While accident rates are much lower today than they were 20 or 30 years ago, the rate of decline has now flatlined. We could accept this as being the new reality, but that would also mean accepting that people will die and become seriously injured at work in the coming 12 months. Of course, for any health and safety professional, … Read More
Remote and Lone Worker Health and Safety – What You Need to Know
Lone workers make up a significant proportion of the UK workforce and face additional health and safety risks to those working with others. Many of those risks are unique to lone workers and, as with all workers, businesses have a responsibility to protect lone workers from all risks. Remote working may involve small teams as well as lone workers. Having … Read More
What You Need to Know About the New PPE Regulations
New regulations came into force earlier this year governing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). There is a transition period for the new regulations, but when they come into full effect they will replace a directive that is more than 20 years old. In other words, the new PPE regulations represent the biggest change in PPE standards and certification requirements in a … Read More
How is Brexit Likely to Impact UK Health and Safety Regulations?
Brexit has dominated political discourse in the UK for more than two years now and will probably continue to be the main topic of discussion for some years to come. It is a hot topic in the health and safety sector too. The question many are grappling with is how the UK’s health and safety landscape will change post-Brexit. Specifically, … Read More
Risk Assessments – Legal Requirements, Trends, and ISO 45001
Risk assessments are a central component of health and safety in every industry and sector. This is because risk assessments significantly reduce accidents, including accidents that cause deaths or the most serious types of injury. However, it is easy for organisations to become unconsciously complacent (or even deliberately complacent) about conducting risk assessments. In these situations, the process drifts into … Read More
Safety Differently and What It All Boils Down To
Safety Differently is an increasingly used buzzword in the world of health and safety. The concepts it presents are eye-catching but there is a significant issue which even its most ardent proponents accept – there is little definitive and citable research to support claims of its potential. This doesn’t mean we only have theory to go on, however. There are … Read More
An Introduction to Safety Differently
Safety Differently is a concept that is only a few years old, but it is increasingly talked about. We’ve introduced the concept previously and set it against the ‘alternative’ zero harm approach espoused originally by H.W. Heinrich. This post will paint a broader picture of Safety Differently and explore if it really works with the intention of looking at current … Read More
Safety Digitally – What Technology is Available Today?
We’ve previously discussed the role technology can play in breaking through the statistical plateau we’ve seen recently in UK work-related fatality rates. We’ve also discussed how technology can be the impetus to recruit young people into the work of health and safety. So what technology is out there today that can help you ensure your workers are safe at work … Read More
ISO 45001 and Contractor Management – What it Means to You
In our recent post ISO 45001 – A Marriage of Culture and Digitalisation we covered the major changes that will be required in achieving ISO 45001 certification versus the previous standard, OHSAS 18001. One of those changes is the extension of the moral and legal responsibility of an organisation to the whole supply chain and the expansion of the definition … Read More
2017/2018 Workplace Fatality Statistics – Plateau or Complacency?
The HSE have published their provisional statistics for workplace fatal injuries 2018 (meaning 2017/18). They look much like the previous years, and the five or so years before that. There is a slight uptick in the fatality rate per 100,000 across all sectors from 0.43 in 2017 to 0.45 (provisional) in 2018 which equates to 144 fatalities versus the prior … Read More
How Health and Safety Innovations Can Reduce Mental Health Illnesses
At best, poor mental health is costing the UK economy the equivalent of 4% of GDP, or close to the annual spend on education. At worst, it’s killing us. As reported in the HSE provisional statistics for 2016/17, ‘work-related stress, depression or anxiety cases (new or longstanding)’ has now become the UK’s biggest work-related illness, overtaking musculoskeletal disorder cases. The … Read More
The 3 Legged Stool of Health and Safety Success
Regular readers will know that we’ve been celebrating health and safety successes over recent months and have covered ten success stories so far, all with different motivators to act and, hopefully, lots of good ideas around solutions to problems you’re likely facing in your own business today. There were three other candidate success stories lined up: Jacobs (partially covered in … Read More
