What's in store for 2008

Feature | HSW
10.12.2007

This article offers you the best guesses of some of the most senior figures in health and safety - including the HSE's chief executive and experts at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the EEF manufacturers' organisation - of what will be the pressing issues this year.

As the CBI's Janet Asherson says, it will be a quiet year for legislation, but the big legal development, highlighted by most of our contributors, will be the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which comes into force in April.

The dearth of new legislation is partly down to government commitments to cut the burden of regulation on business (and a lighter regulatory agenda at European level). Several of our experts flag up the promises to cut health and safety red tape, but there's no consensus on whether this will actually happen, or whether it will be a good thing if it does.

One piece of regulation that has been in force since the middle of last year is the EU's REACH Regulation on chemical safety. Some of our experts say that this is the year we will begin to see its effects in the workplace, as chemicals users have to pre-register the most hazardous substances they use by the end of 2008.

The health aspects of health and safety used to be confined largely to controlling hazardous substances and safeguarding workers from back strain, but the cost of absence linked to less tangible hazards such as stress means that fewer and fewer practitioners are able to stand apart. Our experts divide on whether Dame Carol Black's inquiry into the role of occupational health in the fitness of the working population will make a difference when it concludes this year.

It seems the attrition by the mainstream media, with its routine (and usually unfounded) stories of "bonkers" health and safety rules curbing harmless activities, is taking its toll. Several of our contributors mention the knocks from the press. As IIRSM chair Paul Hopkin says, the only thing to do is to keep on managing risk sensibly and wait for the media to get bored with the topic and move on to something else.

A year for lighter regulation

Janet Asherson, head of health and safety, Confederation of British Industry

This year, the landscape looks very sparsely populated in terms of legislative developments. The Electromagnetic Fields Directive, originally due to be implemented in member states this year, has backed off, as the European Commission has stretched the deadline till 2012 - so that will give us all a bit of breathing space to understand what it was all about.

The scrutiny that comes with the corporate manslaughter law will keep employers reviewing their health and safety systems.

There's likely to be a change of culture at major hazard sites, as the HSE prepares to charge them for more of its work, which might cause some tension among employers.

The Select Committee on the Department for Work and Pensions is carrying out an inquiry into the HSE and Health and Safety Commission's work and the Better Regulation Executive has been investigating it as part of a review of all the regulatory bodies.

As a result of this scrutiny, practitioners are going to be looking for signs of simplification and an easing of the administrative load the HSE places on them, rather than some of the previous initiatives that didn't seem to achieve visible results at workplace level. They won't be looking for lighter sanctions or lower standards but a lighter administrative burden.

The proposed HSC/E merger is a kind of signal to practitioners about the importance of health and safety more generally. If the merged organisation gets bogged down and just becomes a talking shop then they will draw their own conclusions. But if it looks like a vibrant new structure that chimes with business structures, then I think they will take heart and see it as a regulator worthy of industry.

For health and safety professionals, the shift of organisational priorities towards occupational health issues, rehabilitation and vocational retraining will continue. They will get more involved in absence management and making positive contributions to the health side. But I don't think there will be quick fixes from Dame Carol Black's review of the health of the working population and how occupational health services can help improve it.

The pre-registration deadline for substances under the EU REACH chemicals legislation falls in December, and health and safety specialists in big industrial organisations, particularly those with chemical and health expertise, may find themselves busy helping out in this area.

The year of the corporate manslaughter law

Jon Cooper, partner, Bond Pearce LLP

In April, after what seems to have been an eternity in gestation, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 will come into force.

Unions, victims' groups, enforcement authorities and industry have differing expectations about its likely effect and effectiveness. It will be interesting to see whether there is an initial flurry of prosecutions or, as I suspect may be the case, the legislation is used sparingly.

It will also be interesting to see the courts' approach to sentencing - they may well impose very substantial fines to differentiate between the new Act and existing legislation - and to what extent they make use of other sanctions, such as publicity orders and remedial orders. Similar provisions are contained in the Health and Safety at Work (HSW) Act, but are rarely used, mainly because by the time cases come to court defects have been remedied in accordance with enforcement notices or defendants have voluntarily taken steps to remedy issues.

It may be that the stigma of prosecution under the new legislation will, in these days when corporate brand reputation is paramount, be the most significant impact of the Act. If there is no such stigma and if the courts do not seek to differentiate markedly between sentencing for the new offence and current sentencing policy for breaches of the HSW Act then many people will question the effectiveness of, and need for, the new legislation.

This year there is likely to be further debate, fuelled by the prosecution of the Metropolitan Police, about the extent of the general duty imposed by Section 3 of the HSW Act. That topic raises more social and policy issues than legal ones. Some years ago, the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) gave an indication of those areas of activity it considered to be "out of bounds" for enforcement under Section 3. There may be a need to restate those principles, which would be ironic given that the HSC/E were not responsible for the prosecution that has again called into question what constitutes an appropriate use of Section 3.

Finally, I think we can expect to see greater emphasis on health issues. This has already been heralded by the call-for-evidence review, which will seek to address issues such as the cost of workplace ill health to society, the cause of the apparent growth in mental illness in the working-age population, and moves towards rehabilitation and re-employment of employees with ill-health conditions.

A less predictable year

Hugh Robertson, senior policy officer, health and safety, Trades Union Congress

It was easy to predict the issues for 2007 (smoking, corporate responsibility, construction safety). 2008 is more difficult.

I suspect that up at the top of every safety professional's agenda will be health, fuelled in part by the recent ill-health figures released by the HSE.

There will probably be more emphasis on preventing stress and MSDs (musculo-skeletal disorders) in particular. This may also lead to a further debate on the role of sickness absence management and return-to-work policies, especially once Dame Carol Black makes her recommendations in the spring of 2008.

I would predict that we are heading for a long (and mainly academic) debate on the nature of health and work and what makes good work, which will of course miss the point that last year 36 million days were lost through ill health and injury, almost all of which are preventable if employers would simply conduct proper risk assessments and act on them.

On the safety issue, the HSE is going to have to address the very high levels of injury in agriculture and the waste/recycling industry. Part of this is a resource issue, but it is also about the industry itself taking control of the problem.

Construction, where we have seen big changes from the large companies but little movement from small contractors, must remain a focus. It is likely that awareness of the effect of noise will also start to rise this year.

I suspect that the battle to convince politicians that regulation is actually not a bad thing and that they should look at health and safety positively rather than as a burden will continue, but at least some progress has been made in this area over the past year. Whether that will be reflected in the way the press covers the issue is a different matter.

A year to cut injuries

Geoffrey Podger, chief executive, HSE

There is no escaping the fact that 2008 will bring some tough challenges. Last year 36 million working days were lost due to injuries and ill health and 241 workers did not go home from work. 

Over 140,000 reported workplace accidents took place, resulting in employees suffering injuries such as amputations, chemical burns and fractures. What we are up against are these real risks faced by real people, every day of their working lives and the suffering that occurs when health and safety processes fail.

We will be adopting multiple approaches including cross-agency work and partnerships to tackle these issues; and our relationships with stakeholders, local authorities and the industry will be key to achieving any cultural or behavioural change needed to better manage health and safety in workplaces.

Analysis of the fatality statistics shows that, across the construction sector, urgent action is required. In particular, we will be looking at the repairs, refurbishment and maintenance sectors where we have indications that fatalities and major injuries remain high. Falls from height are a major killer and we are launching another inspection initiative in February 2008 to tackle negligence and poor performance.

We also want to see the number of slips, trips and falls in the British workplace reduced. One employee a week is killed by this type of accident which could often easily be avoided. A multimedia awareness campaign aimed at catering and hospitality, manufacture, construction and maintenance workers will highlight the consequences of slips, trips and falls in the workplace and the simple measures that can prevent them.

In 2008, we will continue to champion the case for sensible health and safety management. Our goal is not to have a risk-free society, but one where risk is properly understood, appreciated and managed.

One death or injury in a British workplace is one too many, and it is the duty of all employers, regardless of size or sector, to prevent it from happening. We want employers and employees to work with us to embed safety in the culture of every workplace in Great Britain and manage risks sensibly and proportionately.

A year in the supply chain

Paul Reeve, head of safety and sustainability, Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA)

In health and safety, it helps to be positive and in 2008 smaller businesses can look forward to plenty of practical, authoritative advice on the HSE website. 

But as government puts a further squeeze on an already hard-pressed HSE, it will also march us up the hill, yet again, to witness its efforts at cutting more red tape. This exercise could completely miss the point that many companies' health and safety experience is based more on what their supply chain does, than their enforcer.

We will be helping all our own members to meet the "core competency" requirements in CDM 2007 but new and influential pre-qualification initiatives such as Building Confidence will look for a comprehensive management systems approach to safety and other risk issues from first-tier construction contractors, including ECA members. The Constructing Better Health (CBH) initiative (see HSW August 2007, page 6) has set the benchmark for health screening in construction and it could make waves this year. CBH marks a step change in occupational health in construction, and it could raise expectations in other sectors.

The REACH chemical Regulation will, after eight years in the pipeline, start to exert practical effects throughout the chemicals supply chain, as suppliers find out about what downstream users are actually doing with what's on the market.

All these initiatives, backed up by the new-look BS OHSAS 18001 certification, will boost supply chain activity. Yet if the past performance of supply chains is anything to go by, expect more questions, cost and paperwork than absolutely necessary. As health and safety professionals, we should do our bit to make sure that all this effort is focused on reducing significant risks.

Migrant workers will present a growing challenge this year. Although the HSE offers a lot of good practical advice on the web, it's debatable whether its advice on what employers should do to ensure the safety of those with poor English, and those around them, exceeds the capability of many small businesses to manage this issue. For many companies, managing migrant workers is still a circle that somehow needs to be squared.

As with slips, trips and falls, some things will always be with us. Expect our profession to be challenged all year by tabloid and TV stories about "health and safety gone mad" and in the run-up to next Christmas, newspaper journalists will once again remember that "health" sounds like "elf". It was ever thus!

A year for senior scrutiny

Steve Walter, health, safety and environment adviser, EEF

It's refreshing that the European Commission has seen some sense and postponed the implementation of the Electromagnetic Fields Directive by four years to 2012. However, the process of review will require further focused lobbying on behalf of industries that may be affected by the Directive in its present form. Too much time has already been wasted on a physical agent for which there are no proven health effects from exposure, and for which there is no basis for setting limit values.

The offence of corporate manslaughter will become a reality in April when the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 comes into force. The media spotlight will undoubtedly fall upon the first prosecution following a workplace fatality. But the Ministry of Justice is keen to stress in its guidance that responsible organisations have nothing to fear.

The Health and Safety Commission/Institute of Directors guide on Leadership Actions for Directors and Board Members may begin to bed in. What influence it will have on the level of debate in the boardroom - under the shadow of corporate manslaughter - remains to be seen.

The music and entertainment sectors will experience the advent of the Control of Noise at Work Regulations in April. It will be interesting to see how these Regulations are enforced in entertainment premises.

On a positive note, occupational health continues to be an expanding area, as increasingly companies recognise the business benefits of a healthy workplace. Good management practice is set to develop further in the field of wellbeing, together with a greater awareness and understanding of the benefits of managing mental health at work.

On the environment front, registration under REACH (the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals regulation) will be required from 1 June. In terms of detail, there are proposals to strengthen the duty of care, and ongoing efforts to distinguish between by-products and wastes. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations will also begin to bite in the coming year.

The pan-European year

Jukka Takala, The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

The central role of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is to contribute to the improvement of working life in an enlarged European Union.

It promotes healthier, safer and more productive workplaces by providing workers and employers with first-hand information and examples of good practice. EU-OSHA's 2008 work programme follows the objectives of the New Community Strategy, 2007-2012 related to occupational safety and health, whose main challenge is to cut by 25% the total incidence rate of accidents at work in the 27 EU member states.

Under the motto "Healthy workplaces: Good for you. Good for business", an awareness-raising campaign on the importance of proper risk assessment will be held in all member states and beyond. It targets in particular SMEs and high-risk sectors such as construction, agriculture and transport. The new two-year cycle will further increase the campaign impact.

Through its Risk Observatory, EU-OSHA anticipates risks associated with new technologies, biological hazards and the impact of demographic trends. Following its key reports on emerging risks, the Observatory will continue to conduct research into physical, biological and psychosocial hazards, while sharing its findings with European policy-makers and the research community.

Moreover, first steps to carry out an enterprise survey will be taken, gathering data unavailable through other means. OSH in Figures describes and analyses trends that may affect occupational safety and health, focusing on specific topics, sectors or groups at risk.

Information on road transport and cleaning will be offered. These are sectors with a relatively high incidence of accidents and occupational diseases. In addition, the extent to which health and safety aspects have been incorporated into member states' vocational and occupational training policies will be reviewed.

Lastly, a new report will provide information for insurers and other organisations that may be able to provide economic incentives to improve OSH.

A year to stand firm

Paul Hopkin, chair, International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM)

2008 will be another challenging year for the health and safety profession and for health and safety practitioners. It is a huge contradiction that news reports simultaneously focus on serious and substantial safety issues (sometimes overstated or poorly researched) at the same time as repeatedly criticising safety people as over-zealous killjoys.

But let me take a step back and say that I believe there will be four main health and safety themes in 2008. The first is referred to above and that is the accusation that safety professionals are determined to prevent people going about their normal daily activities. This is represented by the so-called "conkers bonkers" approach to safety, where school children have to wear safety goggles to play conkers.

As safety professionals, let's continue to promote sensible risk management and protect the reputation of health and safety as an important contribution to the wellbeing of the economy.

Two areas of commercial activity give cause for concern: construction and road safety. Recent performance in the construction industry has given rise to considerable concern, and safety professionals working in construction and related industries face continuing challenges over the next 12 months. Road safety remains a huge concern for us all. It is alarming to think that around 10 people are killed on UK roads every day. Many of these fatalities involve people who are at work.

My final theme for 2008 is about safety culture, attitude and behaviour. The IIRSM will continue to develop the Affective Safety Management (ASM) initiative over the coming year. ASM is about training and motivation that appeals to both intellectual and emotional intelligence. Simply providing employees and others with the facts and assuming that's sufficient on its own to change their behaviour is not enough. As safety professionals, we must also use more sophisticated training techniques that appeal to emotional learning processes.

We must win the hearts as well as the minds of people to successfully pass on the safety message. There is no better subject to get emotional about than health and safety.

A year for tougher penalties

Dave Joyce, national health and safety officer, Communication Workers Union

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which comes into force on 6 April, will be a wake-up call for all employers and will, I hope, be a powerful deterrent to those who are failing to meet proper health and safety standards.

We do, however, need a range of tougher penalties, and higher fines to be handed down by the courts. I welcome the Sentencing Advisory Panel's consultation on the appropriate penalties for corporate manslaughter and other breaches of health and safety law that result in death, which runs until February.

I also welcome proposals for a greater range of penalties, such as adverse publicity orders and remedial orders. There's a need to provide incentives to comply with health and safety regulations, as well as rebalance the law in favour of victims and ensure that lessons are learnt and offences not repeated.

Directors and boards have a key role to play. They set the tone for other managers' behaviour and influence the whole of the workforce. Around 1500 directors are disqualified in the UK every year for financial irregularities, wrongful trading, taxation offences and insolvency offences, and breaching a disqualification order can lead to imprisonment and/or a fine.

I think the same needs to apply following convictions for serious health and safety offences, and I will be impressing these views on the Sentencing Advisory Panel. I welcome the fact that the health and safety minister, Lord McKenzie, has agreed to remind the courts to use their existing disqualification powers in health and safety cases.

Lord McKenzie said recently that the issue of legal duties for directors is still on the table and if bosses don't deliver better behaviours and good practice in line with the new HSE/Institute of Directors guidance, the government will look again at the case for legislative change.

Strong enforcement activity is the most effective way of ensuring compliance. I've called on the health and safety minister to ensure that in 2008 the HSE continues to have sufficient resources to maintain inspector numbers so they can police health and safety laws and start investigating at-work road traffic deaths and serious injuries, which have reached epidemic levels.