Have you chosen sides in the Heinrich/Dekker debate yet? Zero Harm vs. Safety Differently? Focussing on the incident/accident data of what’s gone wrong rather than working on what’s gone right? People are the problem vs. people are the solution? I do hope not because the chances are that they’re both right and that breaking through the statistical plateau (that is … Read More
Fatigue, Driving and Regulations
During my mother-in-law’s last few years of failing health, I had the pleasure of meeting one of her home care helpers. I watched her bubbly personality cook, tidy-up and put a smile on a frail old lady – all in her 15-20 minute allowed visit time. As she dashed for the door, I asked her where she was going next … Read More
Safety and Business Performance – Correlation and Causality
This post continues our examination of what it takes to make safety a keystone habit within a business, thereby, driving improved business performance while improving worker safety. Note that in this scenario ‘improved business performance’ means significantly outperforming competitors in a sustained manner over a period of several years. We’re not talking a few percentage points improvement in productivity from … Read More
Making Safety a Keystone Habit
The business benefits of good safety practices are clear and obvious. As the HSE lists them: Reduced absenteeism Staff retention Brand reputation protection Increased productivity and profits Reduced insurance and legal costs But, if I’m a Board member of a Forbes 2000 company, is that going to grab my attention? I don’t think so. They’re nice benefits and, of course, … Read More
H&S Statistics – Behind the Headlines
In our last post on breaking through the statistical plateau that is health and safety fatality rates in Great Britain, we reflected on the recent headlines that greeted the [provisional] increase in fatalities to 147 in 2018/19 from 141 in 2017/18 and the accompanying rise in fatalities caused by falls from height, 40 from 35. We took an action to … Read More
Breaking Through The Statistical Plateau
This is a difficult post with more questions than answers. Over time we’ll work to try to answer these questions. Some are just a matter of research, some are more philosophical and much more difficult to answer. The basic challenge is breaking through the statistical plateau that is the Great Britain worker fatality rate. For the past five or six … Read More
2018/19 Workplace Fatalities – Why Change is Imperative
The provisional Workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2019 statistics have been published by the HSE. The resulting headlines thus far have been focused on the increase in workplace fatalities (147 in 2018/19p vs. 141 in 2017/18) with ‘workers falling from height’ being the major cause of fatal injuries at 40 and ‘being struck by a moving vehicle’ the next … Read More
The Business Benefits of Health and Safety
Why do we do it? Health and Safety, I mean. I’m sure every reader of this blog got involved, or at least remain involved, because they want to ensure that people work safely and are safe at work, or variation of that statement. That’s why we do it – we simply want people to go home safely at the end … Read More
How the 5 Megatrends Impact Health and Safety
We’re living in interesting times. As a society. As a working population. As a health and safety industry. If you follow global macroeconomics you’ll be aware of the five megatrends that are moulding the planet and how we’ll co-exist with it and each other over the next century. Let’s have a quick look at the five megatrends and review which … Read More
Driving – the Most Dangerous Work Activity
There were 144 workplace fatalities in the UK in 2017/18. This number has been relatively static over the past 5 years. Additionally, around 500 people are killed every year while ‘driving for work reasons’. This excludes people commuting to and from work (more of that later). The UK and Ireland are the only two EU countries who do not report … Read More
UK Health and Safety Statistics – The Road to Nowhere?
Earlier this month we continued our examination of UK worker fatality rates in an attempt to understand how best to break through the statistical plateau we’re now experiencing of 0.4-0.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers annually. There were three main points made: Comparing statistics between countries (even standardised across the EU) is pretty meaningless. The HSE segmentation of fatalities by [the … Read More
Are UK Health and Safety Statistics Leading to Complacency?
We’ve seen a plateauing in UK worker fatality rates (as reported by the HSE) over the past 4 to 5 years. This plateau at, or just under, 0.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers follows a long term downward trend and is to be applauded. Or, is it? Of course, we would all agree that any fatality is one too many and … Read More
