouraged IOSH members to get involved by downloading and distributing the campaign resources, joining an EU-OSHA event and sharing on social media. IOSH Chief Executive Bev Messinger, said: “Reducing exposures to work-related health hazards is a vital part of the WORK 2022 strategy. It is at the heart of what our 47,000 members advising businesses in EU member states and other countries strive to do every day. “IOSH is proud to support EU-OSHA’s campaign to improve the management of dangerous substances. We have been aligning aspects of our own No Time to Lose campaign activity with that of EU-OSHA, so our voice, unified with others, will help to raise awareness, share good practice and improve standards of management.” To find out more, visit www.iosh.com/euoshahealthyworkplaces.
Early career professionals working in safety and health shared and received essential career advice, tips and support for succeeding in their careers during IOSH’s first Future Leaders Conference on 5 November. The Conference was designed to support members of the Future Leaders Community – which includes IOSH Student Members, OSH professionals under the age of 35 and those who have been in the profession for under five years. The keynote speech was given by IOSH Chartered member Neil Lennox, Head of Group Safety and Insurance at Sainsbury’s. His presentation discussed the OSH professional of the future and why it is important more people consider pursuing safety and health as a career choice. Neil said: “It is critical that safety and health professionals have their voice heard in the boardroom now more than ever. We need people to work in OSH who can share the message that ‘good safety is good business’ to ensure that our profession has a great future.”
Three new IOSH fellows Three IOSH members – Bala Siva, Lawrence Webb and Santosh Prabhu – became Chartered Fellows during the September round of interviews. In the same month, 47 members attained CMIOSH status. www.iosh.com/newchartered
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Events For IOSH group and branch events visit www.iosh.com November 2019
The second asbestos conference organised by BOHS in conjunction with the Faculty of Asbestos Assessment and Management (FAAM) brings together international researchers, academics, occupational hygienists and regulators to consider today’s global asbestos problem. bit.ly/2XgkPcQ
12-14 Vision Zero Summit Clarion Hotel, Helsinki, Finland £800 approx exc VAT The first summit will hear from speakers including Pete Kines from the National Research Centre for the Working Environment; Anna-Maria Teperi from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health; and Mikko Välimaa of Konecranes. For more on Vision Zero, see our feature on page 45. www.ttl.fi/visionzero19
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Rail Industry Conference Science and Industry Museum, Manchester £120 inc VAT (IOSH members); £150 (non-members) Bookings are now open for the IOSH Railway Group’s annual conference. Speakers from the Office of Rail and Road, the Rail Safety and Standards Board, Network Rail, Volker Rail, the European Union Agency for Railways, HS2 and the Railway Heritage Trust have already been confirmed. bit.ly/2ESi7Dd
19-20 Asbestos 2019 Conference Crowne Plaza Hotel, Nottingham £400 exc VAT
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RoSPA Fleet & Road Safety Event 2020 Leicester Conferences, Leicester Early-bird member: £125 + VAT Early-bird non-member: £145 + VAT The RoSPA Road Safety Event will return in 2020 to cover a range of fleet and road safety topics, plus case studies and practical advice from road safety experts. bit.ly/2OZmS43
23-24 Stress Network Conference Hillscourt Conference Centre, Birmingham From £160 This year’s conference, organised by the UK National Work-Stress Network, will focus on sharing good practice and getting employers onboard. Speakers include Hilda Palmer, Diana Kloss MBE and Professor Gail Kinman from the University of Bedford. bit.ly/35GpUjB
Health and Safety Conference AJ Bell Stadium, Eccles, Manchester £549 (standard) Delegates at ONECPD’s event will hear about lung disease, wellbeing, behaviour change, ethics, and how Brexit will affect health and safety in the UK. bit.ly/2PWzVVr
IOSH Scotland Conference Perth Racecourse, Scotland £66.00 inc VAT (IOSH members); £84.00 inc VAT (non-members) On the agenda are workplace mental health, human behaviour and the HSE strategy for 2019/20. Delegates will have the opportunity to quiz experts, including HSE Scotland’s Iain Brodie as well as specialists in human behaviour. bit.ly/2lUAXDi
AIF National Work at Height Conference AJ Bell Stadium, Salford, Greater Manchester £195 exc VAT The Access Industry Forum’s second national conference will address the issues and topics set to shape the future of access and height safety in a sector that had 40 fatalities in 2018-19. Speakers include Jason Anker MBE and Dylan Skelhorn of the No Falls Foundation. bit.ly/2miV8uE
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March 10-11 Health and Wellbeing at Work
Utility Week Health, Safety & Wellbeing Conference BCEC Birmingham £549 (standard) Speakers from E.ON, Thames Water, Northern Gas Networks, EDF Energy, Skanska, and the Industrial Noise and Vibration Centre will present at this year’s event for the utilities sector. event.utilityweek.co.uk/hs
NEC Birmingham From £45 The conference returns for its 14th year, profiling national developments, service innovations, best practice and the latest research. Presentations will consider the state of positive psychology coaching and its value to organisations, and autistic women in the workplace as part of the neurodiversity programme. bit.ly/2MgmcVS
THE UK’S FASTEST GROWING EVENT FOR HEALTH & SAFETY 400+ EXHIBITORS • 16,000+ VISITORS • 150+ SPEAKERS
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Reviews
Here are all the books we’ve reviewed to date ioshmagazine.com/type/reviews
The Conscious Effect: 50 lessons for better organizational wellbeing Natasha Wallace, LID Publishing (www.lidpublishing.com) ÂŁ9.35 paperback Readers of Caroline Webb’s How to Have a Good Day and John Bria’s A Great Day at the OďŹƒce will feel they are on familiar ground here. As with her fellow authors, Natasha Wallace takes a user-friendly approach to ‘flourishing’ (at work, specifically). Her basic, sound premise is that a ‘conscious’ leader is both self-aware and aware of the needs of their colleagues and of the work environment they are creating for them. If all leaders did this well, Wallace argues, “you [wouldn’t] even need a wellbeing strategyâ€?. She uses the analogy of a mixed diet of vitamin pills and chocolate. It’s an excellent metaphor for organisations that provide rewarding work and pay sta well but may also require long hours and have untrained management, conflicting goals and lack of opportunity. Wallace refers to ‘workplace sugar’, and says leaders need to be aware how much of it they’re dishing out, and how their own strengths and weaknesses aect themselves and others. Positive sta relations are utterly central to this – other
key factors being the importance of being positive generally, the need for a team focus, and having meaning, purpose and opportunities for control, autonomy and growth. Peter Warr’s ‘vitamin model’ – which Wallace does not reference – articulated this well decades ago; and strangely, though Wallace’s book is all about emotional intelligence, the work of Daniel Goleman is overlooked, too. A lack of context is perhaps the main weakness in The Conscious Eect. The author doesn’t literally mean ‘no strategy required’ but she means it a bit, and I’d argue that her references to culture underplay the vital importance of senior commitment and visionary and strategic leadership at a macro level. Recent fascinating studies suggest, for example, that a company’s founding values have a significant impact on the day-to-day culture many years after the founders themselves have moved on or sold up. The five sections, broken into 50 lessons, have an abundance of excellent information, much of it focusing on vital soft skills, weaving together practical knowledge and behavioural science. Even so, I feel the book underplays the vital importance of culture at a broader level. (And somewhere in SheďŹƒeld and in New Jersey, two greatly revered professors will be raising their eyebrows.) TIM MARSH CFIOSH, CHARTERED PSYCHOLOGIST
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Modern slavery
Time to act Companies need to be vigilant about possible labour exploitation in their supply chains and by contractors, both in the UK and overseas, and ensure they are behaving ethically Words: IAN MCKINNON
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Modern slavery
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Modern slavery
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odern slavery is on the rise in the UK, and with it the impetus to take action (see ‘IOSH calls for action’ box, below). If your organisation is part of a supply chain, it is likely that the Modern Slavery Act 2015 affects you. With proposed changes to the legislation out for consultation, businesses would do well to improve their understanding of the issues, and of the risks involved if they fail to act. If exploitative labour is found in a company’s supply chain, reputational damage, the loss of customer confidence and diminishing market share may result. The business could even face legal sanctions if its suppliers or contractors are involved in illegal conduct. On the other hand, a record of ethical procurement activity can encourage investment and improve employee morale.
Face of modern slavery Modern slavery encompasses a range of human rights abuses: from forced labour, bonded labour and human trafficking to servitude and child labour. Victims of modern slavery are unable to leave their place of exploitation, and are controlled by threats, punishment, violence, coercion and deception. The 2018 Global Slavery Index (bit.ly/2oe6uhg) estimates that Britain is home to 136,000 slaves, while the National Crime Agency (bit.ly/2Me3OMk) identified 6,993 people as potential victims of trafficking in that year – up 36% from 5,142 in 2017. Modern slavery in wealthier nations such as the UK is particularly lucrative for traffickers. Chronic skills shortages, and falling numbers of EU workers since the referendum on Brexit in 2016, have exacerbated the problem.
136,000 slaves … that Britain is home to, estimates the 2018 Global Slavery Index
IOSH calls on safety and health professionals and other business advisers to: ensure they know about the risks of modern slavery when advising businesses. We call on organisations to: train workers on preventing modern slavery take more action to support suppliers create a race to the top via better transparency. We call on the government to: adopt the Modern Slavery Act review’s recommendations lower the £36m reporting threshold drop the option for businesses to say they have taken no steps run national awareness campaigns explore a labelling system extend UK gangmasters licensing to other at-risk sectors act as an exemplar on procurement (see PPN 05/19: bit.ly/2oyNkpS). We call on the global community to: support Sustainable Development Goal eight standardise and harmonise reporting requirements.
The nationalities most at risk of modern slavery in 2017, according to the UK government’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM), were Albanian, Chinese, Nigerian, Vietnamese and, surprisingly, British (bit.ly/33cA9tV). Many foreign workers are unaware of their rights as employees, and may be unable to communicate because of language restrictions. There are also clear links between trafficking, modern slavery and homelessness, charities have found. Since slavery can take many forms, ranging from a refusal to provide holiday pay to imprisoning workers, it can be difficult to spot, and the individuals could be working in legitimate businesses. Construction ranks second only to the sex industry as the sector most prone to exploitation, according to a report last year from the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) (bit.ly/2JJEHD0). Other industries identified as most at risk in the UK include agriculture (see ‘IOSH food and drink sector conference’, p 42), hotels and restaurants, care homes, car washes, cleaning and nail salons.
Current legislation Private companies with a turnover of more than £36m a year fall under the Modern Slavery Act. Under s 54, these organisations must publish an annual ‘slavery and
Images: Alamy, Getty Images, iStock
IOSH calls for action
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Modern slavery
IOSH activities Exploitation and forced labour are a global scourge afflicting millions of lives. So, what can be done to halt them? Modern slavery affects all countries, including the UK, and many different sectors, so we need global, national, sectoral and corporate strategies and progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goal eight on decent work for all (bit.ly/2nPlipF). Health and safety are a fundamental right for all workers, and improved transparency and due diligence can ensure this is a reality. Responsible employers are already taking action, and IOSH urges others to do so, with a ‘race-to-the-top’ that prevents modern slavery thriving in silence. Our poll shows strong public support for more action to help eradicate
these crimes hidden in plain sight. Our highest percentage of respondents, 88%, supported the need for professionals to understand modern slavery risks, underlining the importance the public attaches to this. IOSH is active in this area and so far has: provided continuing professional development training on modern slavery; supported bringing in the UK Modern Slavery Act and transparency in supply chains; joined Baroness Young’s Let’s Make it Work campaign to strengthen reporting; supported Fashion Revolution to improve conditions for garment workers worldwide; co-funded the OSH initiative for workers and
human trafficking statement’ on their website, setting out the steps they have taken to ensure goods produced, or services provided, by their suppliers and contractors are free of modern slavery. Therefore, you should be asking your contractors and suppliers to disclose their policies and provisions to tackle this issue. At present, it is compulsory only to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement, and it is acceptable for companies that meet the threshold to say they have not taken any action. The Modern Slavery Act was considered groundbreaking when it came into force, but critics say that the lack of enforcement penalties has led to low levels of compliance and a lack of true buy-in from senior leadership. In fact, an independent review of the legislation, commissioned by the Home Office, found that around 40% of eligible companies do not comply with it. The Home Office’s final report, published on 22 May, made 80 recommendations to strengthen the laws (bit.ly/2EvFIJJ). The government responded in July (bit.ly/2JpOpbx), agreeing with most of the suggested amendments. It also issued a public consultation to collect feedback on the proposed changes (see IOSH boxes, p 20 and above).
Hard Act to follow? The government accepted many of the recommendations on enhancing transparency in supply chains. For example, it intends to set up a single reporting deadline to identify those not reporting and to publish an online register on which
community in Bangladesh, post-Rana Plaza; joined the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority’s Construction Forum; participated in #MyFreedomDay with students and supporters across the globe; used a poll to support IOSH’s white paper Tackling Modern Slavery Together (bit.ly/2kvO8dz) and transparency in supply chains consultation (bit.ly/2mf8rN4). For further information, email: publicaffairs@iosh.com
all statements would be submitted, recorded and made publicly available. The government also agreed that public authorities, as well as listed companies, should publish a statement if their annual budget exceeds £36m. This should drive up compliance rates, and the quality of statements from companies wishing to win public contracts. However, the government has not committed to automatically banning any company that fails to comply with s 54 from winning public contracts. It notes only that there are processes in place to identify such companies, and that refusal on these grounds is permissible. The government also rejected the recommendation that it should impose sanctions on companies that fail to respond when instances of modern slavery arise. And it has not committed to removing the clause under s 54 that allows companies to report that they have taken ‘no steps’ to address modern slavery and human trafficking. However, in an interview with Thomson Reuters Foundation in August, Sara Thornton, the UK’s independent anti-slavery commissioner, said: “Civil sanctions is something we need to move towards. If you are sitting on the board of a big company and don’t get GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] right, or health and safety right, then there are big sanctions.” Thornton said holding businesses to account, strengthening law enforcement and victim support would form the backbone of her strategy, which is set to be published shortly.
Beyond compliance
The lack of enforcement penalties has led to low levels of compliance and a lack of true buy-in from senior leadership
In July, police broke up the UK’s largest modern slave ring, involving 400 workers trafficked from Poland. After a four-year investigation, eight defendants in two trials were found guilty of their involvement. Successful prosecutions such as these are making both the public and potential service users increasingly aware of bonded labour and human rights issues in supply chains. They are supporting – if not demanding – that businesses act to implement ethical sourcing programmes. The moral obligation to stamp out modern slavery is ramping up, and failure to take effective actions across your operations and supply chains is likely to attract bad publicity.
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Modern slavery
6,993 people … potential victims of trafficking, identified by the National Crime Agency
As we await the legal outcome of the review of the Modern Slavery Act, the legislation has been gathering momentum of its own accord. Eligible organisations are expected to build on their transparency statements year on year, and more companies that fall below the £36m threshold – along with organisations in the public sector – are voluntarily providing transparency statements, and quizzing their contractors and suppliers about their approach to modern slavery. In September, the Cabinet Office announced new measures to ensure government supply chains are free from modern slavery (bit.ly/2oyNkpS). This took the form of new guidance, a digital tool and a training package to tackle the problem, with actions taken by departments to inform the government’s first modern slavery statement due out later this year. In the construction sector, the common assessment standard (CAS) – a new pre-qualification system based on an industry-agreed question set, delivered by assessment bodies including CHAS – features questions around the Act. The CAS represents a big step forward for the construction industry, not just in improving efficiency and reducing costs within the construction pre-qualification process, but also in helping to ensure that issues such as modern slavery are addressed as standard. To stay ahead of the curve, businesses would be wise to underpin transparency statements with rigorous risk-mapping of their operations and supply chains, and commit resources to identifying and remedying abuses (see ‘Best practice’ box below). Improving collaboration across the sector in which you operate will ensure your business is not merely compliant with the legislation, but well placed to develop and implement a proven approach to tackling modern slavery. ● IOSH is running a Modern Slavery CPD course at the Grange on 5 February. For more information, visit: bit.ly/30K30Eb
Best practice
Images: Getty Images, iStock
Increase your organisation’s understanding of modern slavery: Awareness of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and an appreciation of how to recognise incidents, are important first steps. Your organisation should understand what modern slavery is, what its own responsibilities are and how the issue affects business, and produce a best- practice framework for tackling the issue. Equip your staff with educational tools and resources: For example, you can register free on the Stronger2gether website (www.stronger2gether.org) to download free resources, worker posters and templates to help your businesses to tackle modern slavery. Posters such as ‘How to spot the signs of slavery’ can promote a culture of vigilance. Be a leader, not a follower: Use your acquired knowledge to implement best practice in your business, and share your approach across your supply chain and the wider industry.
Ian McKinnon is managing director of CHAS
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IOSH membership
Your consultation As IOSH’s review of membership grades progresses, we reflect on early feedback and the case for questioning Words: VANESSA HARWOOD-WHITCHER
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IOSH membership
20182019
Oct 2019
Oct-Dec 2019
Feb 2020
Mar 2020
>>>>
Research and refresh competency framework
Launch review of membership grades with member survey
Conduct focus groups and consult members
Undertake online survey of members
Analyse results and submit recommen– dations to Privy Council
The following is subject to the outcome of the previous actions
Nov-Dec 2020
Vote on proposed changes at AGM
Submit proposal to Privy Council
2021 Implement new grades (subject to approval)
other chartered bodies for business-critical disciplines. In the same way that human resources has earned a seat at the boardroom table, so OSH needs to find its voice. If the membership grades review leads to changes that equip OSH professionals more comprehensively to enable strategic and operational success, it would be a step in the right direction. However, we are only at the start of this consultation, which runs until the end of March. The member survey closed at the end of October but there will be another online survey focused exclusively on the membership grades review in February. After the consultation and subject to approval of IOSH’s privy council, we would put any proposed changes to the vote at our annual general meeting in October 2020. If carried, we would then move to implement changes in 2021. In the meantime, we are working on Blueprint 2.0, which will launch next year with a new CPD scheme mapped to the competency framework and a career hub with a range of extra support. We are working hard to enhance our offering to you as members and to the sector at large. The updated competency framework and membership grades review are a first step. Please be sure to engage with the consultation at some point in the process so your voice can be heard. ●
Vanessa Harwood-Whitcher is director of professional services at IOSH
Incident management Risk management Culture
H NI C A L TEC
Health and safety law
Sustainability
Stakeholder management
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Competency Framework
Strategy
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Image: Alamy
I
write this not long after we have announced our membership grades review and I am reflecting on some of the early feedback we have received via email, forums and various discussions in social networks and good old-fashioned conversation (bit.ly/2IFBmlB). Inevitably, comments from members in the first few weeks have been mixed – with a large cohort of members from more than 100 countries, that is no surprise. Much of the feedback has been positive but plenty of questions and concerns have been expressed too. This is all part of a healthy exchange of views, which I hope will continue throughout the consultation. Change is never easy but there is no denying that our sector has evolved significantly. It is the Chartered Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s role to ensure that our standards and the support we provide to members keep pace with that change. Importantly, we must ensure that our members, as IOSH-accredited professionals, are equipped to meet the needs of their employers. In recent years, leading OSH professionals and employers have become more vocal about the wider range of skills, knowledge and competencies required to manage corporate risk and deliver a sustainable workforce. As Neil Lennox, head of group safety and insurance at Sainsbury’s says: “It is critical that safety professionals have their voice heard in the boardroom now more than ever. To do that we need people to join our profession who can share the message that ‘good safety is good business’ and clearly articulate how we contribute to corporate governance and profitability.” This is where the research that informed our newly updated competency framework comes in. Feedback indicated that employers consider strong technical skills to be ‘a given’. In addition, they need OSH professionals that are equipped to influence and drive change so they can play an integral role in shaping safer, healthier and more sustainable workplace cultures. Our competency framework combines insights from 250,000 Blueprint assessments with qualitative contributions from focus groups worldwide, comprising employers, regulators, educators and trainers. We also analysed and benchmarked our competencies with other national and international standards in occupational safety and health. We are confident that the refreshed framework is an accurate and comprehensive reflection of the competencies required by businesses for the foreseeable future. Now, we need to achieve the same level of confidence in our grades and associated continuing professional development (CPD) to ensure they are aligned with
Oct 2020
BEH
Personal performance
AV
Planning Communication Leadership and management
Working with others
Look out for the release of the sixtynine competencies later this month at iosh.com/my-iosh/ competency-framework
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Professional development
Go fourth As Industry 4.0 transforms the way we work, OSH professionals can beneďŹ t from the changing landscape Words: PATRICK WATERSON
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Professional development
T
he first two decades of the 21st century have been marked by a multitude of societal upheavals and challenges, many of which were unforeseeable in the 1990s. The banking crisis in 2008, for example, was the worst global economic disaster since the Great Depression in the 1930s, and the effects still linger today in sectors such as housing. At the same time, new forms of advanced technology, including automation and digitalisation, have transformed the workplace and revolutionised how people communicate and interact with one another. In the next few years, there is likely to be a further expansion of technology throughout society as a whole, particularly as we enter what has been termed ‘the fourth industrial revolution’. ‘Industry 4.0’, as it is sometimes called, represents a trend towards automation, robotics and new manufacturing technologies and processes that include the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. Many of these developments are likely to have both negative and positive impacts for workers and their jobs. The disadvantages of lower levels of employment and a decrease in the number of deskilled jobs can be set against the eradication of repetitive work and greater empowerment and scope for worker decision-making, for example (bit.ly/2kHc7Xc).
95% of UK senior managers regarded soft skills as equally or more important than exam results alone skills, knowledge and training. We might then pose the question of what the OSH profession is likely to look like in the era of Industry 4.0. Some clues to answering this can be found in what employers already see as the key skills needed by workers in the future, alongside research that has examined the types of career development trends now under way. A survey this year by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme (bit.ly/2mlg2d8) found that 95% of UK senior managers regarded ‘soft skills’ as equally, or more, important than exam results alone. Around 98%
Industry 4.0 impacts
The OSH profession will have to adapt, [which] may entail moving away from established patterns of career development
Images: Getty Images
In common with all forms of innovation, the outcomes and impact of Industry 4.0, alongside other trends – such as the gig economy with its more flexible working arrangements, short-term contracts and freelancing – are difficult to assess. More certain is that the OSH profession will have to adapt. This may entail moving away from established patterns of career development and towards new areas of competency,
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Professional development
recommended that young people invest more time in enhancing such skills – including communication, teamwork and leadership – to get ahead of the game in the competitive job market. Nine business leaders in ten revealed they were more likely to employ a candidate who showed achievements beyond grades. Indeed, those who showed evidence of strong soft skills often progressed faster in the workplace. That is not to say technical knowledge is not important; rather, technical skills need to be complemented by peoplebased skills and competencies. Further support for the shift towards soft skills – sometimes called non-technical – can be found in research examining how jobs and careers have changed in recent years. Professor John Arnold, of Loughborough University, has identified a number of 21st-century careers trends, including what is sometimes termed the ‘boundaryless career’ (bit.ly/1WCZSnO). This is sometimes viewed as having an advantage over traditional career models, which assume an employee will work for one company for most of their life and have the opportunity to progress through a vertical sequence of jobs. The boundaryless career encourages mobility, flexibility, the development of knowledge and networks, and the taking of responsibility for one’s own path. It is a model that resonates effectively with temporary organisational structures and temporary projects rather than permanent structures.
Career drive Another trend illustrated by Arnold is the ‘protean career’, which describes how the individual drives the direction of their career as opposed to the employer. An individual with a protean career – or one who is protean – is thought to put selffulfilment and psychological success above concerns and norms that would have their source outside the individual. Psychological success is considered to be subjective success on the person’s own terms in contrast to objective success, such as increases in salary or promotion. A final trend, ‘job crafting’ is more about how an individual makes changes to their own job rather than to their whole career. It involves them redesigning their own job in ways that can foster satisfaction,
Personal note Part of the motivation for writing this article is the fact that I have recently taken on the role of director of the MSc occupational health and safety management course at Loughborough University. The course has been running more than 35 years and I’m sure there are hundreds of graduates now playing an active role in the OSH profession who would like to thank Dr David Wenham for the hard work he has put into the content over the years. Needless to say, my new role also provides an opportunity to take a hard look at what we currently teach on the MSc. Many of the new skills and competencies described in this article are on my list of things to include, or at least update and refresh, on the course.
engagement, resilience and general wellbeing at work. Examples include an employee who wants to improve the quality of relationships they have with co-workers. This person might choose to craft their job by deciding to play an active role in their company’s mentorship programme. This gains them experience in a leadership role and potentially increases productivity in their workplace. All of these trends in careers and the future of work contrast with some of the more established and traditional characterisations of the OSH profession. The career of the OSH practitioner of the future may not conform exactly to the descriptions of the boundaryless or protean individual, but there is already evidence of an emphasis on balancing technical with softer skills, and recognition of the importance of self-managing career directions and choices. A glance at current job adverts in the OSH field emphasises, on the one hand, technical competencies (say, the ability to investigate and record incidents, and undertake risk assessments and site inspections), but also the expectation that candidates are calm, patient and assertive, and have excellent negotiation, communication and interpersonal skills. Shifting the OSH profession in the direction of improving the latter set of skills and personal attributes is one of the drivers for initiatives such as the new competency framework, which is being introduced by IOSH (bit.ly/2nNnrlV). It is the precursor to a new professional journey from the institute to help OSH professionals to review their current skills, then identify and address gaps in order to achieve individual goals. Fundamental skills, such as communication, leadership and other types of soft skills, will be key (see ‘Changing landscape’, IOSH Magazine, October 2019: bit.ly/2LLQlMM). Skills such as analytical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to carry out research and critically evaluate evidence will feature in future OSH curricula. None of this will be achieved overnight, but if we are to reap the benefits of what Industry 4.0 promises, we will need to take these types of directions. The future of OSH education, training and career development is exciting and at the same time daunting. However, some of the new developments in the OSH profession referred to here will steer us in the right direction. ●
Dr Patrick Waterson is reader in human factors and complex systems at Loughborough University
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Safety behaviour
Engage and connect IIss w worker orker consultation consultation k key ey to overcoming criticism of procedure-led ways to manage safety? Words: JAMES POMEROY
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Safety behaviour
P
rocedures are the glue that holds together our occupational safety and health (OSH) programmes. Whether you are using paper systems, digital OSH software or mobile apps, all involve a procedure. The organisation and structure that procedures bring have undoubtedly contributed to improvements in safety over the past 30 years but, so common is their use, do we ever consider whether they are effective or desirable? Despite their pervasiveness, critics argue that OSH has become too dependent on procedures. They also suggest that something that was intended to improve safety has become an impediment to it. What lessons can we take from these different perspectives, and how can practitioners improve the deployment of procedural controls?
Image: Getty Images
Mind the gap Procedures serve multiple purposes, including defining safety-critical information, establishing an approved method of conducting a task or managing a risk, and meeting statutory requirements. Problems with OSH procedures have featured in many accidents in aviation, marine and rail, and were highlighted in the Pike River mining disaster in New Zealand in 2010 that cost 29 lives. Much of the criticism of procedures focuses on the fact that the prescribed method of work is often unrealistic, too restrictive or not feasible, given the other demands the worker faces. The gap between procedure (sometimes referred to as ‘work as imagined’) and practice (‘work as done’) has become so significant that, according to Australian safety expert Greg Smith, the courts have developed a term to describe it: paper systems. At the heart of this debate is an important question: are procedures there to control workers, or are they a tool to engage them in developing safer solutions? These two approaches were explored in IOSH research paper Management of Safety Rules and Procedures: a review of the literature (see diagram, right). Procedures have traditionally been hierarchical, and this remains the dominant approach - particularly for task-based activities and control of high risks, such as life-safety rules. With their origins in the scientific management movement, top-down style procedures seek to avoid errors and mistakes by limiting variation and defining a single best way. Conversely, more autonomy is provided with bottom-up type procedures that are often used with
highly technical or complex work. These recognise that adaptation, interpretation and exceptions occur because of differences in the situation, task or environment. They are developed from the actual work and believe that the real safety expert is the one doing the work. To support the higher level of discretion, scenariobased training, such as simulators and exercises, are used alongside social controls and feedback systems to capture, review and learn from successes and failures. The difference between these approaches is not a theoretical debate. It goes to the heart of how we view deviation and rule violation in the context of success or failure. For example, the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers report Life-Saving Rules claims that adherence to the organisation’s life-saving rules could have prevented 70% of the fatal incidents that have occurred among its members. Critics argue, however, that many survivors of serious accidents
TOP-DOWN: Procedures are a means of controlling the variations, errors and mistakes that workers make
Define and prescribe a standardised method Developed by a few experts Violations to be corrected Adapt Comply Learning from variations Developed with workers collaboratively Guidelines enabling discretion and local judgement
BOTTOM-UP: Procedures are a means of engaging workers, learning and improving from experience
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– particularly in terms of time and simultaneous activities – will help to improve the effectiveness of the requirements. Consulting and piloting the procedures with the workforce are important. Indeed, consultation is at the heart of the new ISO 45001 standard.
Around 5.2 million adults in England have low levels of literacy, and many seek work in high-risk industries used their intuition and experience to adapt to an evolving situation rather than strictly adhering to a procedure. Similarly, safety guru Sidney Dekker argues that linking procedural violations with serious accidents is flawed, because it selectively ignores the thousands of times when adaptation led to positive outcomes, such as process improvement or innovation.
5
These two approaches are not as polarised as they first appear, and most of us will probably be somewhere in the middle. The expectations of external stakeholders – notably regulators and clients – will often influence the approach taken. What can we learn from each approach? And, given the desire by organisations to simplify and digitalise their systems, how should procedures evolve? Here are five areas to consider:
It’s not just the style of writing that’s important it can sometimes be the words themselves. Around 5.2 million adults in England have low levels of literacy, many of whom seek work in high-risk industries such as construction, transport and manufacturing. The fact that individuals who most need to understand OSH information may be those least able to comprehend can be easy to overlook. These challenges can be addressed by adopting visual literacy, such as using pictorial guidance or video instructions to visually demonstrate each stage of the task. Procedures play an important role in OSH, but the frequency with which gaps arise in incidents demonstrates that improvements are required. Improving how procedures are developed, communicated and used will certainly help. Ensuring users are intrinsically involved in their development and iteration is equally important. ●
ENGAGEMENT
How we think and respond to the variance between procedure and practice is at the heart of Dekker’s ‘Safety Differently’ approach. Variance exists in every task, and workers continually manage this gap within the complexity of their work and the conflicting pressures they face. When variance is found between procedure and practice, stark choices can often be presented: we can seek to control and close the gap, or we can be curious and seek to learn from the variance. Perhaps the worker has found a better way to control the risk or conduct the task than those who wrote the procedure. When we are curious, we can often learn about the competing priorities workers face, and can be surprised by the challenge they encounter in applying the procedure. Trust, curiosity and desire to act on feedback help us to learn from work as performed.
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References and further reading
APPROPRIATE
Because of their relative low cost and ease of deployment, the fallibility of procedural controls can be overlooked. Regulators have previously stated that too much reliance is placed on procedures, particularly when they are used as the primary defence for safety-critical tasks. The question sometimes overlooked is whether more effective controls can be used to remove or reduce hazards, such as design, layout or engineering.
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ACHIEVABLE
Procedures often fail because the demands that they place on individuals are impractical. The more complex a process is, the greater the pressures placed on individuals, and thus the higher the chance of error. Learning about the other demands placed on individuals
ACCESSIBILITY
OSH procedures can be long, complex or written in a way that makes them difficult for users to understand. Convoluted sentences, complex and technical language, or the formatting and layout of instructions, can all make it difficult to understand what needs to be done. Applying the suggestions for effective OSH procedures will help to make these procedures more effective.
Applying best practice
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4
APPROACH
The style and approach that organisations take to OSH procedures will depend on the culture of the organisation, the type of work it undertakes, and the regulatory context. The traditional approach of detailed step-by-step procedures remains the dominant style, particularly when the work is repeatable and different outcomes can be predicted. Work involving a high degree of adaptation, discretion and local initiative is more suited to guidance-style procedures.
James Pomeroy is group health, safety, environment and security director at Lloyd’s Register
Hale A, Borys D, and Else D, Management of Safety Rules and Procedures: a review of the literature. IOSH research report, 2012 (bit.ly/2n56MKi). Smith G, Paper Safe: the triumph of bureaucracy in safety management, 2018 (bit.ly/2nO67gs). Dekker S, Safety Differently: human factors for a new era. CRC Press, 2014 (bit.ly/2nSL1gQ). Hale A, Borys D and Else D, Building Sound Foundations: guidance on managing safety rules and procedures. IOSH, 2012 (bit.ly/2mTlSTp). HSE information sheet. Revitalising Procedures. (bit.ly/2nPM6Gi). Bieder C and Bourrier M, Trapping Safety into Rules: how desirable or avoidable is proceduralization? CRC Press, 2013 (bit.ly/2nSZREo). HSG48 Reducing Error and Influencing Behaviour. HSE books, 2018 (bit.ly/2HTGUJl).
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Don’t get lost in the detail. Lloyd’s Register (LR) oȂers organisations a tailored path to successful ISO 45001 certification through our range of training courses and assessment services, designed to help you improve your OHS performance and simplify your journey to compliance. Gap Analysis and Certification LR’s ISO 45001 Gap Analysis service oȂers an overview of your OHSMS certification readiness. You will receive a report, analysing your understanding of ISO 45001, including the areas that will require the most attention to achieve compliance and certification to the new standard. Certification to ISO 45001 with LR is typically a two-stage process, consisting of a system appraisal and an initial assessment, the duration of which is dependent on the size and nature of your organisation. For more information visit info.lr.org/45001-certification or call our assessment services team on 0800 783 2179. Training LR oȂers face-to-face, eLearning and blended training for ISO 45001. Our face-to-face courses are delivered at venues around the country or at your premises by our expert trainers who facilitate participation and discussion to get the most from the group experience. With our eLearning options, delegates access the course online and study at their own pace, at a time and place convenient to them. Our blended courses combine eLearning modules for self-study with face-to-face training where interaction with other delegates will help to embed the learning. Secure your place at info.lr.org/45001-training or call our training team on 0800 328 6543.
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Personal injury claims
We need disclosure Responsibility for the exchange of documents between parties in an injury claim may fall upon a safety professional. So what has to be submitted and are there grounds for refusal? Words: CHARLOTTE WATERS
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Personal injury claims
What is disclosure? ‘Disclosure’ is the term given to the stage in the litigation process when each party is required to inform the other side of the existence of all ‘disclosable’ documents (namely, those relevant to the claim) that are or have been in its possession or control. This means a document physically in the party’s possession, or something it has a right to possess or inspect. Disclosure applies to documents on which your organisation will rely in the case, and those that adversely affect its case or supports that of the claimant. Personal injury claims are subject to a pre-action protocol. Under this, the claimant’s representatives must send a letter of claim (which should be passed to the organisation’s insurer as soon as it is received), setting out the documents required if liability is denied. If proceedings are issued, there is a stage at which the lawyers for each party will need to prepare a ‘list
A document is not just a piece of paper but includes emails, texts, digital documents, photographs, video clips and CCTV
of documents’ detailing those documents that its client has and those over which it no longer has control. The list must also confirm that a reasonable and proportionate search has been made for them. The duty to disclose continues until the end of the proceedings. Therefore, if a disclosable document comes to your notice at any time during the proceedings, it should be brought to the attention of the lawyers acting for your organisation, so that it can be disclosed to the other side. Once the list of documents has been sent, the other side has a right to inspect them. Usually, this will be dealt with by copies of the requested documents being sent by the organisation’s lawyers to the claimant’s solicitors. Sometimes, the claimant’s lawyers will apply for documents before issuing proceedings, in what is known as a ‘pre-action disclosure application’. This occurs when the prospective claimant needs to see the organisation’s information to decide whether to press ahead. These types of applications are more common in industrial disease cases, such as noise-induced hearing loss claims. The application will usually follow on from correspondence between the claimant’s lawyers and the insurers which the organisation may be unaware of, so receiving the application may come as a surprise. When received, it should be passed immediately to the insurer or its lawyers.
What is a document? A document is anything that contains information. Therefore, a document is not just a piece of paper but includes emails, texts, digital documents, photographs, video clips and CCTV. The limitation period for bringing a personal injury claim is three years (although in some circumstances it can be longer, such as in a disease claim when the start of the limitation period will be active from the date of knowledge that the condition was work-related). It follows that letters of claim might not be received for many months, or even years, after the incident. In that time, the workplace and the working procedures may have changed. It is important, then, that if there is an incident on which a claim might be made, as much information is obtained as early as possible and documents retained. It is also important to ensure that any routine destruction of documents that might be relevant is stopped. This includes the routine deletion
Images: Istock
O
ne job that can come the way of a safety professional is dealing or assisting with personal injury claims, whether from employees, contractors or members of the public who have been harmed in connection with the organisation’s business. It will include responding to requests for documents from the organisation’s insurer or from the liability adjuster or solicitors, so that they can deal with ‘disclosure’ to the claimant’s legal representatives. This can often seem a challenging task, particularly if the safety professional is unfamiliar with the legal process and what is required.
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● ●
● ● ● ● ● ● ●
copies of relevant CCTV footage, photographs or video clips if machinery or work equipment is involved, manufacturer’s specifications, the operation manual, instructions and maintenance records documents relating to safety equipment and personal protective equipment documents relating to the repair of work equipment or premises, if relevant copies of relevant minutes of meetings of the organisation’s health and safety committee training records of the claimant personnel and occupational health records of the claimant back-to-work interview notes and report the internal accident investigation report (disclosable unless it is subject to legal professional privilege).
Data protection
Image: Shutterstock
Organisations are often anxious about data protection and the fear of breaching data management obligations under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). The DPA defines ‘personal data’ as information about a living person from which they could be identified. ‘Processing’ data includes recording, analysing and disclosing it. Some personal data, such as medical records, is classed as ‘special category’. Processing personal data will be lawful if the individual consents or if it is deemed ‘necessary’ under one of the provisions set out in the GDPR, such as to comply with a legal obligation. Special category documents have further conditions that must be satisfied. If the disclosure is not covered by the lawful processing conditions, there are exceptional circumstances when the GDPR conditions do not apply. These include when disclosure is necessary: for, or in connection with, legal proceedings; to obtain legal advice; and to establish, exercise or defend legal rights. There are some situations in which compliance with GDPR can be achieved by redaction. The list of attendees and their signatures to a toolbox talk, for example, could be blanked out except for the claimant’s name and signature.
of computer records, especially emails, or the wiping of CCTV evidence.
Privileged documents Parties are not required to disclose privileged documents. Broadly these come into existence for: ● the purposes of giving or obtaining legal advice – for example, correspondence between solicitors and their clients; and ● the predominant purpose of bringing or defending actual or potential litigation (criminal or civil), for example, particularly if there is the potential for a prosecution in the UK by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the organisation’s internal accident investigation may be made subject to professional legal privilege, under which the external lawyer has requested and given instructions for the investigation so that they can advise the organisation.
Use of documents Information derived from documents provided through the disclosure process must be used only in the court proceedings. Misuse could be contempt of court, for which a fine or even imprisonment might follow. It should also be noted that documents obtained through other legal proceedings cannot be used in the litigation without the permission of the court that has jurisdiction over those other proceedings. Examples include an employment tribunal, or an inquest before a coroner if the matter involves a workplace death.
Common documents Documents that commonly form part of the disclosure as part of a workplace accident claim include: ● the accident-book entry ● other entries in the accident book that relate to similar incidents ● reports made to the HSE under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) ● the first-aider’s report ● relevant risk assessments (pursuant to reg 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 or specific regulations, such as reg 6 of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002) and post-incident risk assessments ● relevant method statements and safe systems of work, and any amendments made after the incident
If in doubt, ask
Charlotte Waters is managing partner and solicitor, Fisher Scoggins Waters LLP
Disclosure can be a complex area, particularly in terms of what documents may be relevant, and of GDPR issues. If there is any doubt, legal advice should be sought from the lawyers acting for the organisation in the claim. There can also be tensions in respect of disclosure if, alongside the personal injury claim, an HSE criminal investigation is under way. In those circumstances, it is important that the respective legal teams dealing with the civil and criminal litigation liaise. ●
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H
“
opefully we can make a sea change in this space.” That was Clare Forshaw’s call to action as she explored how businesses could be at the forefront in responding effectively to physical and mental health issues faced by employees. She told delegates at the annual Food and Drink Manufacturing Health and Safety Conference: “The idea is we keep people in work, keep them productive and keep them healthy.” Forshaw, an occupational health and hygiene partner at consultancy Park Health and Safety, said line managers played a key role in dealing with common health problems, including musculoskeletal disorders and work-related stress. Highlighting the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) toolbox for controlling workplace risks, she said line managers were well placed to identify issues early and look for solutions. “If someone is struggling with a back problem, for example, they can go to their line manager,” said Forshaw. “The toolbox helps people adapt work and manage the symptoms. This is better than having them go to their GP and get a sick note. It is about getting in early and working with people on solutions.” Dr John Rowe, head of the HSE’s manufacturing and utilities unit, also focused on health issues at the event on 1-2 October in Lincolnshire. He announced changes in the HSE’s enforcement position on work-related stress (bit.ly/2OHnB9T). The regulator will now investigate concerns raised about work-related stress issues if they
meet agreed criteria. Explaining the change, he said stress was “a big issue” in workplaces and referred to a study that found two organisations in five were not properly assessing the risks. “Society expects us to be focused on physical and mental health,” he added. Looking at the physical health issues in the food and drink sector, the incidences of musculoskeletal disorders and occupational lung disease are significant. The former, according to an industry survey, is the biggest concern for half of businesses. It affected 4,000 workers a year, said Rowe, while one injury in five reported under RIDDOR related to manual handling. “We have still got a big problem in this area in this industry,” he said. “We are not making enough inroads when it comes to manual handling issues.”
Modern slavery As well as being challenged to consider how they managed health risks, delegates were also asked to consider what they – and their organisations – were doing to tackle exploitation in the labour market. Mark Heath, deputy director of business change at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, said everyone had a role to play by asking questions about work supply. The food services industry – including catering, restaurants, and food packaging and processing – is exceptionally prone to labour exploitation (see ‘Time to Act’, p 18). Heath asked: “Do we question who provides food for events like this? Do we question who cleans our hotel
Food and drink sector conference Words: MARCUS BOOCOCK Pictures: STEVE BURDEN
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behave ethically, one of the markers being to ensure modern slavery is not involved in their operations. Highlighting that 30% of the workforce will be aged 55 or over by 2030 – as well as almost one-third being independent workers – he explored the role that safety and health professionals can play in ensuring people are included in discussions about sustainability. Orton challenged delegates to consider how they would promote their work with a senior leader in ‘an elevator conversation’. “It’s your chance to let them know what your role is, how you contribute to the business, how there is a 120% return on investment for businesses that treat safety and health as a priority.” Crucial to this process was being able to speak the language of business, he said. There was little point in safety and health professionals having technical knowledge if they could not impart that within an organisation, and influence policy at the top level.
Award winners AB Azucarera Iberia, part of the AB Sugar Group, won this year’s International Food and Drink Health and Safety Awards for its new measurement and reward system which significantly reduced accidents. The runners-up were Allied Bakeries and Finlays, last year’s winner.
rooms? Society doesn’t ask enough questions in this area.” The supply of labour, he said, was a very lucrative business, and criminals found it easy to infiltrate supply chains. “This is a business model that criminal entrepreneurs have identified and pursue. There will always be demand for labour. There will be workers required to do whatever a business needs. So that means there is an opportunity for people to exploit that labour,” he said. Many victims were unaware that they were being exploited, and it was difficult to identify them, said Heath. “That is why we have to ask questions and have that conversation. We can encourage an environment where people are happy to talk about their circumstances.” Richard Orton, IOSH’s director of strategy and business development, said regulators and investors were putting more pressure on employers to prove they
Value added
Left to Right Clare Forshaw, John Rowe, Mark Heath, Richard Orton, Ben Bennett and Chris Moon
The role of line managers in supporting employees with health issues, modern slavery, and the use of new technology in the sector featured at this year’s event
Food manufacturer Samworth Brothers is one business increasingly seeing the value of good safety and health management. Paul Davey, the group executive board director who joined the board in 2015 when the business was under HSE scrutiny, was determined to oversee a step-change in how employees were protected. He said the company was on a multi-year journey to meet various commitments, including improving understanding of risk across the business, implementing a safety and health strategy, and measuring and monitoring performance. “Behaviour has changed around near-misses,” Davey said. “If we have a ‘red’ incident, a safety alert is created and the learning is discussed around the business. This was a really important part of our journey.” Also central to improvement has been the establishment of a strong safety and health team and the investment that businesses make to grow their OSH ‘talent pool’. Many businesses are turning to new technologies to enhance their safety and health training, said Ben Bennett, managing director of digital transformation business Luminous Group. He looked at how virtual reality has been used in training to allow participants to experience dangerous situations without compromising their safety. But, he said, technology was continuing to move at pace, and the advent of mixed reality – the fusion of physical and digital content – provided even greater opportunities, which enabled experts based in remote locations to be more easily contacted for advice. Delegates also heard from Chris Moon, a former soldier and charity worker, who spoke about his incredible story of being captured by Khmer Rouge guerrillas in Cambodia and then being severely injured in a landmine explosion. Despite losing an arm and leg in the blast, he remains positive and has taken part in many ultramarathons, which are races longer than the traditional distance of 42 km (26 miles). Moon encouraged delegates to always consider what they could achieve rather than what they couldn’t, adding that the biggest limits were those created by over-analysing situations. “It’s not what we are, but what we should be,” he said. The conference coincided with the announcement of the winners of the International Food and Drink Health and Safety Awards (see box). ●
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Global initiatives
Payers to players: ISSA’s Vision Zero Two years after its launch we look at the progress of what is claimed to be the first global OSH campaign Words: LOUIS WUSTEMANN
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Stepping up Launched in September 2017 at the World Congress for Safety and Health in Singapore, Vision Zero is ISSA’s response to the challenges facing its members. It was heralded as the first global accident and illhealth reduction initiative and ISSA and its members have worked to give it a worldwide reach – and to distinguish it from the campaign with the same name to cut traffic accidents in the world’s largest cities. The campaign literature emphasises that Vision Zero is predicated on the belief that all accidents and diseases at work can be prevented. However, ISSA has been careful to sidestep the controversy surrounding the achievability in practice of zero accident goals by focusing on the value of zero accidents as an approach
With leading indicators you can have targets that make people accountable and encourage preventive action
Vision Zero’s seven golden rules TAKE LEADERSHIP – demonstrate commitment. IDENTIFY HAZARDS – control risks. DEFINE TARGETS – develop programmes. ENSURE A SAFE AND HEALTHY SYSTEM – be well-organised. ENSURE SAFETY AND HEALTH IN MACHINES, EQUIPMENT AND WORKPLACES IMPROVE QUALIFICATIONS – develop competence. INVEST IN PEOPLE – motivate by participation.
rather than a target. Konkolewsky has stressed that Vision Zero is ‘a long-term commitment, a mindset’, both for ISSA and the organisations committing themselves to the programme. Early signatories included Hitachi, Rolls-Royce and Siemens and the initiative was backed by IOSH, the World Health Organization, US safety regulator OSHA and the International Association of Labour Inspection. Vision Zero is founded on seven golden rules (see box). These were tested on business and follow the orthodoxy for good OSH management, prioritising issues such as senior leadership, worker involvement, risk assessment and control and training and competence, most of them common to the ISO 45001 management systems standard. ISSA has backed up the rules with a series of guides and checklists for signatories to assess the progress of their organisations in implementing the codes. The Vision Zero website (visionzero.global) invites individuals to apply to train as trainers to help organisations implement the golden rules. By September this year 841 trainers had been certified.
Regional influence The launch in Singapore was followed by a series of regional launches, starting with one for Asia in Thailand a week later and one for Europe in Düsseldorf in October. Others followed in Africa, Eurasia, Latin America and North America in 2018. These have been backed up by country and sectorspecific events, 37 of them in 2017 and 24 in 2019, supported by ISSA, its member bodies and state agencies. They range from a campaign launch day for Central Africa, held in Gabon’s capital Libreville, to a Vision Zero in the Waste Industry conference in Hamburg on 23 October. Initiatives span sectors and countries as diverse as mining in southern Africa and agriculture in Poland. Dr Gerard Zwetsloot, an academic and consultant for ISSA, says this regional and sectoral emphasis is giving the global campaign local traction. Taking the example of the Polish agricultural initiative, started in June by the country’s Agricultural Social Insurance
Image: Alamy
I
n 2017, the International Labour Organization produced its first estimate of the cost of occupational accidents and diseases as a percentage of annual global gross domestic product (GDP). The figure, $2.99trn (£2.43trn), equated to 3.94% of the value of all the world’s goods and services in a year. For members of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) it was probably the monetary figure rather than the proportion of GDP it represented that concerned them. ISSA comprises the national social security bodies from 158 countries that foot the compensation bills for those injuries and diseases. (In the UK and US employers are required to contract with private sector liability insurers, but in most countries state agencies make the payments.) ISSA members had long been concerned by the cost of accidents and diseases. Many are threatened by demographic changes in the next few decades that will result in fewer people of working age paying into systems that in many cases have to sustain pensions and unemployment benefits as well as injury compensation. The looming pinch point spurred social security agencies to look beyond their previous efforts to encourage employers to work harder to reduce accidents and ill health, many of which had focused on increasing the contributions demanded of organisations with higher rates of claims. ISSA’s general secretary, Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, was reported as saying: “When it comes to work injuries many social security administrations still mainly have the role of payers as they cover health costs and pay out compensation and long-term benefits after an accident or occupational disease has occurred. We believe that social security institutions should become more proactive and preventive and contribute to avoiding work injuries in the first place. We want them to become players.”
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Global initiatives
Fund, Zwetsloot says: “They have developed the seven golden rules for individual farmers and agricultural companies... there are maybe 50 or 60 countries that are very active at the moment.” The generality of the seven rules seems to be key to its acceptance in varying cultures and industries. At the campaign launch at Sochi in Russia in May 2018, a journalist asked ISSA’s vice-president, KarlHeinz Noetel, whether the programme was suitable for Russian organisations whose employees face harsh working conditions. “It is not a matter of climate or working conditions, it is a matter of willingness to do it and that’s so simple,” said Noetel. He pointed to the Alrosa diamond mining group in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in eastern Russia which had recently signed up to the Vision Zero principles. “They have open pit mines, it’s minus 55°C, [with] strong winds. Talk to your workers, [ask] what’s the problem and then do it. If the workers are comfortable they will work better… these rules are simple and they work everywhere.” More evidence of the scheme’s adaptability came at this year’s IOSH conference in September, which featured a presentation from Jamiu Badmos, head of quality, health, safety and environment at Nigerian electrical distribution company Ikeja Electric. Badmos explained how the safety and health function had used Vision Zero’s seven rules along with the ISO 45001 management systems standard to reduce its high accident and ill-health rates, achieving an unprecedented zero fatality rate. The number of companies pledging to implement the Vision Zero principles (visionzero.global/join-us) stood at 4,625 in September. Arguably this is not a big dent in the global constituency of hundreds of millions of enterprises, but the programme is only two years old and ISSA reported that the number of company signatories, trainers and affiliate organisations had jumped by one-third (around 2,000) in just six months, which suggests growing momentum.
is the number of organisational and individual key performance indicators tied to SHW. For Rule 6, on improving qualifications, the measure is the percentage of new employees, from shopfloor to executive level, who received safety, health and wellbeing training before starting work. Each indicator will be backed up by a factsheet that defines its terms and sets out success metrics and five examples of associated good behaviour. So for the seventh rule, investing in people, where the indicator is ‘percentage of adequate followups on suggestions for SHW improvements’, the factsheet provides ‘suggestions’ – incorporating near-misses and flagging up problems into its definition – and ‘adequate follow-ups’. The performance measures specify that more than 95% of suggestions followed up adequately within a month qualifies as ‘excellent’; 80-95% is ‘on the way to excellent’; and less than 80% rates as ‘needs improvement’. The good practices include welcoming suggestions rather than treating them like an inconvenience, keeping the author of a suggestion informed about its progress and checking whether useful ideas could be spread throughout the organisation. The good practice examples “take it beyond simple percentage measurements to make each indicator richer”, says Zwetsloot. In drafting the first seven indicators he and his team had help from 30 companies in 13 countries. These included multinationals such as Siemens and Toyota, he says, “but also companies from Sweden, Ecuador and Chile. So it’s not only the big companies. We don’t want indicators that are useful for multinationals. They should be simple to implement for medium-sized enterprises”. The draft indicators and associated factsheets were tested by volunteer organisations, which provided feedback through an online survey that ended last month. Once their responses have been assimilated and the seven measures are finalised, a further seven – one for each rule – will be issued before the end of the year to go through the same process of testing and refinement. Then, Zwetsloot says, ISSA will need time to translate the indicators into as many languages as possible and to develop supporting material for Vision Zero trainers and signatories. The aim is to launch the 14 indicators at the 22nd World Conference on Safety and Health in Toronto in October 2020, soon after Vision Zero’s third anniversary. “I don’t know if they will have been distributed unofficially to the interested companies before then,” says Zwetsloot. Overall, he believes Vision Zero is growing because it offers – without charge – a highly adaptable framework that mixes the practical with the cultural aspects of safety, health and wellbeing. “It’s a mix of concrete preventive activities and creating a culture where prevention can grow and be effective,” he says. This year’s Vision Zero summit is being held in Helsinki, Finland, from 12 to 14 November (ttl.fi/visionzero19). ●
Vision Zero take up in first year
More underpinning For the next stage of Vision Zero, ISSA has commissioned a set of leading indicators to support the seven rules. Demand for some metrics came from companies that had signed up to the campaign, says Zwetsloot, who has co-ordinated their development during 2019. “They were keen to have some means to benchmark progress against each other,” he says. The emphasis on leading metrics rather than lagging measures such as accident rates follows generally accepted practice in OSH management that prioritises managing inputs rather than simply poring over outcomes. “With leading indicators you can have targets that make people accountable and encourage preventive action,” says Zwetsloot. The draft indicators are tied to the seven rules: one for each rule. The indicator for Rule 1, covering leadership, is the frequency of shift briefings with a safety, health and welfare (SHW) component. For Rule 4 – ensuring a safe and healthy system – it
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THERP Words: BRIDGET LEATHLEY
I
magine there are two identical buttons on a machine. The one on the right switches it on; the one on the left switches it off. The operator knows this because they have been trained. However, in an emergency – a co-worker has a limb stuck in the machine, say – when people are shouting, the operator presses the wrong button. A simple change such as colouring one button red would make the error less likely. But by how much? With more complex displays and controls, on which changes would be more expensive, how would you calculate the benefit of any alteration to the user interface? How can you decide which of two equally expensive changes would provide the best benefit? This was a dilemma that the nuclear industry faced after the part-meltdown of a reactor at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979. In response, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission produced the Handbook of Human Reliability Analysis (Swain and Guttmann, 1983). In its 728 pages (bit.ly/32Zh1zl) it attempts to put numbers on the likelihood of different user errors, given different types of job aids, and to describe the performance-shaping factors (PSF) that can cause the error probabilities to be better or worse. From this analysis, the technique for human error-rate prediction (THERP) was born. Two years later, Jerry Williams published proposals for human error assessment and reduction technique (HEART) based on his work in the UK energy sector. HEART gave greater consideration to a wider range of PSF, including inexperience on the part of the operator, and overload of information. THERP and HEART provided analysts with evidence-based human error probabilities (HEPs). The human components of a system could be shown in an event tree, alongside failures of valves, alarms and response systems. Decisions about user interface design, procedures and job aids could be based on calculations rather than guesswork. To apply THERP (or HEART) there must first be a task analysis (see IOSH Magazine September 2018: bit.ly/2kJyriW). At each node of this process, the types of human error possible need to be defined.
Too much behavioural safety literature identifies the correct behaviours as something the worker can choose to do, or not to do
For example, following a smoke detector alert, the security guard’s task is to go to the location to check for fire. Errors could include: doing nothing (omission); going to the wrong location (selection); going to the right location but too slowly (timing); or immediately phoning the fire brigade without checking (sequence). Other error categories include quantity (doing too much or too little of something) and extraneous acts (doing something unrelated). If you want to know more about THERP, HEART and other human error assessment techniques that followed, the HSE Research Report 679 Review of Human Reliability Assessment Methods (2009) has further references (bit.ly/2kzRcFB). Techniques such as THERP and HEART have their limitations. Swain and Guttmann admitted there was a “paucity of actual data on human performance” on which to base the HEPs. The time required to apply the techniques is unlikely to be practicable in most occupational health and safety responses. However, some generalised features of THERP are useful to understand when carrying out a risk assessment. The first is the importance of understanding the task. If the team considering ‘changing a fuse’ all have a different idea of what the task involves, the assessment will be unreliable. If there isn’t the resource for a fullblown task analysis, a clear description of the task being studied would improve many assessments. A second lesson from THERP is to understand what makes errors more (or less) likely. For example, performing rule-based actions when written procedures are available and used could be 100 times less error-prone than performing the same action when written procedures are not available. You are ten times more likely to leave a step out of a procedure than to add a step in, so instructions that remind people what they should do will be more effective than ones telling them what not to do. The final lesson to take from THERP and HEART is a change of mindset. Too much behavioural safety literature identifies the correct behaviours as something the worker can choose to do, or not to do. THERP reminds us that for every physical or cognitive task there is a probability of error. It also reminds us that reducing – or increasing – the probability of those human errors is the responsibility of those who design the physical and psychosocial environment in which people work. ●
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Off duty
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Martin Marmoy-Haynes CMIOSH
Health and safety consultant, JEM Safety Management
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People often say to me, ‘How come you take risks, given what you do for a job?’ But it’s measured risk-taking
y first experience of the Pennine Fells was at junior school. A group of us went on a camping trip to Hathersage in the Peak District: we tried potholing, climbing and abseiling. It was my first ‘outdoors’ experience. At university I joined the hiking club and went on several trips to the Lake District. Later, when I had my children, I wanted to show them the places I’d visited, so I carried on making trips to the Lakes and the Peak District, as well as doing trips abroad. Fell running is an endurance challenge. I live in London, where it’s relatively flat. I’ve run the London Marathon and can handle distance, but I don’t really enjoy running on the streets. When I’m running in the Peak District, it’s a whole different ball game: it’s seriously high. I love looking at a huge hill and thinking, “I can do that”. It’s about testing myself. When I can feel my pulse hammering in my ears, I feel alive. I like being selfsufficient – packing my water, snack and torch. Fell running is weather-dependent. I’ve had to turn back before. One time I got up at 4.30am to climb Helvellyn in the Lake District. I started out, but soon the rain was lashing down and I knew it would be a miserable day – slippery and dangerous. Earlier this year, I was on the Kinder Scout plateau in the Peak District, and there was snow that was shin-deep in places. You can’t run in snow: you’d barely do 0.5km an hour, and it’s hazardous. Planning is vital. As well as the weather, I check sunrise and sunset times. In the summer, if sunset is 9.45pm I know I’ll have maybe 60 minutes of twilight after that. But there’s very little twilight in winter: if sunset is 5pm, it’ll be pitch black 15 minutes later. I always carry a compass, as coming back down a hill can be very disorientating. Temperature changes accompany altitude – a temperature of 3°C in the lowlands could become minus 6°C on a summit – so I go well equipped: waterproof top and trousers; food; and Kendal Mint Cake – the classic energy snack for climbers that was taken by the British Mount Everest Expedition in 1953.
People often say to me: “How come you take risks, given what you do for a job?” But it’s measured risk-taking. I really feel alive when I’m in the mountains, because it’s just me against the elements. So much of life is organised, and it’s good to step outside that – for my mental and physical health. Sometimes I run, sometimes I jog or walk. I can be three-and-a-half hours away from the car with no mobile phone signal, looking at a waterfall, and it’s a great feeling. Health and safety laws are demanding: you ‘must’ ensure this; you ‘must’ report that. In an office, if you were to use a kickstool that you know is wobbly, technically you’d be breaking the law, because you’re putting your health and safety at risk. But when I’m running up a slope and choosing rock holds, I’m taking calculated risks. I always tell someone where I’m going and when I expect to be back. One of my best mountain experiences was trekking to Everest base camp in Nepal. It was snowing at the top of Kala Patthar at 5,549 m (18,208 feet) so the view of the glacier was obscured. However, when the weather cleared there was a brilliant view of the summit. I’m lucky that I don’t experience altitude sickness and really like heights. I had a less positive experience one time while exploring Kinder. I was racing against the sun setting, and decided to push on a bit further before turning back. But I got disorientated and came back down the wrong valley. Then the clouds came in and darkness came more quickly than I’d expected, so I had to switch on my torch. There were steep rocky drops and I was worried at the time – it was my own human error. You need a clear plan before you set off. When something goes wrong, it’s usually because you didn’t have a plan, or didn’t stick to it. It’s the same at work: fail to plan and plan to fail. The cornerstone of fell running, just as with health and safety, is risk assessment. You need to ask yourself: “What if something goes wrong?” It’s why I always carry spare batteries for my torch, water, tea and survival bag, which I would climb into to keep warm if the worst happened and I was unable to walk and had to wait for rescue. I’d recommend walking or running in the Lake District or Peak District, but if you haven’t done it before, make sure you go with someone else. Choose well-worn paths, and always take more food and drink than you think you’ll need. Sometimes I have the best experiences in less inviting weather, because I get solitude. I’ve had days when I haven’t seen anyone for six hours. How often in life are you alone for that long? Life in the city is a stressor, and fell running is an antidote. Sometimes all I can hear is a bird, and at the summit it can be absolutely silent. I’ve seen snakes, owls and deer while out running, but no wild big cats – so far. ●
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Recruitment
Ask a recruiter I get very nervous at interviews, even if I know I am a good fit. What advice can you give me to improve my preparation? Nerves are very common among candidates, regardless of whether it’s your first interview within health and safety or you have 30 years’ experience behind you! When arriving for an interview nerves are the last thing you want creeping in and disrupting your natural confidence or abilities, so for a less stressful experience, follow these steps: The logistics: always plan your journey down to a tee, as running late due to heavy traffic can throw you even before you’ve even sat down for the interview! Journeys by public transport, the length of the drive at that time of day, parking information, remembering to fill up with petrol in good time etc. should all be part of your plan to arrive on time and fluster-free! Even better, carry out a dummy run beforehand if you can. The interview panel: plan for a good start to the interview! Make sure you’ve done your homework on the company’s
background – their vision and values, what they do, latest news items – most of our clients are passionate about what they do, so demonstrating that you know what makes them tick will go down well, their reaction should help dampen any nerves! Their website and social media accounts are a good place to start. Be sure to find out who will be interviewing you – and check out their LinkedIn profile to help you with icebreakers and conversation starters if it becomes relevant. The role: understand exactly what the role you’ve applied for entails to help you focus on structuring your questions and answers. Prepare well to keep your answers relevant and concise. Use your recruiter or HR contact! Don’t be afraid to ask questions for clarification ahead of the interview – if you are confident that you know what to expect, you’ll be less nervous.
The basics: finally, perhaps the most important and least thought-about point – don’t forget to highlight your own experience and technical skillset. Don’t focus too much on your research to the detriment of being able to demonstrate how examples of your own work fit with the role, or even worse, not demonstrating that you have the required technical skills. Take some time to think about career highlights and prepare answers to some of the standard interview questions such as ‘how do you deal with conflict?’ Or ‘what is your approach to communicating the safety message?’. Remember that no interview, business or vacancy is the same, so if you’re actively looking for the next step in your career, it’s best to go through these steps for each one. Utilise your network, materials (and search engines) and you will give yourself a much better chance of excelling in an interview for a position that you fully grasp and know is right for you. Tayla Brown specialises solely in the built environment sector across permanent positions. T: 01296 611348 M: 07860432556 E: tayla.brown@shirleyparsons.com
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Senior Health and Safety Officer South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils Full time post based at 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, Abingdon, OX14 4SB. Salary: £44,534 - £48,953 pa Closing date: Friday 15 November ژ This is a new and exciting role to help us transform our approach to health and safety across the councils.ژ This role is responsible for delivering a new health and safety strategy and the policies and arrangements for delivering its implementation. To do this you will work in conjunction with the Head of Corporate Services and other managers and staff, in particular the Property team. ژ You will need the knowledge, skills and experience to deliver and the interpersonal, communication and persuasion skills to bring everyone with you on the journey. If you are looking for a new challenge in an exciting, fast paced environment and can develop strategies and policies while confidently providing professional advice along with other competing priorities, please get in touch.
For a full job description and details of how to apply visit southoxon.gov.uk/jobs
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The autonomy and influence are unmatched. So are the expectations. Regional Health & Safety Manager – Sheppey Competitive salary (£44,000 rising in stages to £76,495 after 4 years) plus Audi A4/BMW 3 series When you look at the figures, it’s easy to see why Aldi is making so many headlines. With over 840 stores already, we’re creating more retail space over the coming years than our main rivals combined. Our ambition is to have over 1200 stores by 2025. But it’s not just our performance and plans that make Aldi such an exciting place to be. It’s the autonomy you get to influence strategy and impact on the business. Over the last 3 years we have been transforming our approach to health and safety. Join us and you’ll face the challenge of helping to shape the safety culture in our Sheppey region, with accountability for the Distribution Centre on the Isle of Sheppey and stores across the South East. This is all about supporting our corporate goals and maintaining Aldi at the forefront of H&S in the retail sector. You’ll be part of a dedicated team of 12 health and safety professionals already embedded in each region. It’s your chance to work closely with regional operations across warehousing, logistics and retail, as well as providing support for the regional office and property functions. If you relish the pressure and have the ability to turn sound advice into good practice, there’s nothing to stop you achieving the biggest successes of your career. To apply, please email your CV, including current salary information to recruitment.academy@aldi.co.uk NOVEMBER OCTOBER 2019 55
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STATS FOR 2019
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Featured Job
HSQE Director | Midlands/South East | £Exec package We’re pleased to have been retained exclusively by a leading facilities management company to appoint their HSQE Director. This role is an excellent opportunity for the right person to develop their career in a strategic level role with a growing organisation that has a proactive and forwardthinking approach to HSQE. This is a senior level position, attracting a competitive executive package with the option of being based in the Midlands or the South East, with national travel. As HSQE Director, you’ll take a leading and influential role in establishing clear business standards for HSQE, developing a strategy that ensures these standards are successfully adopted and embedded throughout the organisation. You’ll maintain oversight of ongoing compliance and performance levels, establishing frameworks and driving engagement with senior stakeholders. To be successful, you’ll need proven leadership experience within a large, complex organisation, including previous accountability for developing and implementing strategy, policies and frameworks. Your communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills will be excellent. You’ll be a dynamic and personable leader who doesn’t mind getting hands-on when needed, working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to achieve your shared goals. As this is an executive level role, CMIOSH status along with the NEBOSH Diploma (or equivalent) is required, ideally with a related degree. FOR A CONFIDENTIAL DISCUSSION CONTACT LIAM TIDDY LIAM.TIDDY@SHIRLEYPARSONS.COM 01296 611302 REF: LT 14269
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