Health and Safety | Involve your Staff

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Health and Safety at Work Involve your staff and reap the rewards Gary Sullivan MIOSH MRIPH Deputy Health and Safety Manager. Citation plc

The most successful Health and safety strategies are usually implemented with the support of staff. To get their buy-in, they need to appreciate its relevance to themselves, your customers and anyone else connected with the business.

However, all too often health and safety policies are put into operation almost as a necessary evil - communicated with a cursory announcement ‘telling’ staff that they should study the policy and adhere to it. All this does is set the tone for everyone to ignore it, feel negative about it, or not take it seriously.

To maintain a healthy working environment, staff need to be aware of safety issues, and be motivated to help meet the company’s aspirations in this area. As a legal requirement, all staff should understand why it is important but it should also be made clear that fewer accidents and less work-related illness means less time off for staff and a more efficient operation. No-one enjoys the increased pressure or workload when a member of the team is not at work, and an active health and safety policy contributes towards a happier working environment for all.

In March 1999, Deputy Prime Minister Mr. John Prescott unveiled a new initiative to revitalise health and safety within Great Britain. This initiative outlined the strategy for health & safety in workplaces up to 2010 and beyond. The idea is to inject new impetus into safety and is said to be the biggest shake up since the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 was introduced. The strategy describes a vision that health and safety will be the cornerstone of a civilised society and as part of the strategy it has been identified that greater worker involvement and consultation is required. Very few individuals are willing to come forward to undertake safety responsibilities and employees have the duty to encourage staff to get involved.

The Health & Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 place a legal duty on all organisations to discuss health and safety matters with employees who are not represented under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations.

The consultation process involves not only providing relevant information to members of staff, but also to discuss safety issues with them prior to making any safety decisions.

For example:-

When informing members of the likely risks associated with any work being undertaken along with the means of controlling the risk.
When planning any health and safety training
When introducing new health and safety related technology.
If changes are made which considerably affect individuals’ health and safety i.e. introducing new safety procedures, equipment, work methods, etc.

Evidence often shows that union based organisations have higher levels of health and safety performance due to their empowered role. However, many businesses these days are not covered by trade union safety representatives, therefore it is down to the employer to decide what is the best medium to consult members of staff. For example, employers can liaise with staff directly or through designated representatives.

In order to ensure that the nominated members of staff can perform their duties effectively, it will be important to provide suitable and sufficient training. These courses should be provided at the employer’s cost and may require the individuals to attend the appropriate courses during working hours.

In order to ensure that the consultation process is effective it is important to provide your employees or their representatives with enough information to enable them to undertake a full and effective roll within the health and safety process.

Employers do not have to provide information that they are not aware of or information: -

That would not be in the interest of security or against the law.
About an individual who has not given their permission for it to be passed on.
That may be detrimental to the business.
That has been received in connection with any legal proceedings.

The Health and Safety Executive will often ask about, and monitor, the activities regarding consultation with employees when they visit individual premises. If they feel they are not being addressed and are not satisfied that adequate provisions are being made they may serve an improvement notice on the company. In situations where there are disagreements about the consultation process, organisations should firstly try to resolve them internally using the normal in house procedure.

In conclusion, to ensure that your organisation is complying with the regulations it is important to consult with employees about health and safety matters.

Firstly, notify all members of staff that the company wishes to proactively involve all members of staff in safety consultation. If employees wish to nominate representatives the organisation should implement regular safety meetings to discuss any issue.

On occasions, staff members are not initially interested in the process and will not volunteer for the task. Therefore the company should address this by implementing regular safety meetings where nominated members of staff are invited, and by posting minutes of the meetings on staff notice boards. At the meetings the management should review all current health and safety processes and the documentation that is in place. Quite often when visiting organisations it is stated that the company does not have time to review risk assessments, but by having set meetings it gives the management the opportunity to address this issue as well as getting the opinions of individuals who actively undertake the tasks. This will enable you to decide if the assessments are adequate and whether there are sufficient control measures in place.

If you do not opt for regular safety meetings, it is important to demonstrate that there is a consultation process available for staff to comment on safety issues. This may be by simply providing a hazard detection process for employees, so that they can inform management of any hazards that they discover as they undertake their work. Ideally this should consist of a written record to prove to an enforcing officer that there is a procedure in place.

Every organisation is unique and no single model can be applied to worker involvement.

Therefore if you currently do not have any consultation procedures in place you will need to be flexible and think about how and what is required to ensure that your organisation does not fall foul of health and safety legislation. You should also ensure that you meet with all your business and employees needs.

Gary Sullivan MIOSH MRIPH
Deputy Health and Safety Manager.

For more than a decade Citation plc has been helping businesses achieve health and safety compliance. Citation plc offers a fixed price health and safety and employment law consultancy service in order to help our clients comply with legislation.

If you require any further advice regarding the Health and Safety or Employment Law services that are provided by Citation plc, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Nigel Lea on 01565 650092 or visit www.citation.co.uk

Gary is a Senior Consultant and has worked in the engineering industry as a mechanical engineer, carrying out installations and commissioning of all types of machinery for 15 years. Gary began his Health and Safety career in 1994 and has gained extensive experience advising and working in various industries e.g. transport, construction, engineering, retail, schools, food industry and nursing homes.

He undertakes safety audits/inspections and advises clients on risk management and accident investigations. Since joining Citation Plc Gary has played a major role in compiling our new health and safety management systems and is responsible for induction training for all new consultants. Gary holds a Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Management and is a Member of both the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and the International Institute of Risk Safety Management (IIRSM).