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on the agenda
“ Health and safety professionals welcome the government review. It's time for it to tackle the root causes of today's risk aversion ”
Rob Strange OBE, IOSH Chief Executive, The Daily Telegraph
“ In encouraging growth, there is a very real risk for any government of creating an environment in which it is easier to die, be injured or fall ill at work ”
Lord Brougham and Vaux, IOSH Honorary Vice-President, House of Lords debate on the government's health and safety proposals
“ If inspectors are forced off the front line to do the paperwork that a declining admin staff would have done, we could see a hockey stick effect, where death and injury rates increase ”
Richard Jones, IOSH Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Workplace Law
on the agenda
In the UK, the government's agenda on health and safety naturally dominated our discussions with national decision-makers. We're concerned that the drive to cut so-called red tape will result in a cut in standards too. IOSH also voiced fears over the fallout of the government's 'age of austerity' spending cuts
Commissioned by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, 'Common sense, common safety' set out Lord Young's vision for a revamp of health and safety. Having given evidence, we were pleased to see the value of health and safety and professionalism recognised, and welcomed the government's attempts to cut red tape for school trips, challenge councils cancelling events, and scrutinise the role of the insurance sector. We also view the new Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register as a positive development, linking as it does with our calls for accreditation
< Go Backgoing back over several years. But we urged a rethink on some areas, including a short-sighted and mechanical 'tick in the box' risk assessment regime. While we applaud the attempt to make managing health and safety easier, we don't want it to be at the expense of people's welfare
We expressed support for the government's first legal revision under its reform package, to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations. While we voiced some serious reservations, the majority of our members backed the proposal to change the requirement for reporting accidents that result in someone being away from work for three days, to seven days. We also took the opportunity to call once more for the thousands of accidents to people working on our roads or driving for work to come under the revised reporting regulations
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on the agenda
We met with the Minister charged with taking forward Lord Young's proposals, the Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP, to share our views. The HSE's 35 per cent budget cut, coupled with the new inspection and enforcement strategy, announced in the Minister's paper, 'Good health and safety, good for everyone', is likely to have far-reaching consequences. The HSE figures for 2009/10, released during this report year, show another year-on-year decline in deaths and serious injuries, and we want to see this trend continue, not reverse. We've warned that cuts to the enforcer, and a radical change in direction on its core frontline work, could risk the lives of the people we're trying to protect. We've also called for the enforcer's Infoline to be reprieved, saying that this is the wrong time to take away this vital business helpline. We applauded moves to simplify and bring together guidance for low risk businesses and are looking forward to contributing to Professor Ragnar
< Go BackLöfstedt's government-commissioned review of health and safety law, seeing it as an opportunity to streamline and to clear up confusion some businesses have over requirements
IOSH Honorary Vice-President Lord Brougham and Vaux was the first of several peers to talk on IOSH's behalf in a series of House of Lords debates. He warned that the government's health and safety proposals could lead to too much compromise in standards. He said that as cost-cutting measures start to bite, it was important to preserve safeguards, not dilute them
IOSH also urged caution as the government pushes its welfare reforms through – we're concerned that the plan to help over a million people come off long term incapacity benefit and back to work could be jeopardised without the right support and rehabilitation measures
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on the agenda
We shared our opinions and concerns with politicians from both sides of the House, and with the national media
The government's reforms were the focus of one of our cross-party events at Westminster. Hosted by Dame Anne Begg MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, Parliamentarians from opposing benches explored how a balanced, professional approach to health and safety can support business recovery, jobs and the government's growth agenda. Another IOSH round table event saw HR magazine editor Sian Harrington chairing a session on the future of health and safety in the UK. It included perspectives from Judith Hackitt CBE, HSE Board Chair, and Neil Carberry, CBI Head of Health and Safety Policy.
< Go BackWe also took the debate to the insurance sector with a seminar at Lloyd's of London, co-hosted by the Lloyd's Market Association
A challenging 12 months for health and safety propelled the profession into the media spotlight and we became a regular and persuasive contributor to the national debate on the government’s reforms. The Telegraph, The Times, Sky News, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC News at Six and BBC Radio 4 all featured IOSH spokespeople
We gave our views on a number of significant consultations, including the government White Paper 'Healthy lives, healthy people', where we took the opportunity to highlight the important role of occupational safety and health in public health
