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
Is the Health & Safety Executive Keeping Pace with Modern Working Practices?
The work environment is becoming much more complicated. At its simplest, companies have employees who all work at a company facility. This is the easiest structure to regulate and monitor when it comes to all aspects of employment law, including health and safety. The modern workplace is much more complicated than this, however. The people who work for companies today … Read More
UK Health and Safety Statistics vs Other Countries – What Can We Learn?
When you look at official health and safety statistics in the UK, the situation appears positive. This particularly applies in relation to fatality rates which are low compared to historical levels. What is the real position, though, and how does the UK compare with other countries? The issue you face when considering this question comes down to the use of … Read More
H.W. Heinrich vs. Sidney Dekker, Seconds Out…
This post is a scene-setter that compares and contrasts the zero harm policies advocated by H.W. Heinrich and the Safety Differently approach of Sidney Dekker who advocates focussing on major incidents and people’s ability to manage risk intuitively rather than worrying about near misses and minor incidents. In future posts we’ll tie the two approaches back to corporate governance as … Read More
UK Health & Safety – How Are We Really Doing?
With the recent release of the provisional figures for fatal injuries arising from accidents at work in Great Britain 2017 and being a month on from the awful disaster at Grenfell Tower, it seemed appropriate to take a moment to review the state of UK Health & Safety. What do the statistics tell us? What does the behaviour of the … Read More
Near Misses, Russian Roulette and H. W. Heinrich
The difference between a near miss and an incident is often nothing more than luck. A game of chance but what are the odds: are we playing Russian roulette (with a 1 in 6 chance) or something with much longer odds altogether? The other questions then are how many events are there? Meaning, how many near misses? And can we … Read More
It Could Never Happen To Me, Could It?
There were 144 fatal injuries to workers in the UK in the fiscal year period 2015/16. A number, thankfully, with a long term downward trend although a number that seems to be levelling off over recent years. That couldn’t be you could it? I don’t mean one of the 144, but one of the duty holders held responsible for a … Read More
