Even before the events of 2020, the role of contractors in the UK economy was a source of debate and commentary. Are businesses becoming increasingly dependent on contractors and, if so, how is compliance with health and safety policies and procedures being delivered? Interestingly, one of the most challenging industry sectors from a lack of skills standpoint is utilities. Even … Read More
The Mental Health Challenges of Working from Home (part 2 of 2)
In the first part of this two-part post we looked at the evidence for mental wellness suffering among those working from home. We covered the results from two recent surveys which highlighted a ‘disparity’ between the 84% of those experiencing mental health issues and the 9% of managers who were spending the majority of their time supporting mental health issues. … Read More
The Mental Health Challenges of Working from Home (part 1 of 2)
I had dinner with a really good friend a couple of weeks ago. She sat there with tears in her eyes. I know her well enough to be able to ask what was wrong and to get an honest answer. Did she have family problems? Was it something else? No, nothing specific, just “the situation”. Which made me think about … Read More
Does Trust Correlate with Safety Performance for Workers? (part 2 of 2)
In the first part of this two-part post exploring the possible correlation between trust and worker safety, we highlighted how countries with the highest degree of trust (in their fellow citizens and public institutions) also showed the best safety performance among their workers. Equally, those countries with the lowest trust displayed the worst safety performance. Accepting that the normalised worker … Read More
Does Trust Correlate with Safety Performance for Workers? (part 1 of 2)
Can we meaningfully measure ‘trust’ in society and can we correlate that with worker safety? Would a more trusting society lead to better safety performance? One way to do that would be to compare trust metrics and safety performance across multiple countries. Before diving into that, it’s worth examining why we’re asking the question in the first place? In our … Read More
Dynamic Risk Assessments, Face Masks and Roundabouts
In a recent review of e-permits product features our Product Manager, Alan, said he didn’t believe dynamic risk assessments were a good thing (or words to that effect) because any unexpected events should be anticipated ahead of the work being carried out. For example, working at height. High winds are entirely predictable and, as such, should be included in the … Read More
Managing Increased Supply Chain Complexity
More than 1 in 7 (15%) of the UK workforce were self-employed in Q1 of 2020 (according to the latest ONS labour market data), which compares with less than 1 in 8 (12%) in Q1 of 2000. How do we expect the numbers of self-employed to change post-lockdown and what are the implications for worker safety? The ONS data shows … Read More
Using Predictive Analytics to Improve Safety Performance
In 2011 the New York Times reported that the Santa Cruz police department arrested two women in a downtown car park. One for possession of illegal drugs, the other had outstanding warrants, both were peering into car windows when the police arrived. What was unusual about the incident was the fact that the police were alerted by a computer program … Read More
Manufacturing Safety by the Numbers (part 2 of 2)
In the first part of this two-part post we looked at the raw numbers for safety performance in the manufacturing sector with specific focus on discrete manufacturing. We noted that discrete manufacturing in the UK has an average fatality rate over the past 5 years that is 50% higher than that for all industry sectors and a non-fatal injury rate … Read More
Manufacturing Safety by the Numbers (part 1 of 2)
It’s our contention that, along with the construction sector, manufacturing will be key to leading the UK out of recession after the coronavirus lockdown ends. It’s our hope that this return to work and growth will be achieved without compromising (non-coronavirus related) worker safety. So how has the manufacturing sector performed compared to other industry sectors over recent years? Before … Read More
Why Focusing on Safety Performance Can Enable Construction to Bounce Back
The UK construction sector is critical to the future of the economy. Despite the latest PMI figures and what was labelled a “total collapse” of the construction sector, its importance is beyond economic and is fundamental to addressing the social injustices created by decades of regional centralisation. Witness how “levelling-up” entered our discourse through the end of 2019 and into … Read More
Realigning Health and Safety in the Business
Over the last year or so we’ve posited ideas around having health and safety become a keystone habit in the business and aligning health and safety outcomes with business growth and why doing so was important. We highlighted three categorisations for how health and safety is viewed within the business: as a cost centre as delivering business benefits as a … Read More
Is Global Asbestos Awareness Week Still Relevant Given Covid-19?
Absolutely it is. 5,500 people die every year in the UK alone from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. Worldwide, 742,000 die every year from work-related cancers including those caused by exposure to asbestos. Are these asbestos-related deaths in the UK just the result of legacy exposures? Or, only caused by fly-by-night operators cutting corners? No, and no. The NHS alone has … Read More
Working from Home Guidance
There have been many good, well-intentioned articles in both the print press and online over the past week about how to successfully work from home. The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday (March 17th) advocated working from 9am to 5pm to maximise overlap with colleagues and speed decision making. Google recommend creating “work” triggers for your brain such as establishing a designated … Read More
2020 Health and Safety Webinar Series
Following is the 2020 schedule for our ongoing series of health and safety webinars. Mark your calendars as appropriate. You can access/register for past/upcoming webinars via the left sidebar of this page. 12th March – Contractor Compliance, Needs Vision not Hindsight As technology advancements and global political and macro-economic trends continue to impact the worker landscape, so we’re already seeing … Read More
The Stress Tsunami
Since Christmas I’ve read two books: John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and Andrew Yang’s ‘The War on Normal People’. Steinbeck tale of the Joad’s displacement from their 1930s dust bowl farm in Oklahoma and migration to the promised land of California is probably well known to the reader. That their displacement was caused by automation and greedy landowners/big business, … Read More
