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2010 Issues Archive
27 January 2010
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Survey sheds light on health and safety
A survey has been launched to improve health and safety in and out of the workplace.
The survey, developed by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL), an agency of the Health and Safety Executive, aims to make companies more aware of health and safety for staff and clients.
The HSL Safety Climate Tool (SCT), which is directed at all sectors including engineering, is a 40-question survey that addresses health and safety issues at work.
Answers are analysed to give an overall view of the strength of a company’s health and safety culture for comparison with other businesses and sectors.
The tool, available on CD-Rom, aims to be more user-friendly than a previous health and safety survey. However, that survey, in 1997, led to significant reductions in the number of major accidents at work.
The new survey’s questions are mainly based around how people behave at work, with or without supervision, and looks at areas such as pressure to cut corners and risk-taking.
The questions, which can be tailored to meet specific business needs, look at company procedures, management’s attitude to health and safety, and access to equipment.
Karen Russ, who is the deputy chief executive of the Health and Safety Laboratory, managed the team that developed the survey.
“It is about how employees view health and safety,” she said. “Not just in terms of whether I’m doing my job safely, but in terms of what I’m going to be delivering to the client and will it enable them to operate, whether it’s machinery or a building that’s going to be used?”
Russ said that while many managers felt their health and safety culture was good, staff often disagreed. Equipment might not be up to standard, for instance, or there might be deadline pressures on staff leading to cutting corners to speed up production.
If a company scored very low on the survey, Russ said the result would make it question how it operated.
She said: “It begs questions in the way the business is doing its business. Is it safe and are its employers safe? But also in terms of what it is delivering to the client – is it exposing itself to future liability?”
Ford has trialled the tool at its Southampton plant.
Rob Ardley, human resources manager at Ford Southampton, said: “We have a very good safety record. However, it is easy to get complacent.
“This survey allowed us to get a level of insight and understanding not previously available. In particular, we started to get to know how our people feel about our commitments to safety and build a response that will further improve our safety record.”
More than 800 health and safety managers employed the original survey tool, including the snack manufacturer United Biscuits.
The company has ordered the new tool following a drop in major incidents at the firm. Minor accidents fell by 50% and there was a 75% rise in near-miss reporting.
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© PE Publishing, 27 January 2010
