Government sets targets to cut work-related deaths, accidents and illness in biggest Health and Safety shake-up for 25 years

Citation

(2000), "Government sets targets to cut work-related deaths, accidents and illness in biggest Health and Safety shake-up for 25 years", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 21 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.2000.02221hab.002

Government sets targets to cut work-related deaths, accidents and illness in biggest Health and Safety shake-up for 25 years

Government sets targets to cut work-related deaths, accidents and illness in biggest Health and Safety shake-up for 25 years

Keywords Health and Safety, Work-related injury, Illness, United Kingdom

Recently, for the first time ever, the Government and Health and Safety Commission (HSC) announced targets for the nation to reduce work-related deaths ill-health and injury in the UK. Accidents and ill-health among the work force cost the UK economy up to £18 billion a year.

The specific targets are to:

• •

  reduce the number of working days lost from work-related injury and ill-health by 30 per cent bythe year 2010 (a decrease of 7.5 million working days on current estimates);

• •

  reduce the incidence of people suffering from work-relatedill-health by 20 per cent by the year 2010 (80,000 fewer new cases on current estimates);

• •

  reduce the rate of fatal and major injury accidents by 10 per cent by the year 2010 (3,000 fewer cases on current figures);

• •

  achieve half of each improvement by the year 2004.

To do this the Government and the HSC have introduced a ten-point strategy supported by a 44-point action plan which will provide incentives and practical support to employers, together with a range of measures to tackle employers who do not meet their health and safety responsibilities.

The strategy highlights that the health and safety system must promote a better working environment as well as prevent harm. It also focuses on occupational health as a priority;the need to motivate all employers, particularly small firms, to improve their health and safety performance; the need for Government to lead by example; the importance of education at all levels for improving health and safety and the role of effective design in preventing risk.

The action plan will include:

1. 1.

   An occupational health strategy to combat the many work-relatedillnesses which occur in the modern workplace. This will promote best practice and look at ways of helping people to return to work after an illness.

2. 2.

   Tougher penalties to deter health and safety offences, including: imprisonment to be available for most health and safety crimes; and the increased maximum fine available in the lower court – £20,000 – to be extended to most health and safety offences.

3. 3.

   An examination of new innovative penalties such as fines linked to turnover, prohibition of bonuses and suspension of managerswithout pay.

4. 4.

   A directors' code of practice, which will make a named person responsible for health and safety matters within every company.

5. 5.

   New help for small businesses, including:

   • •

     piloting a health and safety grant;

   • •

     providing better targeted support through the Small Business Service; and

   • •

     the provision of comprehensive – including sector-specific – health and safety guidance for small firms.

6. 6.

   Abolition of Crown Immunity as part of a package of major reforms to improve health and safetyperformance and accountability in the public sector;

7. 7.

   Explore with the insurance industry incentives to reward good health and safety performers at the expense of those companies with poor health and safety records.

In addition, the action plan willinclude:

• •

  a new one-stop call centre for employers to report accidents to the HSE;

• •

  a "ready reckoner" to help business identify how much money they can save by improving their health and safety record; and a legislative database for on-line guidance on health and safety legislation.

Success will depend on effective partnerships between the various stakeholders – employers, employees and their representatives – and in particular developing the role of safety representatives in the work place.

Commenting on the targets HSC chairman Bill Callaghan, said: "Health and safety at work should be a core requirement of business activity, not an inconvenient 'add-on'.

"As far as I am concerned, those who cannot manage health and safety, cannot manage. We need to create a positive health and safety culture which sees business go beyond doing the statutory minimum.

"Government, employers and workers need to move forward together in order to meet the challenges of the future. I want to see a revitalised health and safety system as relevant to the call centre as it is to the construction site."