Health & Safety at work should be balanced between safety professionals and making sure others show responsibility and leadership - 1st February 2008

Judith Hackitt CBE and Chair of the Health and Safety Commission speaking at the Edinburgh Branch of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) in January has spoken about peoples right to be safe in their workplace whatever the size of the company.

Addressing a group of safety professionals she told them they must balance their own role and ensure that others show responsibility and the necessary leadership to make Scotland a safer place to work.

In Scotland 31 workers lost their lives at work during 2006/07. A further 2,702 received a serious injury at work, showing that good Health and Safety procedures must be in place to help prevent these accidents at work.

She also went on to point out that Health and Safety is not just the safety professionals’ responsibility but everyone must be responsible, saying “The work of HSE and safety professionals will never be done but we must do it by influencing others. It’s not just a question of appointing someone with responsibility for safety and leaving it all to them. The drive and leadership needs to come from the top with directors at board level shouldering their own responsibilities and making others aware of their responsibilities. Our role is to help those who create the risk to manage it for themselves. People will then see that health and safety goes hand in hand with getting the job done and making all workplaces more productive and effective and ultimately safer.”

It's not just obvious dangers that need to be risk assessed but also what seem like straightforward tasks, for example lifting injuries at work are very common but could be reduced by providing simple guidelines on what to, and not to do.
 

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