MAY/JUNE 2022 SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELLBEING IN THE WORLD OF WORK

COLLABORATE INFLUENCE ENHANCE

How the Robens report Forestry and arboriculture Five steps to champion
changed OSH forever face a thicket of problems social sustainability

NEVER AGAIN?
C O L L A B O R AT E / I N F L U E N C E / E N H A N C E

Five years on from the Grenfell Tower fire,

we assess progress in tackling safety failings

1 Cover_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 1 13/04/2022 16:47

 MAKING WORKPLACES SAFER SINCE 1999
IOSH ONLINE TRAINING EXPERTS

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AS IT GETS" "BRILLIANT
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p02.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 2 08/04/2022 11:33

 WELCOME

Press for
progress
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF

The Institution of Occupational Safety

and Health (IOSH) is the world’s leading
professional body for people responsible

W
for safety and health in the workplace. e’re fast approaching the fifth Like other tragedies that have cost
anniversary of the Grenfell many lives, Grenfell was entirely
Tower tragedy, which provides avoidable. There were similar incidents
Published by Redactive Publishing Ltd
an opportunity to remember, in the years leading up to it – including
Fora, 9 Dallington Street, London, EC1V 0LN take stock, reflect and consider what has the Lakanal House fire in south London, in
EDITOR happened since then – and what needs to 2009 – but lessons weren’t learned. We
Emma Godfrey happen to ensure we never see a repeat of cannot afford to miss this opportunity to
emma.godfrey@ioshmagazine.com
that terrible night. implement new, robust measures around
DEPUTY EDITOR
Katie Smith The public inquiry into the fire, now building and fire safety.
CONTENT SUB-EDITOR in its second phase, is still ongoing. IOSH has contributed regularly to this
James Hundleby Phase 1 looked at the events leading up discussion, and we need to press for more
D I G I TA L E D I TO R to the fire, identifying the origin, the progress on areas that OSH professionals
Kellie Mundell
kellie.mundell@ioshmagazine.com spread and the emergency response, have previously highlighted. These
DESIGNERS and provided recommendations. Now include the removal of unsafe cladding,
Craig Bowyer, Gary Hill in phase 2, it is focusing on areas of the retrofitting of sprinklers and the
PICTURE RESEARCHER particular interest and importance, accrediting of fire risk assessors. We’d
Claire Echavarry
seeking to determine why the fire also like to see the implementation of the
ADVERTISING
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happened, and what can be done to new building and fire ‘safety case regime’,
ioshdisplay@redactive.co.uk prevent it happening again. an increase in fire safety capacity and
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ioshjobs@redactive.co.uk
Dame Judith Hackitt was commissioned widespread promotion of good regulation
PRODUCTION
to lead a separate review into building and as an investment rather than a cost.
Rachel Young +44 (0) 20 7880 6209 fire safety. Her report, published in 2018, Of course, fire safety issues are not
rachel.young@redactive.co.uk
recommended a number of measures, unique to the UK. There are high-rise
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
Aaron Nicholls
many of which were included in the buildings the world over and we have
Building Safety Bill, which is currently to question how safe they are. It is
Redactive aims to provide authoritative and accurate
information at all times. Its publications are, however, for going through the UK Parliament. unacceptable that fire risk management
guidance only and are not an official information source.

The inclusion of advertisements and inserts within IOSH

This issue’s cover story (page 24) looks in these buildings is still so lacking.
magazine and ioshmagazine.com does not constitute an
endorsement of the organisation or its products/services
in detail at what progress has been made What is clear is that we all, including
by IOSH or Redactive. All advertisements must adhere to
the British Code of Advertising Practice.
and, drawing on the expertise of people OSH professionals, have a role to play
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be from a variety of backgrounds, explores when taking action to prevent harm and
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical what more needs to be done to ensure protect people’s lives and livelihoods.
or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the
publisher and editor. people living – and working – in high-rise So it is clear there is still work to do,
For changes to your address, please contact IOSH accommodation are safe. and we must continue efforts to ensure
membership team on membership@iosh.com or
0116 257 3198. health and safety professionals have a

WE HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY major role to play in prevention, learning

ISSN 2396-7447 © IOSH 2022

lessons, improving standards and driving

WHEN TAKING ACTION

IOSH magazine is printed by
ISO 14001 certified printers. a culture for change.
Lives depend on it.
TO PREVENT HARM AND
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IOSH MAGAZINE 3

3 Welcome_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 3 14/04/2022 08:41

 M AY/JU NE 2 02 2

Contents SA F E T Y, H E A LT H A N D W E L L B E I N G I N T H E W O R L D OF W O R K

U PDAT E
7 NEWS

10 IOSH NEWS

12 NEWS ANALYSIS
How are organisations and
OSH professionals tackling
the pandemic’s mental
health crisis?

18 DID YOU KNOW...?

Key facts about the
Grenfell Tower fire

20 LEGAL

22 PROSECUTIONS

58
ZEROING IN
What to expect
from the second
Vision Zero summit
in Japan, and how it
will drive change

4 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

4-5 Contents_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 4 13/04/2022 15:57

 32 CONTENTS

24
COVE R F E AT UR E
Never again?
As the anniversary of
Lord Robens
the Grenfell Tower fire
approaches, we look at
progress made and the
wider OSH lessons 70 FUTURE LEADER
Saravanakumar Natarajan
We speak to one of IOSH’s
youngest Chartered Members
IN FLUE N C E
72 BACK TO BASICS
50 FORESTRY Rehab and return to work
Not out of the woods How to help colleagues with
Storms and financial cuts readjusting to the workplace
have seen continued needless
C O LLA B O R ATE deaths in the arboriculture 74 TALKING SHOP
Mental health
and forestry sector
32 ROBENS REPORT Thoughts on how to encourage
50 years on 54 POLICY SHORTFALLS staff to talk about mental illness
We look at how the health 10 pitfalls to avoid

and safety world has been
transformed since Lord Alfred
Robens’ seminal report in 1972
38 IOSH BENEFITS
Help on hand
The Helpline and dedicated
Legal Line are two lesser-
known perks that could
prove invaluable
41 REFLECTIONS
Hot topics
IOSH members share
their thoughts about
important talking points
45 OPINION
The wider view
Online content, including a
podcast on OSH inspiration
and a webinar on the benefits
– and future – of hybrid training
64
Scott Crichton identifies
common health and safety
policy mistakes and explains
how not to repeat them
E N HAN C E
64 CATCH THE WAVE
Championing people
IOSH’s new social sustainability
model aims to revolutionise
people-centred business
68 MEMBER INTERVIEW
James Pretty
Globe-trotting Chartered
Member recalls his experiences
in the UK, Australia and Oman

IOSH MAGAZINE 5

4-5 Contents_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 5 14/04/2022 14:36

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p06.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 6 08/04/2022 10:53

 Update WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS ISSUE

IN THIS New mental health website to tackle stress in farming P9 | IOSH forges stronger links across Europe P10 | The deep impact
of the pandemic on mental health in the workplace P12 | The key facts and figures of the Grenfell Tower disaster P18 |
S E CT I O N Appeal over ladder death dismissed by court P20 | Sainsbury’s fined £1m after woman injured by baler twine P22

6 in 10 favour
2 law giving
right to ignore emails
outside of work hours
New research published by Ipsos
shows that 60% of the 1050 UK
adults surveyed would support the
introduction of legislation giving
employees the right to ignore work-
related communications outside of
their official working/on-call hours.
For more about the research,
go to ioshmagazine.com/
ipsos-working-hours

3
How the Robens report
influenced safety
in Singapore

The risk-based OSH regulatory system

1
TfL, Croydon tram operator introduced by the Robens report,
and driver face prosecution which celebrates its 50th
over fatal crash anniversary this year, has
inspired other countries to
WHO? The UK-based Office of Rail and Road (ORR) revamp their legislation. IOSH
has launched a prosecution of Transport for London, magazine spoke to Ho
Tram Operations and Alfred Dorris, the driver of the Siong Hin, senior director at
International WSH, to find
tram involved in the fatal derailment at Sandilands
out how Singapore has taken
tram stop in Croydon in November 2016.
Robens’ philosophy forward. See
ioshmagazine.com/robens-singapore
WHY? After carrying out its own investigation into
the overturning of tram 2551, which left seven people Check out our feature on page 32,
dead and 19 seriously injured, the ORR has identified and our video marking 50 years
a number of health and safety failings that contributed since the report at ioshmagazine.com/
to the tragedy. videos/robens
PHOTOGRAP HY: G ETTY

ioshmagazine.com/orr-tram-crash

IOSH MAGAZINE 7

7 News_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 7 14/04/2022 14:36

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 NEWS

5
SAFE TY NOTI CES: HO IST ROP ES
AND I ND USTR I AL UP S SYST EMS
The GB Health and Safety Executive has issued
two safety notices for offshore crane boom hoist ropes
and the maintenance of industrial uninterruptible
power supply (UPS) systems. The move follows several
dangerous incidents.
Failures with the UPS systems identified that
manufacturers’ standard operating and maintenance
instructions did not provide adequate information to
allow the safe and reliable operation of equipment.

6 TACKLING STRESS
IN FARMING
The Health and Safety Executive
for Northern Ireland (HSE NI) has
launched a new interactive website
aimed at helping the local farming
community identify and deal with the
stresses and pressures of farming life.
Farminmind.co.uk is a confidential

4
website developed by Rural Support, the
Farm Safety Partnership and the Workplace
REPORT OUTLINES SITE Health and Leadership Group (NI). Users can

IMPROVEMENTS TO
complete a questionnaire developed by the World
Health Organization to help them establish the level

REDUCE FIRE RISKS of stress they are experiencing.

All construction site staff and those with

7
site responsibility should receive specific HSE R E V EALS COVID
fire safety training to help limit or
WO R K D E ATH RAT E
mitigate the damage caused by fires
Who? Figures published by the GB
on future construction or restoration Health and Safety Executive reveal that
projects, argues the Scottish Fire and 446 workers may have died as a result of being exposed
Rescue Service (SFRS). to COVID-19 in the workplace.
What? Total suspected occupational COVID-19 report
The call forms one of the principle
information, in the period 10 April 2020 to 5 February
recommendations in the SFRS report 2022, indicate 42,059 disease notifications.
on the Glasgow School of Art fire at the Why? Research undertaken by HR software provider
Mackintosh Building that happened in CIPHR also reveals that only 48% of companies plan to
keep staff with COVID-19 away from the workplace.
2018, which the SFRS said had ‘represented
the most complex and resource-intensive
PHOTOGRAPHY: G ETT Y / ALAMY

ioshmagazine.com/covid-work-death-rate
investigation’ it had ever undertaken and led.
Find out what lessons are highlighted in the 72-page
report at ioshmagazine.com/sfrs-glasgow-report

IOSH MAGAZINE 9

9 News_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 9 13/04/2022 16:02

 U PDAT E
PA RT N E R S H I P S
Building stronger links
across Europe
I
OSH has been
developing
strategic
engagement with
and support for several OSH
professional networks in
Europe in recent months,
consolidating existing links and
creating new opportunities.
Some of that work with
partner organisations includes
producing new webinars,
promoting knowledge-sharing
and research to prevent
musculoskeletal disorders
(MSDs), and communicating
health and safety messages.
‘Cooperation across Europe
is increasingly vital as we
recover from the pandemic
and adapt to trade and supply
chain challenges caused
by new factors, including
conflict in Ukraine,’ says
E VE N TS
IOSH on
the road
Throughout the remainder of
this year, look out for IOSH
presenting or exhibiting at some
major OSH conferences and
events around the world.
11-13 MAY: Japan 2022 Vision
Zero Summit (virtual event):
IOSH representatives including
10 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
10-11 IOSH News_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 10
Alison van Keulen, IOSH
strategic relationships
business manager.
‘We’re delighted to be
working with the European
Network of Safety and Health
Professional Organizations
[ENSHPO] on a new series
of webinars, which began on
7 April with presentations
president Louise Hosking, chief
executive Vanessa Harwood-
Whitcher and head of strategic
engagement Alan Stevens will
lead technical sessions under
the theme ‘Future business
leaders: achieving safer
and healthier performance
and productivity’.
17-19 MAY: Safety and Health
Expo, ExCeL, London (in-
person event) – free entry:
and a discussion on European
emerging trends in health and
safety training.
‘I was joined by the vice-
president of the Asociación de
Especialistas en Prevención
y Salud Laboral in Spain, the
president of the Associazione
Professionale Italiana
Ambiente e Sicurezza in
IOSH will be delivering four
sessions on social sustainability,
musculoskeletal disorders and
the supply chain. IOSH speakers
include Louise Hosking;
Lawrence Webb, president-
elect; Duncan Spencer, head
of advice and practice; and
Ruth Wilkinson, head of health
and safety.
23-24 MAY: Safety, Health and
Wellbeing Live, Manchester
Italy, and the president of
the Magyar Munkavédelmi
Akadémia in Hungary to
explore OSH learning and
development in different
parts of Europe and share
new approaches.
‘With ENSHPO, we’re
promoting knowledge-sharing,
including new research into
how schools can contribute
to long-term prevention of
MSDs,’ Alison says.
The IOSH policy team is also
active in European efforts to
contribute to positive change,
such as its recent support for
new EU legislation to ban
products made by forced or
child labour from entering EU
markets. Dr Iván Williams
Jiménez, OSH policy specialist
for IOSH, called this ‘a big step
towards promoting safe and
secure working environments
for all workers’.
Find out more about
IOSH’s collaborative
activities at iosh.com/
our-collaborations
Central (in-person event)
– free entry: Here, the
theme is ‘Empowering
regional safety and health
communities’. Louise
Hosking will deliver a
keynote presentation on
social sustainability. She
looks forward to catching
up with members from
the Midlands, the North of
England and other regions.
13/04/2022 16:04
 IOSH NEWS

SAIOSH CON FEREN CE

I N T E R N AT I O N AL AWARENESS how strong OSH systems are made
more effective through dialogue
IOSH marks and participation.
World Day WHO? IOSH and the ILO signed a
memorandum of understanding
IOSH teams up
in South Africa
IOSH is continuing to support efforts to drive
occupational safety and health forward in
Africa, and will be playing a leading role in
the upcoming health and safety conference
of the South African Institute of Occupational
Health and Safety (Saiosh).
IOSH is a main sponsor of the event,
which takes place in Gauteng on 31 May
and 1 June, and president-elect Lawrence
Webb will present the Institution’s Catch
the Wave campaign.
This is the latest development in IOSH’s
collaborative relationship with Saiosh. The

for Safety in November 2021, agreeing to

collaborate to use their reach,
organisations signed a memorandum of
understanding and IOSH’s courses have
and Health influence, and technical and been on Saiosh’s CPD framework since 2020.

with the ILO training expertise to achieve

positive impacts through safety,
Alan Stevens, IOSH head of strategic
engagement, said: ‘IOSH is delighted to
On 28 April, IOSH joined the health and wellbeing at work. have a long-term collaboration with Saiosh,
International Labour Organization WHY? IOSH’s vision for a safer and my thanks go to [CEO of Saiosh] Neels
(ILO) in commemorating this annual and healthier world of work Nortje, a true visionary in the world of OSH.
awareness day, joining the ILO’s aligns with the ILO’s main aims
‘South Africa leads the way on integration
global Safe Day webinar and hosting to promote rights at work,
and uptake of CPD within the OSH profession
our own Catch the Wave webinar. encourage decent employment
and, by featuring IOSH training on the
WHAT? This year’s theme, ‘Act opportunities, enhance social
together to build a positive safety protection and strengthen social Saiosh CPD framework, South African
and health culture’, focused on dialogue on work-related issues. OSH professionals are able to access IOSH
training materials to demonstrate their
professional capability.’
TRAINING Neels Nortje added: ‘Saiosh is delighted
to welcome IOSH back to South Africa once
ASK FOR IOSH CAMPAIGN again and we look forward to a successful and
fruitful conference. We have a long-standing
We’re giving a boost to our training products and our partnership and – I consider – friendship
training provider network with refreshed branding, with IOSH, and we value the support and
messaging and promotional resources. progress we have made together over the
WHAT? IOSH Training creates, develops and updates
years, taking great strides together to a safer
our well-regarded suite of courses, which is delivered
world of work in South Africa.’
worldwide by a network of almost 2000 training
providers. Recently, we refreshed its visual branding
and rolled out a new ‘Ask for IOSH’ campaign. To find out more about the event,
visit bit.ly/Saiosh-conference-2022
PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK

WHY? We’re proud of our courses and all the dedicated trainers who
deliver them, enhancing OSH awareness at work. The new ‘Ask for IOSH’
social media ads and other resources will help training providers promote
to their customers.

IOSH MAGAZINE 11

10-11 IOSH News_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 11 14/04/2022 14:37

 U PDAT E

I
t is no huge surprise that
COVID-19 has affected the
world’s mental health. Over
the course of 2020, cases of
depression and anxiety increased by more
than 25% around the world (Santomauro
et al, 2021). In Britain, the number of adults
who reported experiencing some form of
depression increased from 10% before the
pandemic to 21% in early 2021, and then
reduced slightly to 17% in summer 2021
(Office for National Statistics, 2021).
Sixty-five per cent of 10,000 UK adults
said their mental health had got worse
since the first lockdown, and 26% said
they had experienced mental distress for
the first time (Mind, 2021).
The economic cost of poor mental health
is also vast. Lost productivity caused by
anxiety and depression costs the global
economy $1tn a year, a figure predicted
to rise to $6tn by 2030 (Lancet Global
Health, 2020). The annual cost of poor
mental health to UK employers was £45bn
(Deloitte, 2020). These figures pre-date 25
MINS
the pandemic, and a clear picture of how
mental health impacts of the pandemic

Deep
have affected global economies in monetary
terms is still being formed. But the impact
on the workplace is demonstrable.

Clash of consequences

impact
Research from the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development (CIPD) found
that COVID-19 was among the main causes
of stress at work: 31% of those surveyed
attributed their stress to new work-related
demands or challenges due to home-
working, while 23% identified COVID-
related anxiety as the main factor (CIPD,
2021). Mental ill health remains the most
common cause of long- and short-term The huge mental health consequences of the
absence, with stress in particular leading
to considerable sickness absence: 33% and
pandemic will continue to affect workplaces
48% of respondents placed it among the as we move into an endemic phase. How are
top three causes of short- and long-term
organisations and OSH professionals tackling
absence respectively (CIPD, 2021).
Eighty-four per cent of employers took the mental health crisis?
additional measures to support employee
health and wellbeing through an increased WORDS ANNA SCOTT

12 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

News Analysis_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 12 13/04/2022 16:06


focus on mental health
(CIPD, 2021).
‘Looking ahead, the
upcoming publication of the
UK government’s Living with
COVID strategy will result in
organisations’ wellbeing and
absence practices being further
scrutinised,’ says Rachel Suff,
senior employment relations
adviser at the CIPD. ‘We’ve
seen many employers step up
their efforts to support staff
with their mental health and
wellbeing over the past two
years; these learnings need
to be carried forward.’
Absence isn’t the only
consequence for organisations.
‘Conversely, you might have
presenteeism: dissatisfied,
demotivated individuals,’
says Nick Wilson, director
of health and safety services
at consultancy WorkNest.
‘Those who work while sick
take longer to recover and their lack of
enthusiasm/continued illness can lower
workplace morale. The result is dissatisfied,
demotivated individuals and the next thing
you know, one of your key metrics takes
a hit with increased staff turnover. Poor
organisational culture then becomes evident
to somebody from the outside looking in.’
WorkNest has seen an increase in
the number of companies asking for
mental health advice and turning to OSH
professionals for help on the risks connected
to anxiety and stress. Nick says this may be
exacerbated in those suddenly ‘catapulted
into this existence where they no longer
have daily face-to-face interaction with their
managers and peers’. He adds: ‘The problem
is we’re not medical practitioners, but we
are often regarded as a sort of one-stop shop
for anything that is health-related.’
Research from Nick’s company has found
PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK
that 59% of business decision-makers say
the pandemic has fundamentally changed
how their organisation views workplace
News Analysis_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 13
NEWS ANALYSIS
IN FIGURES
health and safety and that it will continue
to be a priority in the future (WorkNest,
The UK
822,000
2021). But the survey also found that 36%
of employees and 35% of decision-makers
describe their organisation’s health and
safety culture as ‘reactive’. workers across
Sometimes, employers will contact Britain suffered
WorkNest ‘once a situation with an from new or
long-standing
individual has progressed to a point where
work-related stress,
it’s actually become a medical issue, at depression or
which point there’s very little that people anxiety in 2020 and
can then do, other than to steer them 2021 (HSE, 2021)
towards some kind of medical professional’,
451,000
Nick explains.
Preventive measures
The GB Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) launched the Working Minds workers across
campaign in November 2021 to encourage Britain suffered
from a new case
both recognition of the signs of stress and
of work-related
subsequent action to remove or reduce stress, anxiety
it, in a bid to make such considerations or depression in
as routine as managing workplace safety 2020 and 2021
risks. As well as publicising the ‘5 Rs’ to (HSE, 2021)
tackle mental ill health (see panel on page
449,000
15), the campaign also features the launch
of a new hub with tailored content for
employers and employees, while the HSE
has begun a series of blogs and developed
a network of subscribers, champions and new and long-standing
campaign partners. cases of work-related stress,
depression or anxiety
‘The campaign will be delivered in phases
were made worse by the
to allow us to keep the messages relevant pandemic (HSE, 2021)
£43BN
to the situation as things change – as
people return to the workplace, as the
“new normal” becomes established, and
as the impact of work changes for people,’
Rob McGreal, policy adviser on the work-
related stress and mental health team says,
adding that next on the agenda are a mobile
app, a new quiz designed to help employers The estimated cost to UK
employers of workers
understand the legal basics, and sector-
taking time off due to
specific research. illness or injury in 2021
‘It’s too early to understand the full (GoodShape, 2021)
impact of the pandemic on workers’ mental
health. Each and every business is affected
– while some jobs have continued relatively
unchanged, others have had to make
significant adaptations,’ Rob says.
A proactive approach to psychosocial
IOSH MAGAZINE 13
14/04/2022 14:37
 U PDAT E
BUSINESS OWNERS AND MANAGERS NEED
TO CONSIDER THE IMPACT OF HOME-WORKING,
HYBRID WORKING, AND RETURNING TO
THE WORKPLACE FULL-TIME
risk management that takes an overview
of all work-related risks is crucial. Claire
Dalton CMIOSH, owner of training
company Live for Work, has adapted
standard training courses to cover topics
that include returning to work following
time off due to mental ill health, and
identifying the signs and symptoms
of poor mental health early.
‘Business owners and managers need
to consider the impact of home-working,
hybrid working and returning to the
U N D E R C O N STRUCTI ON
Mental health
for me
Construction faces a particular challenge
regarding mental health in that the sector
is predominantly male. Research has found
that men are twice as likely as women to
have mental health problems due to their
job (Mind, 2017), and are less likely to reach
out for help.
‘There’s a traditional view of men in
construction that they can just carry on and
get the job done,’ says Lynda Parkinson,
group health, safety and environment lead
at HB Projects, a principal contractor firm
based in Bradford, West Yorkshire (right).
‘We wanted to make it clear that it’s okay
to talk, or to not be okay.’
HB Projects developed a mental wellbeing
roadshow visiting regional offices and
sites with the goal of engaging all 178
14 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
News Analysis_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 14
workplace full-time, and put support
and training strategies in place,’ she says.
‘Consultation with employees and managers
with regard to types of training and support
provided will be most suitable; there is
no “one size fits all” and it will be difficult
to regulate. But it has been proven that
many people are no longer willing to work
in unsupportive environments that affect
their mental and physical health, so many
businesses will lose good workers if they
don’t adapt.’
employees. They enlisted the help of a
former professional footballer who had
struggled with his mental health, and talks
from other mental health experts, including
a psychosexual therapist.
Lynda says: ‘The therapist
sparked some interesting
conversations. It’s her
view that often her
patients will say they
have one problem,
but she’ll help them
realise they actually
may have anxiety,
or a problem with
eating habits,
for example.’
COVID-19 brought extra
challenges, admits Lynda.
‘Like many in construction, we had
to ensure we considered the health and
wellbeing of both sides of the business –
assisting office-based workers to adjust to
Line managers and OSH professionals
alike need an awareness of how stress,
anxiety, depression and other mental health
issues manifest and present, Claire says.
Good, consistent communication with
teams and an open-door policy – virtual or
real – are needed, as is ‘the understanding
that poor mental health will affect the
person’s whole being and can make
someone very ill’.
Kevin Hithersay, a mental health first aid
trainer who works with a range of sectors,
including construction and the armed
forces, says OSH professionals should
look out for changes in behaviour and
appearance, such as being absent from
work or working more hours than usual.
‘It’s about approaching somebody at the
right time, the right place and asking “Are
you alright?”,’ he says. ‘If that person says
home-working, while also protecting our site
workers who were still carrying out essential
project work. Where possible, we continue
to work using a blended solution allowing
people to split their time between
office and home-working.’
Lynda says HB Projects is
continuing to invest in
mental health training,
with all employees
receiving a half-day
awareness course,
and line managers
taking Mind’s
MH Champions
course (Mind, 2019).
They have set up a
wellbeing team to plan
campaigns and initiatives, and
are currently launching a series of
financial wellbeing seminars and one-to-one
financial adviser appointments in response
to concerns over the rising costs of living.
14/04/2022 14:37
 NEWS ANALYSIS

TOP FIV E

The ‘5 Rs’
of the HSE’s
Working
“Yes, I’m fine”, you could say something
along the lines of, “Well, I’m worried about MANY PEOPLE WITH Minds
you. If you want to come and have a chat,
this is where I am.”’
MENTAL HEALTH campaign
He says the HSE’s management PROBLEMS REMAIN Reach out to workers,
standards on stress, which cover six key
areas of work design that if not properly SUSPICIOUS THAT IF 1 colleagues, trade
unions and managers.
managed are associated with poor health,
are ‘absolutely pivotal to what directors
THEY SAY SOMETHING, 2
Recognise the signs of stress

and senior managers should be reaching IT WILL IMPAIR THEIR in yourself and others.

and understanding, doing the policies,
getting the risk assessments in place and
listening to staff ’.
Three steps
Professor Neil Greenberg, a consultant
occupational and forensic psychiatrist who
was part of NHS England’s response to
protect the mental health of NHS workers
in 2020, says workplaces need a preventive
medical approach to mental health, training
both managers and ‘peer supporters’.
His team at King’s College London
researched the delivery of a one-hour
training package called REACT (Recognise,
PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK
CAREER OR REPUTATION
active listening and ‘psychologically savvy’
chat. ‘It’s an easy win,’ he says.
Neil also recommends an approach in
which senior people in organisations talk
about negative mental health experiences
in a positive way. ‘Although it’s really useful
to have education to talk to everybody and
say, “We believe in mental health”, the fact
is that many people with mental health
problems remain suspicious that if they say
something, it’s going to impair their career
or reputation. What you really want within
Respond to the things
3 people are telling you
– listen to their concerns
and develop ways to
tackle them.
Reflect by thinking about
4 what’s been done and check
if it’s working for you and
your workers. If it isn’t,
consider why and explore
possible alternatives.
Make it Routine – take
5 regular opportunities to
check in on mental health
and stress. Assessing the

risks from any hazard is

Engage, Actively listen, Check risk, Talk to
them about specific actions) to NHS staff.
This provides workers with a template for
an organisation is to look for the people
not a one-off process;
who have had difficulties in the past and
things change.
who have come through them,’ he adds.

IOSH MAGAZINE 15

News Analysis_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 15 13/04/2022 16:07

 U PDAT E
The third approach Neil recommends
encourages organisations to talk
openly (without giving individual
details) about instances of things
that have gone wrong and potentially
contributed to employees’ poor mental
health, and the ways in which they
rectified matters. ‘Where something
has changed, you need to make a
song and a dance about it, about how
things are different from the narrative
that people generally have of that
organisation,’ he says.
Unparalleled opportunity
Peter Jenkins, group health and safety
manager at food company Dalziel, says
OSH professionals have been exposed
to more mental health needs than ever
before and are rising to the challenge
admirably. ‘The OSH profession has
come together like in no other time
against a common risk, COVID; the
RE S O U RCE
Avoiding harm: prevention
first: bit.ly/IOSH-making-
MH-matter
16 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
News Analysis_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 16
same opportunity exists for meeting
mental health needs,’ he says.
‘At the very least, the pandemic has
given all businesses an unparalleled
opportunity to define their values-based
actions and develop their management
systems around human factors,’ he
adds. ‘The impact of pandemic-rooted
mental health needs on businesses has
been felt across every scale and size
of organisation.’
At the same time, the OSH
profession is held in higher esteem
than ever before. Forty-three per cent
of IOSH members said they felt valued
since COVID-19 struck and 63% say
their role was highly regarded within
the organisation. In addition, 72% said
mental health and wellbeing in the
workplace should be part of their role.
The initial mental health impact
of the pandemic and its effect on
work is broadly understood, and data
is still being collected. As research
continues and the daily impacts of
COVID-19 change, we will begin to
understand the medium- and long-
term consequences for mental health.
In the meantime, supporting people
in the workplace with a preventive,
psychosocial approach to managing
risks associated with mental health
remains crucial.
GLOBAL PERSPECT IV E
A planet
on the edge
Over the course of 2020, global cases
of depression and anxiety increased
by almost 28% and 26% respectively,
according to the first study to assess
the global impact of the pandemic on
major depressive and anxiety disorders
(Santomauro et al, 2021).
People living in countries severely
impacted by the pandemic were most
affected, especially women and younger
people, according to a systematic review
of data reporting cases of anxiety
and depression in 204 countries and
territories between 1 January 2020 and
29 January 2021.
Study leader Dr Damian Santomauro,
senior research fellow at the Queensland
Centre for Mental Health Research, says
that past population shocks had led the
researchers to expect to see an increase,
but they were taken aback by the size
of it. ‘I was also surprised to see that
the prevalence increase in the elderly
was much smaller than in younger age
groups,’ he adds. ‘I had expected older
age groups to be more severely impacted
due to their vulnerability to the virus and
negative impacts of social isolation.’
The researchers have begun compiling
new estimates for 2021 and 2022
to establish how the incidence of
depression and anxiety has changed as
we have moved through the pandemic.
‘The waves of COVID-19 during 2021
were substantially larger than during
2020 and across more countries,’ says
Damian. ‘So there will likely be locations
where we estimate greater increases in
prevalence during 2021 than 2020.’
PHOTOG RAPHY: G ETTY
To view the references for this
article, go to ioshmagazine.com/
mental-health-covid
13/04/2022 16:08
p17.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 2 08/04/2022 10:55
 U PDAT E

Remembering
Grenfell
It’s nearly five years since the Grenfell Tower fire.
We take a look at the timeline of events and some
of the key statistics around the tragic incident.

14 JUNE

2017
AM
Grenfell resident Behailu Kebede calls
999 to report fire in flat 16 on floor 4

CLA
75
7 5 HD D I N G
AM
IGH- ON
ACR BUI RISE
‘Stay put’ advice officially revoked
2005
A U T O S S 2 6L D I N G S
1962 H O R LO
Responsibility
for assessing fire

WA S I T Y A R C A L
risk in buildings
shifts from the
British Standard fire service to

FOU EAS
Code of Practice
1974
building owners
sets the first under the

C O MH AV E FN D TO
standards for Regulatory
high-rise Reform (Fire

2001
residential Grenfell Safety) Order 2
buildings. This

T E STB U ST I BA I L E D
Tower is built
introduces the as part of the
‘stay put’ in case Lancaster West
of fire policy Manufacturer Arconic’s
Estate in North

ING ILITY
aluminium composite
Kensington,
material (ACM) cladding
west London

IN 2
fails a Building Research
Establishment fire test with

017
‘catastrophic’ results

2016
The Grenfell Tower refurbishment
is completed. ACM cladding is
installed on the walls, along
with Celotex RS5000 insulation

18 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

18-19 Did You Know_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 18 13/04/2022 16:10

 DID YOU KNOW..?

72NUMBER

4
OF LIVES

2 Gre
n fell T
ow
er LOST

0
in
reys

12ost
sto Firefighters at the scene at the fire’s peak.
Over the course of the operation, 250
firefighters attempted to control the blaze

318,725
n ts
me
art
ap

Alm
m
Number of documents

70
disclosed to the
Grenfell Tower Inquiry

£235m
)
20ft
t (2

5
h
eig
sh
nf ell’
Gre

1o o f 40%
The amount spent by Kensington

t
arm

u
c e and Chelsea Council on securing
an
n t en ent 307 homes for survivors
i m
e ma nage
s a ly
- h ou nt m t ran poor g Percentage of
buildings with
n
e in na ha ed ini
Th he tetion tr scor y tra the same type of
t t
of anisaTowe safe re cladding that
g
or nfell andthe fi
have not been
h made safe in
Grehealt or to England as of
i
on it pr December 2021
d
au
B B C New s, 20 22; G renfel l To wer I n qui r y, 20 22; Wa i te, 20 22; A pps, 20 21;
Kn utt, 20 21; M o o re- B i ck, 2019; S ephto n , 2018 ; Co n str ucti o n I n dex , 2017 IOSH MAGAZINE 19

18-19 Did You Know_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 19 13/04/2022 16:11

 U PDAT E
CA S E LAW
Appeal against
‘unfair’ £1.1m
fine in ladder
case dismissed
Modus Workspace claimed in court that loss-making
projections should have led to reduced penalties.
A
design and construction
company’s appeal against a
£1.1m fine after an engineer
fell from a ladder and suffered
life-changing injuries has been dismissed.
Modus Workspace was prosecuted under
the Health and Safety at Work Act for
failing to discharge its duty.
The firm was refurbishing a warehouse
in Hemel Hempstead, UK in 2016. On
5 September, while testing a sprinkler
system for leaks, a subcontractor leaned an
extension ladder on an internal roof against
an exterior wall. The ladder gave way when
he stepped on it, and he fell three metres
(9.8ft) through a gap, sustaining serious
injuries, including severe blood loss. At
the original trial at Luton Crown Court,
the judge said the injured man had not
been warned about the gaps and that any
available warnings were inadequate.
The judge also said there were serious
and persistent failures and lapses in some
procedures, and the company’s conduct
had fallen ‘far short of the appropriate
standard’. When sentencing, the judge
considered the company’s accounts, which
showed a turnover of more than £50m
over the preceding three years. A letter
from the company’s auditors on the
20 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
20-21 Case Law_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 20
RV
WORMODUS
LTD KSPACE
[202
1]
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the
business forecast £40m turnover for the
company for the 2020 period. Based on
this information, the judge classified
Modus as a large organisation, and with
a high level of culpability, the judge took
a starting point for the fine of £1.1m.
The company appealed against the
fine amount, arguing the trial judge was
mistaken in the application of health and
safety sentencing guidelines. It argued it
should not have been classified as a large
organisation, or the judge should have
made a reduction to the fine’s starting
point because of the loss-making projection
at the time of sentencing.
At appeal, the judge found that the
original trial judge had based the sentence
on the business they were presented
with. Their view of the company’s future
financial health and the possible impact of
the pandemic was reasonably open, and it
Guidelines do not
require judges to
pay regard to a
company’s future
performance
was wrong to claim the judge was not aware
of the economic realities of the company’s
situation. The appeal judge agreed with
the trial judge that the company was not
loss-making and was not projected to have
a substantial reduction in its turnover even
during the pandemic. The trial judge did
account for the projected downturn in
business when sentencing but could do
no more, and sentencing guidelines do
not require judges to pay regard to a
company’s future performance.
Some mitigating factors were applied to
the company, namely its previously good
health and safety record. However, this
incident could have very easily ended in
a fatality, with the breach being serious
and persistent and causing serious harm.
Increasing the fine could be both expected
and easily justifiable.
The appeal judge ruled the original
PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAMY / ISTOCK
trial judge’s sentencing was not unfair,
unbalanced or disproportionate. The
original fine was ruled to be neither wrong
in principle nor manifestly excessive, and
the company’s appeal was dismissed.
13/04/2022 16:12

This sponsored content has been provided by
Cedrec Information Systems, available at cedrec.com
NEW L EGI SL ATI ON, GUI DANCE AN D CON SULTAT ION
C O NF I NE D S PAC E S
New merchant
shipping regulations
The Merchant Shipping and
Fishing Vessels (Entry into
Enclosed Spaces) Regulations
2022 apply to all UK-
registered ships and all other
ships when in UK waters. They
aim to prevent seafarers being
injured or killed in confined
spaces by placing duties
on ship owners, masters,
employers and others to take
measures to protect seafarers
from related hazards.
cedr.ec/877
GAS SAFETY
Consultation on
revised gas safety
management
The GB Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) has consulted
on the proposed review of
the Gas Safety (Management)
Regulations 1996, which
aimed to ensure that
domestic gas supply market
liberalisation would not
reduce safety standards.
The legislation creates
significant processing costs
and could prevent the UK
from diversifying its gas
sources to support its net-zero
commitments and ensure
supply security.
The HSE said it was
reasonable to review
gas quality limits to
establish whether
they reflect safety or
commercial constraints
20-21 Case Law_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 21
and to determine whether the
benefits of regulating quality
justify the costs. Proposals
were made regarding
adapting and lowering safe
gas composition limits and
clarification on the inclusion
of biomethane pipelines as
part of the gas network.
cedr.ec/879
C HE M ICALS
Ban proposed
on firefighting
foam chemicals
The European Chemicals
Agency (ECHA) has brought
forward a proposal to restrict
the use of all per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFASs) in firefighting foams
across the EU. The ECHA
investigated environmental
and health risks posed by
using PFASs in firefighting
foams and concluded that
the risks are not adequately
controlled and releases
should be minimised.
Restrictions would prevent
further groundwater and soil
contamination and health
risks for people and the
environment. The ECHA’s
scientific committees will
assess the proposed restriction
options and consider the
evidence. The EU will then
decide on any restrictions
or conditions.
cedr.ec/87i
CON STRUCTION
Safety Action
Plan published
Ireland’s Health and Safety
Authority and Construction
Safety Partnership Advisory
Committee have published
a Construction Safety Action
Plan for 2022-24. It sets out
five key objectives to:
• Standardise the approach
for health and safety
management
• Improve client awareness/
compliance on small, high-risk
projects such as one-off builds
and construction on farms
• Improve safety consultation,
worker engagement and
encourage facilitation of
safety representatives
• Examine existing Construction
Skills Certification Scheme
courses with a view to
identifying new subjects
required/needed by industry,
and consider new ways of
delivering Safe Pass
• Raise awareness of
occupational health
in construction.
cedr.ec/878
H AZARDOUS SUBSTAN CE S
Consultation
on Poisons Act
amendments
The Home Office has
published a consultation
LEGAL
into proposed amendments
of control measures for
sales of explosive precursors
and poisons under the
Poisons Act 1972.
The proposed
amendments aim to deliver
the government’s counter-
terrorism commitments
following the use of
poisons and explosive
precursors in terrorist
attacks in the UK. They
consider new measures
to reduce the threat from
the illicit use of such
materials in a way that is
proportionate for the public
and affected businesses.
cedr.ec/81y
RADIATION
Guidance on
Electromagnetic
Compatibility
Regulations 2016
The Office for Product
Safety and Standards
has published updated
statutory guidance to help
businesses placing electrical
and electronic equipment
on the market in Great
Britain to comply with the
Electromagnetic Compatibility
Regulations 2016.
The guides have now
been updated to clarify
product-labelling
requirements, reflect the
extension of the transition
period for UKCA marking,
and refer to EU Market
Surveillance Regulation
2019/1020, now in force
in Northern Ireland.
cedr.ec/822
IOSH MAGAZINE 21
13/04/2022 16:12
 U PDAT E
R I S K A S S E S S MENT
Sainsbury’s must
pay £1m after twine
shatters customer jaw
What happened?
Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has been
convicted of health and safety breaches
for the first time after a customer
suffered catastrophic facial injuries
when she collided with baler twine.
When and where?
Patricia Crampton was riding her
mobility scooter at Sainsbury’s Newbury
store on Hectors Way on 21 June 2020.
How did it happen?
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
the store implemented a queuing
system to enable customers to queue in
a socially distanced manner. A mixture
of metal and plastic temporary barriers
was spaced apart and baler twine – more
commonly used for securing cardboard
once it has been crushed into bales – was
used to delineate the queuing area.
What went wrong?
The victim rode her scooter through a
perceived gap where the baler twine
22 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
22-23 Prosecutions_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 22
– which has a high tensile strength and
is intended not to break easily – had
been strung between two structural
pillars. Patricia suffered serious facial
injuries, including fractures to her jaw
and damage to her teeth. The incident
was reported to staff, who immediately
administered first aid and called
an ambulance to take the victim to
hospital. The twine was immediately
removed and a message sent to all
other stores. Sainsbury’s confirmed
that baler twine was not being used
in this way in any other store.
What did the court say?
The retailer pleaded guilty to one
health and safety offence at Reading
Magistrates’ Court. As well as the £1m
fine, Sainsbury’s was ordered to pay costs
of £18,263.
West Berkshire Council gave IOSH
magazine an exclusive interview on
the case. See ioshmagazine.com/
sainsburys-twine for more.
WORK AT HEIGHT
£1.5M FINE
FOR FATAL
CRANE FALL
WHAT’S THE STORY?
World-renowned former steelwork
specialist Cleveland Bridge UK has
been fined £1.5m by Teesside Crown
Court after an electrician fell more
than 7.5 metres (25ft) to his death.
THE INCIDENT
On 25 October 2016, Keith Poppleton
had been making repairs on a large
overhead gantry crane at Cleveland
Bridge’s site in Darlington when a
walkway access panel gave way under
his feet. The 54-year-old fell to the
ground, sustaining fatal injuries.
THE INVESTIGATION
An investigation by the GB Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) found that
the company had failed to maintain
the crane walkway’s access panels.
PHOTOGRAPHY: S HUTTERSTOCK / HE ALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE / WEST MIDLAND S POLICE
IN COURT
Cleveland Bridge was found guilty of
breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of
the Health and Safety at Work Act,
regulation 5(1) of the Provision and
Use of Work Equipment Regulations,
and regulation 8(b)(i) of the Work
at Height Regulations. On top of the
fine, the company was ordered to pay
costs of £29,239.
Read the full HSE investigator
interview at ioshmagazine.com/
cleveland-bridge
13/04/2022 16:13

S A F E SYSTEM S OF WORK
Recycling firm fined
£2m for corporate
manslaughter
WHO?
A company and three of its
bosses have been fined more
than £2m over the death
of a worker who suffered
catastrophic head injuries at
a recycling plant in Oldbury.
WHAT?
Stuart Towns walked
underneath a hopper, which
housed powerful engines
used to feed a conveyor belt
with scrap metal, at
the Alutrade Ltd
plant on 24 July
2017. A gate
preventing
workers from
accessing
the area was
broken, and the
machine should
have been shut down
and isolated if any kind
of maintenance or cleaning
work needed to be done on
it. Minutes later, 34-year-old
Stuart’s body was discovered
by colleagues. He had suffered
catastrophic head injuries and
died at the scene.
HOW?
A major investigation analysed
an entire month’s CCTV
footage, and found hundreds
of breaches. They included:
• Workers jumping up and
down on metal in a hopper
to clear blockages.
22-23 Prosecutions_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 23
PROSECUTIONS
A ROUN D T HE GLOBE
CLAIM POSSIBLE
FOR SLIP AT HOME
WHO? A German court has ruled that a
man who slipped and broke his back
while walking from his bed to his
home office can claim on workplace
accident insurance as he was
technically commuting.
• A forklift truck driven by
company director Malcolm WHY? The employer’s insurers
George being used to lift Stuart initially refused to cover the claim.
over five metres (18ft) into the While two lower courts disagreed on
air to clear a blockage, with no whether the short trip was a commute, the
safety rigging. higher federal social court said it had found
that ‘the first morning journey from bed to
• Staff walking on a conveyor
the home office [was] an insured work route’.
belt to clear blockages.
HOW? The court said: ‘If the insured activity
WHY? is carried out in the household of the insured
Alutrade admitted corporate person or at another location, insurance
cover is provided to the same extent as when
manslaughter at Wolverhampton
the activity is carried out at the company
Crown Court last month.
premises.’ The amount claimed under the
It was fined £2m
insurance is not known.
with £105,514
costs. Directors
Malcolm
George and
CERTIFICATE
Kevin Pugh,
as well as
FORGER JAILED
WHO? Hanif Miah Md Nurul Islam was
health and
sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment
safety manager
under section 53(c) of Singapore’s
Mark Redfern,
Workplace Safety and Health Act
were initially charged for knowingly using a forged
with gross negligence certificate to gain employment
manslaughter, but instead as a formwork supervisor.
pleaded guilty to breaches of the
WHY? In 2015, Hanif obtained
Health and Safety at Work Act.
a forged supervisors’ formwork
They admitted the charge
safety certificate for a fee. Between
on the basis that their failings September and December 2020, he was
didn’t cause the death, but appointed as a formwork supervisor at least
responsibility for corporate four times based on the forged certificate.
manslaughter rested with the In doing so, he falsely represented that he
management of the company as had completed the course, when he had
a whole. The defendants each not undergone the necessary training.
received individual fines. WHAT? In February 2021, the Ministry of
Manpower investigated after a subcontractor
CCTV footage from the plant asked it to verify the authenticity of Hanif’s
has been released by West certificates. Investigations revealed he had
Midlands Police. Watch it at received no training required for him to be
ioshmagazine.com/alutrade familiar with the relevant hazards.
IOSH MAGAZINE 23
13/04/2022 16:13
 C OVER STO RY

25
MINS

NEVER
AGAIN?
As we approach the anniversary of the Grenfell
Tower fire, we look at progress in tackling
widespread safety failings, and at the wider
lessons for OSH professionals.

24 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

24-29 Cover Feature_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 24 14/04/2022 08:42

 GRENFELL TOWER

Listen to our interview with Dame Judith Hackitt about the UK government’s U-turn

I
on the role of a building safety manager: ioshmagazine.com/podcast/hackitt

n September 2021, an article in failings exposed at Grenfell that may leave confirmation that these extend to exterior
The Times trailed government plans residential block occupants across the walls (see Grenfell Tower response, page
to demolish the charred remains UK at risk. Others include combustible 27). But the major changes will happen
of Grenfell Tower in west London material on balconies, breached fire after the Building Safety Bill becomes
(Wheeler et al, 2021). The suggestion compartmentation (intended to keep law this year. A phased introduction
was greeted with protests from fires spreading between residences) and of elements of the new regime, based
Grenfell United, a group of survivors inadequate smoke ventilation systems. on Dame Judith Hackitt’s review
and bereaved families of the 72 people It is still not clear where the rest of the recommendations, will tighten the
who died in the fire that engulfed the estimated £15bn needed to remedy these processes for approving buildings and
24-storey local authority apartment hazards, according to an estimate by the the people and products involved in
block in June 2017. ‘How can the tower parliamentary Housing, Communities their construction and maintenance.
be demolished before the legal process and Local Government committee
concludes,’ the group asked, ‘when no judge (2020), will come from. Up to the job
in the land can confirm it won’t hinder There have been numerous tweaks to the Dame Judith Hackitt’s review and the
future criminal prosecutions?’ regulatory system to close gaps identified Grenfell inquiry have both highlighted the
No ministerial confirmation of the by Grenfell, including the Fire Safety Act risks posed by a lack of knowledge about
demolition has followed, but the 2021, which revised the ensuring fire safety among key actors, from
timescale for the replacement responsible person’s architects to fire risk assessors.
of the building’s skeleton duties under The Competence Steering Group
with a memorial is just the Fire Safety (CSG), representing more than 150
one of many questions Order, including organisations, recommended that
that remain unanswered
five years after one of
the UK’s worst peacetime
catastrophes. Who will pay
to remediate fire safety hazards
on hundreds of other residential
buildings? And will the slew of
upcoming regulatory changes be enough OVERSEERS recommendation into the sole building control
law and the GB Health body for all higher-
to create a safety regime that can prevent and Safety Executive risk buildings. It will
further tragedies?
In January, secretary of state for
A new (HSE) is due to take on
the BSR role. The HSE
also sign off building
plans for higher-risk
levelling up, housing and communities regulator is already operating buildings – those with
Michael Gove proposed new measures to as BSR in ‘shadow’ seven or more storeys
ensure flat owners in mid-rise buildings A major change form, advising on or that are at least 18
11 to 18 metres tall, or 36 to 59ft (typically recommended by the implementation of metres tall (59ft), with
four to six storeys) are not charged to Hackitt review was the the bill and secondary two or more residential
creation of a Building legislation, and providing units, or are hospitals
remove combustible cladding like that on
Safety Regulator (BSR) industry guidance on or care homes – as fit
Grenfell Tower, and to make developers
in England to oversee safety and other issues. to construct, and then
fund the estimated £4bn remediation
the safety of high-rise The HSE’s funding has the final construction
bill. The government has also announced residential buildings been cut by more than as safe for occupation.
funding to cover residences taller than
PHOTOG RAPHY: S HUT TERSTOCK

under construction and
18 metres (or 59ft), which are classed as in use, and promoting
‘higher risk’ after the Grenfell fire. improved competence
But hazardous cladding is only the among construction
most prominent of a range of fire safety professionals and
the building control
profession. The Building
Safety Bill will turn the
a third over the past 10
years, but it will not have
to manage the BSR role
with existing resources.
It was given £16.4m to
cover the work in the
financial year 2020-21.
The BSR will act as
It will have powers to
prosecute duty holders
for ignoring compliance
notices or providing false
information and will
be able to order unsafe
building products to be
taken off the market.

IOSH MAGAZINE 25

24-29 Cover Feature_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 25 14/04/2022 14:38

 C OVER STO RY

working groups introduce or enhance the

competence of 12 professions and trades,
from system installers and construction
supervisors to fire risk assessors, especially
for high-risk buildings, in its report
Setting the bar (CSG, 2020). Overseeing
the implementation of the CSG’s
recommendations will fall to the new
Building Safety Regulator (BSR) – see A
new regulator on page 25 – when the Bill
becomes law, including the establishment
of an industry competence committee,
which will challenge professional and trade
bodies to fill gaps in existing frameworks
and draft guidance to duty holders on how
to choose competent people.
In advance of these developments, new
codes have been developed for specific
disciplines. The Royal Institute of British
Architects has produced new guidance for
members on health and safety, both on
site and in building design – including fire
safety – and in November 2021 launched a ‘THE LEGISLATION IS CLEARLY FRAMED TO
mandatory online Health and Life Safety MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE REGULATOR TO
POINT THE FINGER AT INDIVIDUALS’
Competency Test based on the guidance.
A new approved code of practice for fire
risk assessors emphasises the need for
assessors to be accredited and for them
to have a thorough understanding of fines. ‘The legislation is clearly framed will be a smaller pond but a more
the characteristics of particular types of so that if, heaven forbid, something competent one,’ he says.
building – such as multi-occupied high- similar happened, it would be easier Dr Brian Cox, who represents the
rise residential homes – before taking on for the regulator and ministers to Institution of Mechanical Engineers’
assessment work for that building type point the finger at individuals,’ he says. Construction and Building Services
(Fire Sector Federation, 2020). The implications of the competence Division on the CSG working
Malcolm Shiels is package safety health requirements for eligibility for group, says the competence issue
and environment manager at Costain and professional insurance, which are extends beyond the professions
chair of IOSH’s Construction Group. He increased in the Bill, will narrow the and trades contributing to building
says the detail of the duty holder roles and field of people willing to take on key safety, but to making sure everyone
the new competence requirements will roles in the construction process such understands the new regime the
encourage people to meet the as the principal designer duties Bill will usher in. ‘There’s a lot of
standards, because they will under the Construction training to be done to achieve the
no longer be able to dodge (Design and Management) kind of culture change Dame Judith
responsibility in the event Regulations 2015. ‘It talked about,’ he says.
of a failure, and the HSE,
as BSR, will be able to
prosecute with the threat
of prison and unlimited

26 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

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Lost independence
An issue that has recurred in the second
stage of the Grenfell inquiry is whether
an appropriate distance was maintained
between the certification and building
control bodies and the companies whose
products and projects they authorise.
One example was highlighted in evidence
given by former employees of the National
House Building Council (NHBC) that the
organisation continued to give building
control approvals to projects using the
manufacturer Kingspan’s K15 combustible
insulation – which was used on part of the
Grenfell Tower refurbishment – despite
internal concerns that the product was
hazardous. In February, John Lewis, a
former NHBC fire engineer, told the inquiry
that although he suspected Kingspan of
PH OTOGRAPHY: ALAMY
withholding evidence about K15 failing fire
tests, the NHBC accepted proposals to use
the insulation on high-rises.
24-29 Cover Feature_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 27
GRENFELL TOWER
Messages of condolence
on temporary hoardings and
the covered remains of the
Grenfell Tower
‘Independence was lost,’ says Malcolm of
the building control and product regulators.
‘The arrangements became too cosy. The
commercial elements in the decision-
making process took precedence over
others. If you didn’t work in construction T IMELIN E
and you looked at these bodies, and what
they say they stand for, you would think:
“They are a third-party body and if I’m
Grenfell
buying a storeys-high apartment they are Tower
there to protect me and ensure building
work is carried out to a high standard.” But
response
because of the payment mechanisms they
could almost put themselves out of business 2017
with some clients if they had done what 14 June Grenfell Tower fire
they ought to have been doing.’ 15 June Police
It’s not clear if measures such as the investigation launched
29 June Grenfell Tower
BSR’s ability to ban unsafe construction
Inquiry announced
products or the removal of the ability for
28 July Independent review of
high-rise developers to ‘shop’ for building
building regulations and fire
control approvers will be enough to offset safety (Hackitt review) launched
this closeness between the gatekeepers and
those seeking to pass through. 2018
17 May Hackitt review
Held to account final report
Many of the new building safety regime’s
provisions apply to new-build higher- 2019
risk buildings. But for all buildings in 30 October Grenfell Tower
Inquiry phase 1 report published
occupation, whenever they were built, there
will be a new duty holder – the accountable
2020
person – representing the building’s owner.
28 January Grenfell Tower Inquiry
They will be responsible for satisfying the phase 2 hearings begin
BSR that a building is safe for occupation. 20 July Draft Building Safety
They will have to gain a safety certificate Bill published
from the BSR by submitting a ‘safety
case’ report. The report must contain risk 2021
assessments for fire and structural threats, 29 April Fire Safety Act passed
building condition reports, and detailed
descriptions of active and passive fire 2022
July (expected) Building
controls. The HSE in its role as shadow BSR
Safety Act passed
has already issued guidance on safety case
principles for buildings in its scope.
2023-24
The safety case regime has been well (expected) Staged
implementation of various
Building Safety Act provisions
IOSH MAGAZINE 27
14/04/2022 08:43
 C OVER STO RY

established for high-hazard installations
such as oil and gas platforms and chemical
plants for decades. ‘We think it will be
quite a bit simpler because a residential
building is comparatively simple from an
‘CONVERSATIONS SHOW
through supply chains. ‘People in the SME
market aren’t aware of this and aren’t taking
PEOPLE AREN’T AWARE any notice,’ he says. ‘They just want to go
to work, earn their money and go home.’ If
OF THIS AND AREN’T that remains the case, the maintenance of

TAKING ANY NOTICE’

engineering point of view,’ says Brian. ‘But
it’s a bit more complex from an operational
point of view because it is full of residents.’
Does he believe the safety case requirement
will go a long way to ensuring high-rise
residential buildings remain compliant
with the building regulations? ‘Once it
is operational it will,’ he says, ‘but it is
obviously going to take the BSR several
years to get through all these buildings.’ An
estimated 12,500 buildings in England are
expected to be covered by the requirements
(Ministry of Housing, Communities and
Local Government, 2021).
The consultation between the tenant
management organisation and Grenfell
Tower residents during the building’s
refurbishment was poorly handled, with
legitimate concerns about fire safety
brushed aside. ‘If we can implement the
legislation as it’s meant, it should help
individual householders who live in high-
risk buildings,’ says Malcolm. ‘It will give
them a much bigger say in everything from
access to information to involvement in
refurbishment schemes.’
Malcolm says the shock effect of the
Grenfell disaster on most duty holders and
sector organisations, and the regulatory
changes in train, should be enough to
make a future disaster in a high-rise very
unlikely. His only caveat is
how far the changes
in attitudes and
standards will reach
building safety will depend on how those
smaller contractors are instructed and
monitored by other duty holders.
Some do not share even Malcolm’s
qualified optimism. Gill Kernick is a
safety consultant specialising in high-
hazard industries. Her book Catastrophe
and systemic change: learning from the
Grenfell Tower fire and other disasters, was
published in 2021. Her close attention to
the fire and the government’s response was
partly driven by her residency in Grenfell
Tower between 2011 and 2014, and the
deaths of seven of her former neighbours
in the disaster.
What is needed is systemic
change, she says. ‘A systemic
approach would require
grappling with some messy

I N VE ST I G AT I ONS

The review and the inquiry

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is
chaired by ex-Court of Appeal
judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick,
while former GB Health and
Safety Executive chair Dame
Judith Hackitt (right) chaired
the independent review of
building regulations and fire
safety. The inquiry’s remit is to
investigate the events of the
fire and the circumstances that
made it possible. The phase 1
report findings, published in
2019, found that combustible
cladding and insulation
materials were instrumental
in allowing the fire to spread
quickly from a single flat
to the whole building. The
inquiry’s second stage is still
under way, taking evidence
on certification and approval
of building products and the
control regime.
The Hackitt review took recommendations included
evidence in late 2017 on the the establishment of a new
adequacy of measures to authority to oversee stricter
assure the safety of high-rise enforcement of the building
residential buildings during safety regime and a clear
the planning and construction duty holder for the safety
stages and in operation. Its of residents of high-rises.
final report in May Most of the Hackitt
2018 recommended review’s recommendations,
‘gateways’ at which some in modified form, were
a residential building incorporated into the Building
over 10 storeys had Safety Bill currently going
to gain regulatory through parliament, along
approval before with some of those concerning
construction or information provision to
occupation could residents recommended by
proceed. Other the Moore-Bick inquiry.

28 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

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issues,’ Gill writes. ‘Issues such as the
role of political lobbying by product
manufacturers, the independence of
self-funding testing and certification
bodies, the trade-offs being made
under the guise of sustainability, and
the limitations of siloed governance
and regulations.’
She argues a systemic approach
would adopt principles that create
safety, not by adding layers of rules
to eliminate unsafe conditions and
acts, but by modelling what creates
safe conditions and building a regime
around those principles. Gill says she
had hoped Gove’s proposals to make
developers and construction companies
take responsibility for remediation
of residential fire hazards might
have signalled more of a coordinated
approach, but ‘rather than a “coming
together” from all stakeholders and
collaboratively creating solutions that are
palatable to all, we’re seeing government
edicts that are rejected or fought against
by the insurance industry or developers.’
U P DAT E
BSM
requirement
to be scrapped
As IOSH magazine was going to
print, the government announced
its intention to remove the legal
duty to appoint a building safety
manager. As the dutyholder for
high-rise residential buildings,
accountable persons must
determine how best to meet the
duties placed on them and what
arrangement they require. To
read more about the changes,
PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAMY
visit ioshmagazine.com/bsm
24-29 Cover Feature_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 29
Wider lessons
Five years on, many of the processes the
Grenfell Tower fire set in train have yet
to conclude. The inquiry is in its second
phase. A police investigation is not
expected to result in criminal charges, if
any, until the inquiry report is issued. The
major provisions of the Building Safety
Bill are still to take effect. And thousands
of apartment block residents still live in
uncertainty about who will pay to make
their homes safe.
Malcolm hopes the building industry
could see the overhaul in safety as
a potential lever for the sea change
needed to realise other priorities, such
as decarbonisation and the provision
of more homes. ‘Out of all that heartache
we have an opportunity to make big
steps of improvement. If we can get the
right leaders to pull all those strands
together and support the Bill, there is
a great opportunity.’
He says the most important lesson OSH
professionals can learn from Grenfell is to
steer organisations away from the belief
that the cheapest option is the best one, and
he encourages them to use their widening
skills base to influence commercial
decisions. He also recommends that
members working in organisations likely
to commission building or refurbishment
work in the coming years make themselves
familiar with the Building Safety Bill and
other regulatory changes: ‘At some point
their employer is going to come to them
and ask them questions about it.’
Ruth Wilkinson, IOSH head of health
and safety, says: ‘Whether working
within the construction industry,
as building owners, clients, OSH
professionals or regulators, everyone
should act now to ensure the right
resource, knowledge and competence
is with the right people for their roles,
responsibilities and accountabilities.’
For references to this article,
go to ioshmagazine.com/
Grenfell-anniversary
GRENFELL TOWER
LEGISLAT ION
Fire Safety Act
The UK Fire Safety Act clarifies the parts
of a premises that apply under the Fire
Safety Order (FSO). The FSO applies to
all non-domestic premises in England
and Wales. These include multi-occupied
residential buildings, such as blocks
of flats, although individual flats are
excluded. Responsibility for complying
with the FSO falls on the Responsible
Person, which may be the freeholder,
management company or managing
agent, depending on local arrangements.
The new legislation states that, where
a building contains two or more sets of
domestic premises, the FSO applies to:
The building’s structure and external
walls (including windows, balconies,
cladding, insulation and fixings) and
any common parts
All doors between domestic premises
and common parts, such as entrance
doors (or any other relevant door).
If contracting out this work, you
must make sure that those engaged to
complete the fire risk assessment include
these elements, as you are responsible
for complying with the FSO and liable
for any necessary remediation.
A Responsible Person is responsible
for overseeing the removal or reduction
of fire hazards in their building and for
implementing reasonable measures to
ensure the safety of all residents, those
employed to work in the building and
visitors to the building.
Fire and rescue authorities can issue
enforcement notices if they decide
Responsible Persons or duty holders have
failed to comply with any FSO provisions.
They can prosecute or serve alteration or
prohibition notices if they identify that
failing to comply with those provisions
puts people at risk of death or injury
from fire.
For guidance, see addendum to the
Fire Safety Act: bit.ly/FSA-addendum
IOSH MAGAZINE 29
14/04/2022 08:43
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p30.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 30 08/04/2022 10:56

 Collaborate
SUPPORTING A SHARED VISION OF A SAFE AND HEALTHY WORLD OF WORK

IN THIS 50 years after the publication of the Robens report, we look at how this transformative document is still influencing health and
safety in the UK and beyond P32 | IOSH’s Helpline and Legal Line are two important benefits that could prove invaluable P38 |
S E CT I O N Member reflections: your thoughts and opinions on key issues P41 | The wider view: webinars, podcasts, videos and much more P45

IOSH BEN EFITS

HELP AT
YOUR FINGERTIPS
P38
P HOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK

IOSH MAGAZINE 31

31 Collab Sec Opener_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 31 13/04/2022 16:14

 C O LLA B O RATE

YEARS ON

32 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

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 ROBENS REPORT

25
MINS

The 1972 Robens report and the organisations it gave birth

to transformed health and safety in Britain and has shown
remarkable adaptability even half a century later.

J
WORDS NICK WARBURTON

uly 2022 marks 50 years since the Robens
committee, led by Lord Alfred Robens, published
its landmark report, transforming Britain’s
regulatory OSH approach and creating a ripple
effect felt as far away as Singapore and Australia.
The report, Safety and health at work: report
of the committee 1970-1972 (Robens et al, 1972),
outlined a series of recommendations aimed at
overhauling the nation’s fragmented and overly
prescriptive OSH regime.
Accidents and fatalities at work by 1970 were
unacceptably high and the UK regulatory system wasn’t
working. One of several catalysts for change was the
Aberfan disaster on 21 October 1966 when 144 people –
116 of them children – were killed by a tip of coal waste
sliding onto their South Wales village. The tribunal that
was later held into the disaster concluded: ‘Blame for the
disaster rests upon the National Coal Board’ (Aberfan
Tribunal, 1967) – the same coal board that Lord Robens was
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY / ALAMY / ISTOCK
to change the nation’s fragmented and overly prescriptive
OSH regime with a more flexible system that emphasised
what Robens termed ‘self-regulation’. The new regime
also extended OSH protections to a greater number of
workers and, for the first time, the public. The committee’s
recommendations were substantively enacted in the HSWA,
which received royal assent in July 1974, exactly two years
after the Robens report was published.
This pivotal legislation created two new bodies: an
independent, tripartite Health and Safety Commission
(HSC), and the GB Health and Safety Executive (HSE),
a regulator enforcing health and safety legislation in
workplaces, except for those regulated by local authorities.
The HSWA also promoted the idea of health and safety as
integral to good management, introducing codes of practice
and general duties to reduce risks ‘so far as reasonably
practicable’ (Almond et al, 2016).
Better standards

chairman of when the disaster occurred. While his conduct
at the time of the disaster and his ultimate appointment
to the committee has drawn criticism over the years, the
committee’s work was a success, underpinning the Health
and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) (The British
Academy, 2016). It was the committee’s recommendation
Traditional heavy industries played a major role in the British
economy in the early 1970s, radically different to the UK’s
service-based and increasingly digital economy of today. Even
so, there is a strong case to be made that the HSWA and the

IOSH MAGAZINE 33
 C O LLA B O RATE
Robens philosophy that underpinned it have
brought about tangible improvements in
Britain’s safety record up to the present day.
Kevin Myers, who started his HSE career
as a factory inspector in 1976 and rose to
become the body’s deputy chief executive,
certainly believes so.
‘Fifty years on, you would expect some
improvements anyway because of the
reduction in high-hazard industries,’ he says.
‘But does that explain the fact that there
has been a 90% reduction in fatal accidents
over that period? The evidence suggests not,
and that a significant percentage of those
improvements reflect better standards.
‘However, 142 GB workers had fatal
accidents in 2020-21 [HSE, 2021a], so
there’s no room for complacency.’
Kevin is part of an informal project team
whose remit includes exploring the impact
the Robens report has had on OSH over
the past five decades – a project initiated by
Kevin and his colleagues, who have invited
IOSH and other organisations to collaborate
and help shape it.
Anniversary project
The Robens report is the first of three
50-year anniversaries coming up in quick
succession. The HSWA reaches that
milestone on 31 July 2024, and January
2025 marks the anniversary of the creation
of the HSE. Then there is the OSH system
that emerged, evolved and developed on the
back of these three landmark events.
As part of their project, Kevin and other
former HSE colleagues, including past
directors and executives David Snowball,
David Ashton and David Eves, are putting
the final touches to three documents to
coincide with the Robens anniversary.
The first is an essay by David Ashton
that considers why in May 1970 Barbara
Castle, secretary of state for employment
and productivity, chose Lord Robens to
undertake the first-ever comprehensive
review of Britain’s regulatory OSH system.
The second looks at how and why specific
report recommendations were or were not
implemented. The final document will
34 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
32-36 Robens Report_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 34
explore whether the Robens
philosophy has made a
difference, given that our world
of work is so different from
that of 1972.
‘This is not some nostalgic
look backwards,’ explains
Kevin. ‘It’s to see whether
there are things we can learn
from the past to help us
address some of the current
and future challenges. The
50th anniversary provides
that opportunity.’
The essay is a logical
starting point as it reminds readers why a
rethink of the OSH system was required
in 1970 and why and how the committee
reached its conclusions.
Historian Christopher Sirrs has also
thrown light on this. In an article for the
journal Social History of Medicine (2016),
he noted that nine acts and more than 500
regulations governed the safety, health and
welfare of workers before the HSWA took
effect. This prompted the Robens committee GOIN G GLOBA L
to conclude that regulation had become
overly detailed and was promoting apathy
in industrial circles. Singapore
Some workplaces were subject to
Singapore based its first OSH
conflicting requirements while others had
regime on the British Factories
no legal coverage, Christopher adds. Almost
Act 1961. Introduced in 1973, the
a third of the British workforce received prescriptive legislation only covered
no statutory protection from work-related workplaces defined as a factory.
accidents or illness (Sirrs, 2015). However, after a major highway
One of the committee’s main conclusions incident in 2004 resulted in four
was that overall responsibility for managing fatalities, the Ministry of Manpower
OSH should clearly sit with employers – who brought in the Workplace Safety
create the risks in the first place – working in and Health (WSH) Act 2006,
partnership with their employees. which reflects the Robens report
recommendations. Over time, this
legislation has been extended to
Measured debate
all workplaces.
David Ashton’s essay is important in this
‘We adopted the principle that
respect because it provides valuable material it should be an enabling act and
for more informed discussions about what is performance-based,’ explains
Robens said in the report – particularly in Ho Siong Hin, senior director,
relation to references that drew criticism at International WSH.
the time and have done ever since. The WSH Act focuses on the
‘There are misconceptions, one of the
most persistent being what he meant by
14/04/2022 08:44

employer’s ability to manage the
risk, he adds. ‘Whether there is an
injury or not is not the issue. It’s
about making the workplace safe
and the processes safe.’
Adopting the UK’s ‘goal-setting’
philosophy, Singapore formed
the independent Workplace
Safety and Health Council (WSHC),
which represents views from
government, employers, trade
unions and academia.
The WSHC has three priorities:
encouraging industry to raise its
standards to an acceptable level,
building industry capability to self-
regulate, and promoting what
good performance looks like.
According to Ho Siong Hin,
Singapore’s fatal accident rate in
2004 was 4.9 per 100,000 workers.
However, the ministry’s first 10-
year plan saw this rate reduced to
PHOTOGRAP HY: G ETT Y
2.5 per 100,000 workers by 2015.
In 2019, the rate fell to 1.1 per
100,000 workers.
32-36 Robens Report_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 35
Lord Robens, pictured
here in 1973, ushered in a
new era of health and safety
self-regulation,’ explains David. ‘This has
been interpreted as “Get the regulator (and
their burdensome regulations) out of the
way, encourage and allow businesses to
regulate themselves and all will be well.”
But that’s not actually what he said.’
Jenny Bacon, who was in charge of the
team at the Department of
Employment and Productivity
that implemented the Robens
report, and later the HSE’s first
female director general, says
the onus on self-regulation was
about asking those responsible
for managing risks to identify
them and set out how they
would manage them effectively.
This, she says, was a game-
changer. ‘If you want to put
the onus on industry, then
you’ve got to have a common
approach to risk assessment
and prevention,’ she says.
Sound philosophy
This philosophy has served the OSH regime
well and Kevin feels it is as valid today as it
was back then. He points to the reports of
Lord Young (2010) and Professor Ragnar
Löfstedt (2011), and the HSE’s triennial
reviews and periodic regulatory reviews, and
argues they have all concluded that Robens’
basic design principle is absolutely sound.
‘One of the things we want to do in this
project is explore: “Why does the HSE still
exist?” It has stood the test of time because
it was established on a premise of what
people would recognise now in a broader
context of better regulation,’ Kevin says.
IOSH’s first female president Daphne
Linton (1996-97) was a factory inspector
when the HSWA came into force. She
remembers how it redefined approaches
to safety.
‘Instead of looking for breaches of a code
of regulations, we started to look at how
organisations assessed their risk and what
could be done to reduce them,’ she says.
ROBENS REPORT
Sheila Pantry OBE, head of the HSE’s
information services in the 1970s and author
of the History of Occupational Safety and
Health website, says the creation of the HSE
as a single, unified regulator was a ground-
breaking move.
The problem with having so many
different inspectorates was that it could often
lead to piecemeal and sometimes conflicting
enforcement, she says.
David Snowball concurs. Rereading
the Robens report, he was reminded of
how critical its author was of some of the
inspectorates, how they worked and their
efforts to reduce risk.
‘That was a hugely brave thing to
recommend, to bring all these potentially
warring inspectorates together,’ he says.
‘Robens is quite brutal in places about the
extent to which he thought traditional face-
to-face intervention had any real lasting
impact on overall standards and outcomes.’
Kevin argues that one of the defining
differences between the old regime and
Robens’ regulatory system is that the latter
is based on ‘adult-adult’ relationship between
the regulator and the regulated, rather than
an ‘adult-child’ one.
‘That’s very different from a command-
and-control approach centred on compliance
with prescriptive rules,’ he says. ‘At the end of
the day, it is about how the people who create
and manage risk step up to discharge that
adult responsibility.’
Real responsibility
Looking back over Robens’ legacy, David
Snowball argues that one of the long-term
success stories is how individual sectors,
such as the oil and gas industry, have had to
take greater ownership and responsibility for
improvements after major disasters, such as
Piper Alpha in 1988, in ways that also require
an independent regulator to target its own
efforts more effectively.
Kevin points to the OSH profession’s
enhanced profile over the past 50 years
and the significant contribution it made to
IOSH MAGAZINE 35
14/04/2022 14:40
 C O LLA B O RATE
overall improvements, albeit when the
relationship within industry works well.
‘Sometimes, however, that relationship
can also become adult-child,’ he explains.
‘We as regulators need to influence
people’s behaviour and convince others
to take the responsibility for OSH. OSH
professionals that are not regulators
have a similar challenge.’
Daphne agrees, saying soft skills are
almost more important than technical
expertise. ‘Getting on a good footing
with people and getting them to talk
and tell you what’s happening is very
important,’ she adds.
One of the challenges of looking back
over 50 years is the fact that the statistics
aren’t always comparable. Although
the figures for fatalities fell – from 651
in 1974 to 142 in 2020-21 – health has
been a much harder nut to both measure
and crack (HSE, 2021b).
Robens abroad
Malcolm McIntyre CFIOSH, former
global health and safety audit manager
at Bovis Lend Lease, says it was Robens
who brought health to the forefront.
‘It took a while to get going, but it
has grown and we now place a huge
emphasis on health in construction
projects,’ he says. ‘Post-Robens, health
started to mean something. Before that
we never talked about guys sweeping the
floor creating silica dust and needing to
wear eye and face protection.’
Aside from its enduring legacy in
the UK, Robens’ risk-based approach
has also gained traction overseas,
To listen to the HSE’s
Philip White and Peter
Brown talk about the Robens
report, go to ioshmagazine.
com/2021/11/04/hse-podcast
36 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
32-36 Robens Report_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 36
Our latest video looks at how the Robens report changed
OSH forever. Watch it at ioshmagazine.com/videos/robens
MENTAL HEALTH,
AI AND CYBER RISK
ARE THE MAIN
CHALLENGES
OF THE FUTURE
including in Australia and Singapore.
When Australia first adopted the
Robens’ risk-based approach, it was
introduced through the country’s six
states and two territories.
This led to calls from industry for
a more consistent approach, and in
2011 Safe Work Australia developed
a single set of work health and safety
laws. They also took the opportunity to
update the Robens approach to reflect
contemporary challenges, such as the
gig economy.
‘Companies like Uber will now have
a responsibility under the Australian
law for drivers that are allegedly all
independent subcontractors, but in
everyday terms work for them,’ says
Kevin. He argues the OSH regime
is flexible enough to adapt well to a
changing world and that the UK could
take a leaf out of Australia’s book by
amending the drafting of the HSWA
so the responsibilities for managing risk
in the gig economy are more explicit.
Singapore is also an interesting case
as it adopted Robens’ risk-based system
through the creation of the Workplace
Safety and Health Council (see Going
global on page 34).
Safety culture
Reflecting on her international work,
Daphne says that, ultimately, it doesn’t
matter what the regulatory system is or
what country you are operating in. ‘If
you’ve got a good factory manager and a
company that supports them, you’ll have
a good factory. If you’ve got a factory
manager who isn’t at all interested in
health and safety, you’ll have a poor one.’
Kevin concurs. ‘No matter how
effective you are as a regulator, if the
people that control and manage risks
don’t respond to that, you won’t have the
improvements that are needed.’
Looking to the next 50 years, David
Snowball feels the OSH agenda is getting
more complicated, and cites mental
health, artificial intelligence and cyber
risk as some of the main challenges.
Like his colleagues, David Ashton
believes the UK’s OSH regime is still
fit for purpose. However, he echoes the
Robens report’s closing remarks about
needing to sustain interest and initiative.
‘Yes, we need them both – but there is
a danger of moving from the apathy he
criticised in the 1970s to “indigestion”
now,’ he warns.
‘People think, “I really do get this
health and safety thing and I really want
to have the right standards, but it seems
indigestible when you are tied up in
written risk assessments”. I’m not saying
[they] are right, but that is a view that
is quite widely expressed and manifests
itself through fairly clumsily designed
deregulatory initiatives,’ David adds.
For Peter Brown, the HSE’s director
of engagement and policy, the Robens
report remains a defining moment not
only in the HSE’s evolution, but also in
Britain’s workplace culture.
‘Our economy and our workplaces
may have changed dramatically in the
past 50 years,’ he says, ‘but the same
principle that all workers should be
able to go home safe and well still stands
and lies at the heart of the work HSE
does and will guide us through the next
50 years.’
14/04/2022 08:45
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p37.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 37 08/04/2022 10:58

 C O LLA B O RATE

I
OSH members are aware that being part
of the Institution provides many great
benefits, not least the magazine that you
hold in your hands or read on screen.
But while the magazine is a benefit in
material form, there are other less physical
assets that IOSH can provide.
Two of the most underused facilities that
IOSH offers are potentially two of the most
useful: the IOSH Helpline and the IOSH
Legal Line. Here we look at how these
valuable resources could help to make
your professional lives just a little easier.

THE IOSH HELPLINE

We spoke to Wendy Payne and Andrew
Smith from the IOSH Helpline to find out
more about how it operates and what it
can do to help.

What is the Helpline?

‘The IOSH Helpline is a support service
offered by IOSH free of charge. It provides

HELP ON
expert advice on a variety of issues to
anyone who needs it,’ Wendy says.
‘The Helpline team consists of health
and safety consultants, including a
former health and safety officer from the
manufacturing industry, and GB Health

HAND
and Safety Executive (HSE) infoline
employees. All team members are qualified
to diploma level and have other health
and safety qualifications in areas such as
construction, fire, environmental and
food safety. All team members are also
members of IOSH, including some who
have achieved Chartered status.’
The IOSH Helpline and the dedicated
IOSH Legal Line are two benefits that What does the Helpline provide?
‘We give free advice regarding a range
could prove invaluable. of topics, mainly health and safety but
also fire safety, environmental, food
safety and legislation, both national and
10
MINS international. We can also locate statistics,
case law, and research on a range of

38 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

38-39 Helpline_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 38 13/04/2022 16:16

 IOSH BENEFITS

subjects,’ Wendy says.

‘We pride ourselves on responding
to calls and emails in a timely manner.
Not only do we operate between 8am
and 6pm (GMT) in the office, but we
also have an out-of-hours phone, which
the team operates 24 hours a day, 365
days a year.’
What are the most
common queries?
‘The most common questions we are
asked are about RIDDOR [Reporting
of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous
Occurrences Regulations 2013], as
these decisions often require a degree
of interpretation,’ Andrew says.
‘As you would expect, over the
last two years, questions relating to
COVID-19 have been very common.
These have been a little more difficult
than most other queries due to the
requirements and recommendations
changing quite frequently, and the
fact that requirements often differed
between countries.’
What’s the most memorable
query you’ve ever handled?
‘I think one of the most memorable
queries that the Helpline has ever
received was whether badgers
can catch Legionnaires’ disease!’
Andrew says. ‘As you would probably
expect, there wasn’t a great deal of
information on this topic. But it
appears very unlikely since there
are extremely few diagnosed cases of
this disease in animals of any kind.’
To read more about the
Helpline and Legal Line, visit
ioshmagazine.com/member-helplines
PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK
THE IOSH LEGAL LINE
Beverley Bates, advice services director of queries, although with two-thirds of
of Markel Law LLP, provider of IOSH’s them relating to employment matters,
Legal Line, explains how this dedicated typical queries include disciplinary
specialist advice resource, which is action, grievances, incapacity,
included as part of an IOSH subscription employment tribunal claims and
and accessible through the IOSH procedures, contracts of employment,
Helpline, can benefit members. capability, redundancy and resignation,
to name but a few.
Additionally, common queries
What is the IOSH Legal
for our commercial team include
Line and what can it do
landlord and tenant queries, contract
for IOSH members? issues, debt collection and data
The service is available 24 hours a
protection issues.
day, 365 days a year and the advice
is provided by our team of 50-plus What can IOSH members
qualified solicitors and tax advisers (tax
use it for?
or VAT experts are available during
We provide telephone legal and tax
normal office hours). Advice can be
advice related to business in the UK.
sought on a wide range of matters
While we will look to help on all
affecting the running of your business.
occasions, there may be specialist areas
This could relate to employment
of advice where it would be more
matters, contract issues, debt collection,
appropriate for members to appoint
property matters or taxation concerns
a solicitor rather than use a telephone
and much more.
helpline. Even in these limited
All our calls are recorded and we
situations, we will look to provide
call the enquirer back to avoid them
initial advice to assist the member.
incurring a telephone charge. Access to
the advice line is unlimited and you can
What is the most
contact us as many times as is necessary.
memorable or trickiest
We can also provide templates and
query you’ve ever handled?
guidance documents when they are
There are too many to choose from!
needed. Our satisfaction ratings are very
However, one of the most memorable
high, with over 95% of our customers
was an employment query from a car
rating us as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.
garage where 12 members of staff
were ‘caught’ after they climbed
What kind of expertise does
into a customer’s Mini and then took
the Legal Line draw upon?
pictures. We were able to help with
Markel can trace its history in this area
disciplinary and training for the staff,
back to the early 1980s. In that time,
as well as how to deal with any issues
we have handled millions of calls from
arising from the customer, who had
a wide range of businesses including
recognised their car on social media!

sole traders, SMEs, right up to firms

To contact the IOSH Helpline directly,
call +44 (0)116 257 3199.
with hundreds of employees.
Are there any common
queries that you receive?
The Legal Line handles a wide variety
To call the IOSH Legal Line,
contact the IOSH Helpline
and ask for legal support:
+44 (0)116 257 3199.

IOSH MAGAZINE 39

38-39 Helpline_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 39 13/04/2022 16:16

 [Advertorial]
Are you on top of
your CPD?
Did you know…
• IOSH has a dedicated CPD
team on hand to support you
through your CPD. Call us on
0116 257 3239 or email to
cpd.enquiries@iosh.com
• If you’re struggling with what
to add to your CPD record, you
can check out IOSH’s handy
checklist that will help you tick
off what is required - it’s as
easy as that!
• Regular completion of CPD
is mandatory for technical,
graduate and chartered
members, as well as chartered
fellows.
• Completing your CPD doesn’t
have to cost you a penny,
although investing in one of
our CPD courses is a brilliant
way to boost the skills you
need while quickly completing
your CPD.
Show them you care
Prioritising your continued
professional development,
demonstrates to your employer or
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keeping your skills, knowledge and
expertise up to date.
It can be a great way to showcase
your professionalism at interviews
or when pitching to new clients.
Don’t fall behind, check out our website
for more information at iosh.com/cpd
CD1011.5/020620/IM
p40.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 40
What else do you
need to know?
There are a huge variety of activities
which can count toward your CPD.
This can include the following:
• Completing a qualification
• Attending a training course
• Reading the IOSH magazine
• Reviewing updated legislation
• Reading journals, articles, or
other subscriptions
• Conducting research
• Undertaking projects at work
• Other work tasks, including
completing a risk assessment,
updating a policy or procedure
• Completing an accident
investigation
• Attending a conference or
exhibition
• Attending branch or group
meetings and seminars
• Networking
• Attending job interviews
• Job applications
With so many ways to maintain
your CPD it’s never been easier to
evidence your learning.
Just remember to log your CPD
throughout the year, to stay on top
of it.
08/04/2022 11:02

MINS
H T
TOPICS
What do you think of the topics covered in
IOSH magazine? Here’s a collection of
member views, taken from ioshmagazine.com
over the last few months.
Re: Why wellbeing is
now central to hybrid
work strategies
CF: Behavioural – Communication
(Communicating effectively)
It is interesting that, like almost every
article relating to hybrid working, the focus
is on those who are going to be taking up
the option and looking after their welfare.
In my workplace there are a few employees
whose jobs mean that hybrid working is
not an option. They are finding it hard to
adjust to a much quieter workplace, less
interaction with colleagues and a feeling
they are suffering adverse consequences
I OSH ’S COMPETENCY
F RAM EWORK
iosh.com/my-iosh/
competency-framework
41-42 Reflections_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 41
10
from a system that offers them no benefits.
Has anyone else had experience of handling
this sort of situation?
ChrisLL
ioshmagazine.com/preston-hybrid
Re: The truth about turbans
CF: Technical – Culture and Health
& Safety Law
Dear Mr Singh,
I think, in your article of the January/February
issue, you have missed a point here.
To understand why there is a shortage
of the Sikh community working within
the construction industry, we need to
look at the bigger picture. Having worked
in the construction industry for a few years,
I have some understanding of this situation.
Although mention is made only of hard
hats, we mustn’t forget that sections 11
and 12 of the Employment Act 1989 granted
Sikhs exemption from wearing hard hats.
This follows on from the exemption from
wearing crash helmets in 1976, three years
REFLECTIONS
after the Motor Cycles (Wearing of Helmets)
Regulations 1973. Many older members will
remember the campaign for Fred Hill, who
was jailed on numerous occasions for citing
freedom of choice.
The reason for a dearth of Sikhs within the
construction industry is quite simply peer and
parental pressure. The industry is very much a
buddy and mates environment where there is
the pressure to fit in.
With falls from height being the main
cause of fatalities and life-changing injuries,
including falling objects, is it any wonder
parents would want to deter [their children]
from pursuing this career path? As a parent
and former motorcyclist who has witnessed
a number of people killed – or survive with
life-changing injuries, including brain damage,
which destroyed a work colleague's promising
career and marriage – I would certainly be
concerned if people started quoting freedom
of choice and decided not to wear a crash
helmet or hard hat on a construction site. On
our increasingly crowded highways, with car
drivers becoming ever more safely cocooned
in their cars, hard hats and crash helmets
offer a last line of protection in an already
dangerous environment. Falls from height
don’t discriminate because of your faith.
Prior to 1 October 2015, the exemption for
Sikhs from the requirement to wear a safety
IOSH MAGAZINE 41
13/04/2022 16:19
 C O LLA B O RATE
helmet applied only to construction sites. It
now applies to all workplaces. However, there
are exceptions relating to the armed forces
and emergency response services, where
employers can still require Sikhs to wear
safety helmets.
While the law does allow an exemption
for those of the Sikh faith, where a turban-
wearing Sikh chooses not to wear the head
protection provided, the exemption includes
a limitation on the liability of the duty holder
should an incident occur.
My own view is that the law should apply to
everyone. It just adds fuel to the fire for those
citing freedom of choice. As parents, we are
all health and safety advisers to our children.
Hard hats and crash helmets help to alleviate
our concerns that they will come home in one
piece. Statistics have shown that, over the
last 50 years, protective headgear saves lives.
I think that when certain issues arise in our
industry, it is sometimes good to look outside
the box and share our experiences, as we all
come from different walks of life – not just in
our working lives, but in our leisure pursuits
as well, and here we will sometimes find the
answers we are looking for.
Stuart Inkster
ioshmagazine.com/jan-feb-2022/letters
Paul Singh CMIOSH, safety and
risk management professional in
the construction, mechanical and
engineering sector, responds: Thank you
for sharing your thoughts. First, it is positive
that the published piece on Sikhs and safety
has been a catalyst for this exchange of
views and conversations to take place.
I think that the responding reader
has missed the key point of my IOSH
magazine piece. I am not advocating special
dispensations for turban-wearing Sikhs
in relation to the use of PPE; rather, I am
highlighting that there remains a significant
disparity between the number of turban-
wearing Sikhs working within construction
as general contractors or labourers, and
those from the same group dynamic who
work as health and safety management
practitioners within construction. Thank you.
42 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
41-42 Reflections_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 42
Fear of Covid is not a
belief, says judge – as he
rejects discrimination claim
CF: Technical – Culture
Not sure the judge
understands what a ‘belief’ is –
surely the extremist propaganda
surrounding the lethality of
COVID has rooted that ‘belief’ in
people's minds. Moreover, if he’s
working on the idea of belief
being linked to faith, it's not the
realm of the courts to define
(or redefine) what a personal
theology is. Go figure.
Joe Bloggs
Is fear of COVID a religious belief
or a philosophical one? I struggle
to see how it would fit either
definition. For example, veganism
is a protected belief system as it
falls squarely into the philosophical
bracket – it governs the way a
person interprets the world and
affects multiple aspects of their life.
Fear of COVID infection is very
narrow and specific to one aspect
of a person’s life. The article lists the
qualifying aspects of a philosophical
belief, and it is obvious to me that
point two and three are not met,
as the court also found.
Also I am not sure how anybody
can surmise that a disease that has
killed around one in 500 people
in many developed nations needs
‘extremist propaganda’ to highlight
its lethality.
Just as a few examples, one
in 388 US citizens, one in 409
Belgians, one in 433 Italians and
one in 455 British people [died]. In
any other circumstance one in 455
would be seen as terrifying. If one
in 455 planes leaving Heathrow
crashed, that would be two a day!
Barry Pitcher
ioshmagazine.com/covid-belief
LET US KN OW
Do you have an observation
or comment on an article
you’ve read in the magazine
or online? Or perhaps
you’ve had to deal with an
incident at work? Contact
the editorial team with your
thoughts and you might
see your reflections on
these pages. Contact us at
editorial@ioshmagazine.com
13/04/2022 16:19
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p44.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 44 08/04/2022 11:05

 OPINION

The wider view

OPINION
A helping hand PODCAST
In our latest opinion piece from the IOSH presidential team, immediate past
president Jimmy Quinn highlights the invaluable skills of Armed Forces
veterans and the helping hand they need to complete the second half of
a career change. What inspires you
as an OSH practitioner?
Read it here: ioshmagazine.com/opinion/quinn-change Episode 12 of IOSH magazine’s podcast
series sees two members of the IOSH
Future Leaders Steering Group explore the sources
of their inspiration. They also discuss how to develop
M E M BE R STO RY power skills and give our listeners some fresh ideas
about different places from which we can all learn.
Bringing the house
down: my life Listen here: ioshmagazine.com/
podcast/fl-inspiration
in demolition
Wayne Bagnall, a leading authority in the field of WEBIN AR
demolition and asbestos safety, discusses the value of
lifelong learning, meeting the Queen, and the importance
How can digitalisation
of trust and optimism.
improve hybrid training
and e-learning?
Read the full story at ioshmagazine.com/wayne-bagnall
In this webinar, sponsored by HandsHQ,
our expert panel discusses how they have
embraced hybrid training and seen advantages to
BO O K C LU B their businesses. They look at the benefits of hybrid
What can we hope to gain from reading a new OSH book? That it training, the systems companies are using, where
could supply something tangible, such as increased awareness and the industry is likely to be going, and how you can
understanding? Provide the potential for reflection on preconceived incorporate hybrid training and e-learning.
views or practice? It can be a bonus when a book generates further
discussion with colleagues or community, leading to a fresh look at the Watch on demand: ioshmagazine.com/
capability of OSH for horizon scanning and influencing change in work or handshq/digitalisation-training
wider society and environment. Our new book club aims to do just that.
VIDEO
Sustainability – a key idea
for business and society Shining the spotlight
This book comprises high-level strategic discourse, examining on OSH salaries
research, management models for sustainability, More than 16,000 of you so far have
sustainable development and their effectiveness. watched this video giving insights into
pay rates, qualifications and how OSH
ioshmagazine.com/book-club practitioners have been affected by the pandemic.

ISSUE ARCHIVE ioshmagazine.com/video/salary-survey

Don’t forget you can read this issue and

previous editions at ioshmagazine.com/issues

IOSH MAGAZINE 45

45 Wider view_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 45 13/04/2022 16:22

 Advertisement feature
ISO 45003: Managing psychological health
and safety at work
Kate Field, global head
of health, safety and
well-being at the British
Standards Institution,
discusses the first global
standard to give practical
advice on managing
psychosocial risk in the
workplace
What is ISO 45003?
ISO 45003, Occupational health and safety management —
Psychological health and safety at work: managing psychosocial
risks — guidelines, is designed to make the topic of psychological
health and safety accessible to all. It gives simple, practical
guidance on identifying where psychological health and safety
risks arise in the workplace and what organizations of any
size and type can do to eliminate or reduce them. By taking a
proactive approach, organizations can prevent or minimize work
related causes of stress, anxiety, burnout and depression.
Is it a prerequisite to have implemented ISO 45001?
ISO 45001 and ISO 45003 work together, so if an organization
has already implemented ISO 45001 it can use ISO 45003
to ensure psychological health and safety is being adequately
addressed. If an organization hasn’t implemented ISO 45001
yet, or doesn’t plan to, ISO 45003 can still benefit organizations
who wish to improve how they manage psychological health and
safety as part of their health and safety management.
Why is ISO 45003 a separate standard as opposed to
being integrated into ISO 45001, as ‘psychological health
and safety’ is part of health and safety management?
In an ideal world we wouldn’t need ISO 45003. However, as we
know ‘health’ has been a long-overlooked part of health and
safety management. And psychological health and safety is even
further behind than other health risks. ISO 45003 recognizes
p46-47.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 46
this disparity and is focussed on closing the gap. In many areas,
ISO 45003 goes further than ISO 45001, particularly regarding
its focus on leadership culture, inclusivity, competency and
awareness, rehabilitation and return to work, confidentiality and
performance evaluation.
Do I need to be an expert or doctor in psychological
health to use ISO 45003?
Quite simply, no. It’s important to understand that psychological
health and safety management needs the same skills and
approaches as other health and safety risks. You don’t need to be
a psychologist. As with any health and safety risk, you do need to
be able to identify the hazards, assess the risks and know what
organizational level changes are needed to manage the risk.
What are psychosocial risks?
This term is used to describe potentially negative impacts on
psychological health and safety in the workplace. It describes
the factors within the workplace and the work we do that can
negatively impact a worker’s psychological and physical health,
leading to work-related stress, burnout, anxiety and depression.
Psychosocial risks can arise through the way we work, including
handling workloads, deadlines, isolation, and work/life balance.
Contributing social factors include culture, working relationships,
bullying, harassment, fairness, and career development. Other
hazards include high noise levels, thermal discomfort, pain from
musculoskeletal disorders, fear of violence and aggression, or
even witnessing an incident.
08/04/2022 11:06
 What can we do to identify psychosocial hazards in our
workplace?
It’s important to understand that ISO 45003 is about managing
organizational risks, and not individual issues. Organizational
hazards can be identified in several ways, for example: incident
data, analyzing tasks, schedules and location, consulting
with workers, worker surveys, exit interviews, standardized
questionnaires, audits and data sources such as complaints,
grievances, absence and attrition rates.
What are the most common psychosocial risks within
the workplace?
It depends on the type of organization and the sector, but there
are common issues: workload, tight deadlines, too much work or
too much pressure or responsibility. Other factors include a lack
of managerial support, organizational changes at work, and lack
of role clarity. However, what lies at the heart of psychosocial risk
within an organization is the culture of that organization – and
culture is driven by top management. Top management need to
have high levels of emotional intelligence and a more servant
style of leadership. This creates an authentic culture of trust
and care.
Has the pandemic made things worse?
It has increased many of the causes of work-related mental-ill
health such as workload, changes at work and even violence.
But it has also heightened other areas such as concerns about
job security and career development. But we must remember
that prior to the pandemic, work-related stress, depression and
anxiety were the leading cause of ill health within the workplace
– so this is not a new issue for workplaces, although the
pandemic has focussed attention on it.
How do you assess and manage psychosocial risks?
You approach it the same way as you would any type of health
and safety risk. Once you identify the hazards, you identify who
may be harmed, the likelihood and consequence. You can then
use the same quantitative or qualitative methods that you use for
other health and safety risks to identify the level of risk. As with
other health and safety risks, the aim is then to eliminate that risk
at an organizational level, and where it can’t be eliminated to put
in other measures to reduce the risk as much as possible.
How does ISO 45003 contribute to workplace
well-being?
ISO 45003 is not a standard on workplace well-being. It does
however provide the first international definition on workplace
well-being: fulfilment of the physical, mental, social and cognitive
needs and expectations of a worker related to their work. An
essential part of effective workplace well-being is managing
health and safety risks – physical, mental and cognitive.
ISO 45003 focuses on promoting well-being by managing
psychosocial risk, however the standard does not provide
p46-47.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 47
guidance on what ‘the needs and expectations of a worker’ are. To
understand what these are and develop a best practice approach
to workplace well-being, organizations can use BSI Prioritizing
People Model©.
Find out more about BSI’s Prioritizing People
Model at bsigroup.com/ppm-uk
Who are the right people in my organization to
implement ISO 45003?
This varies from organization to organization. As ISO 45003
is designed to support ISO 45001, for many organizations the
health and safety team may lead implementation. For others, it
may be HR or even the quality team. Whichever function ‘leads’,
it will be essential for functional teams to work together, in
particular health and safety and HR, as ISO 45003 will draw on
expertise from both areas.
Can my organization be certified to ISO 45003?
ISO 45003 is a guidance standard, not a requirements standard
like ISO 45001. This means ISO 45003 cannot be awarded as
an accredited certification. However, BSI offer a non-accredited
certification globally. This is available for organizations that use
ISO 45001 and organizations that use other health and safety
management system approaches. The process for ISO 45003
certification will be the same as for any other form of BSI
certification.
Is there any training in place to support implementing
ISO 45003?
Yes. BSI developed a one-day training course on ISO 45003,
which is now available globally. It’s suitable for anyone involved
in supporting an organization’s psychological health, safety and
well-being and psychosocial risk management. This may include
line managers, as well as health and safety, occupational health,
human resources, compliance and risk and operational teams
and managers.
Interested to know more?
Visit bsigroup.com/45003-uk to access
more information, including on-demand
webinars, podcasts and more.
08/04/2022 11:07
 Training

Ask for IOSH

There’s never been a better time to prioritise safety

and protect your workforce. Join over 70,000 managers
who choose our Managing Safely® course every year.

For informative and flexible learning that delivers,

ask for Managing Safely®. Ask for IOSH.

iosh.com/training

p48.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 48 08/04/2022 11:07

 Influence
EMPOWERING HEALTH AND SAFETY PROFESSIONALS AROUND THE WORLD

IN THIS A combination of low skills and awareness, winter storms and pared-down budgets are causing more deaths in forestry
and arboriculture P50 | The 10 most common mistakes in writing a health and safety policy and how to avoid them P54 |
S E CT I O N We look ahead to the second Vision Zero summit in May and anticipate what themes and topics we can expect there P58

VISION Z ERO

A closer
view
P58
P HOTOGRAPHY: G ETTY

IOSH MAGAZINE 49

49 Influence Opener_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 49 14/04/2022 14:40

 I NFLU ENC E

Winter storms and slashed budgets

combined with a lack of skills and
awareness are leading to needless
deaths in forestry and arboriculture.

WORDS STEVE SMETHURST

WORDS ANNA SCOTT

20
MINS

50 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

50-53 Forestry_30-Apr-2022_IOSH.indd 50 14/04/2022 08:46


B
etween December 2020 and
February 2022, 11 deaths were
recorded in the UK arboriculture
and forestry sector, according to
initial notifications from the Forest Industry
Safety Accord (FISA, 2022). Falling trees
or branches killed nine people; one death
involved an overhead power line and another
died using a log-splitting machine.
FISA is a coalition of representatives
from leading industry organisations and is
determined to raise the standard of health,
safety and welfare in the forestry industry.
FISA chief executive Gillian Clark says
winter storms that topple trees onto power
lines are a major challenge. The agricultural
sector is also affected, she says. ‘Farmers may
be trying to clear trees when they have their
spring turnout for livestock, for example.
The last thing we need is for them to have a
go at felling windblown trees.’ Compounding
these hazards, budgets have been slashed
in many industries and local authorities.
‘A lot of day-to-day maintenance just isn’t
happening,’ Gillian says.
Tina Morgan, chair of the IOSH Rural
Industries Group, says part of the problem
is that tree work is not exclusively carried
by forestry operators and contractors.
‘Industries where these are not a business's
main activities often have accidents as the
work is not carried out frequently and is
often thought to be “only a quick job”,’ she
says. ‘Planning and proper preparation
for this type of work is essential.’ She also
highlights additional issues such as hand-
arm vibration syndrome, asthma (from
inhalation of wood dust), dermatitis (from
chainsaw fuel and mechanical lubricants)
and noise-induced hearing loss.
HM inspector of health and safety
Christopher Maher GradIOSH leads on
arboriculture at the GB Health and Safety
PHOTOGRAP HY: ALAMY
Executive (HSE). People often fail to
appreciate that risk assessments must
be site- and tree-specific, he says. ‘It can’t
50-53 Forestry_30-Apr-2022_IOSH.indd 51
FORESTRY
be generic. Each tree and site presents
different risks and could react differently
in certain circumstances.’
The key is to avoid putting people at risk
and put in place the right controls, as well
as to record your thought process. ‘There’s
often the temptation to view an incident as
an unfortunate accident,' says Christopher.
‘But when you take a step back, if a chainsaw
operator had been driving an excavator with
a grapple saw when the tree fell, they’d most
likely be alive. That’s why the planning is
so important.’
When the wind blows
Storms are one of many challenges
faced in forestry and arboriculture. Max
McLaughlan, head of land management
(north district) at Forestry England, explains
why. ‘Windblow is a normal part of any
forest, but we saw things on a different scale
towards the end of 2021. UK forests tend to
be resilient to south-westerly winds. Storm
Arwen caused 70mph northerly winds. The
trees weren’t resilient to it.’
Although a relatively small proportion
of forest was affected (around 2% to 4% in
Scotland, Max says), the impact shouldn’t
be underestimated. ‘Windblown timber is
a different proposition to standing timber.
When trees are on their side, you need bigger
equipment to deal with that prospect safely.
There is also usually quite a lot of chainsaw
work, which affects safety,’ Max adds.
Gillian highlights the dangers. ‘Winter
storms leave a lot of windblown, snapped
and hung-up trees. Many will be under
tension and spring violently when released
by cutting. Chainsaw operators may also be
at risk of being crushed by the root plate.’
Winter storms brought down more than
eight million trees in the UK (Marshall,
2022) and storms Dudley, Eunice and
Franklin in February 2022 caused more
damage. ‘Working in these conditions
must only be undertaken by people with
IOSH MAGAZINE 51
14/04/2022 14:41
 I NFLU ENC E
a number of years’ experience and exposure
to these situations,’ says Gillian. ‘We
routinely get calls from people saying
they’ve got this kind of tree and where can
they find a training course. Effectively,
they’re wanting to tackle the worst possible
trees with virtually no experience.’
Clare James, head of health, safety and
technical training at Forestry England,
agrees: ‘One of the big factors is not using
the correct equipment. Improvising with
available kit, rather than using the right
tool for the job, can get people into trouble.
Another critical factor in remote locations
is that there’s typically a lack of phone
signal and challenges in getting emergency
services to the scene.’
Curb complacency
Tree work is not something that Graham
Barton takes lightly. In part, this is because
he can still recall vividly what happened
when he was just 19.
‘I was 20 feet [six metres] up in the
air reducing the height of a conifer hedge,’
he says. He was attached to the tree by a
strop attached to his harness and secured
around the main stem of the tree. His
feet were either side of the stem on two
lateral branches.
‘I had felled the top of the tree and was
tidying up the felling cut with a small
chainsaw when the branch supporting my
left foot snapped. It all happened quickly,
but I must have moved my left hand from
the chainsaw handle. The saw passed
across the inside of my left wrist gouging
out flesh and severing five tendons. A two-
hour operation, 42 surface stitches and a
bit of physio later, I was very lucky to have
a fully functioning left hand,’ he says.
Graham is now health, safety and
compliance manager for UK Power
Networks (UKPN), which maintains the
electrical network in East Anglia and
south-east England. ‘We use 11 principal
contractors and a small group of directly
52 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
50-53 Forestry_30-Apr-2022_IOSH.indd 52
DISEASED T REES
Ash dieback
hazards
Diseased or dead ash trees suffering
from a fungal disease known as ash
dieback are a hazard facing many
councils. FISA’s Gillian Clark says:
‘These trees become brittle very
quickly, making them extremely
hazardous to climb and dismantle.
Even when felling at ground level,
the trunk or branches may snap
unpredictably and “explode” with
debris flying in all directions. We
receive three to four calls about it
a week, and typically the people
we speak to have little knowledge
about how to proceed.’
The HSE’s Christopher Maher adds:
‘If you have an ash with signs of
decay, can you ever be sure that it’s
safe to put a person under the tree?
Anyone felling a tree should consider
using an excavator with tree shears
and/or grapple saws, or a harvester.’
employed tree cutters. Around 300 people
are involved in tree work. We carry out risk-
based maintenance, network resilience work,
and advise on and assist customer requests
in relation to trees,’ says Graham.
UKPN arborists are trained in felling,
processing, climbing and pruning.
These are complemented by specialist
qualifications developed by the electrical
and arboricultural governing bodies.
Compliance and knowledge of policies
and procedures is reviewed in biannual
safety audits, where auditors observe a
team over the course of a day.
‘Apart from the usual slips, trips and
falls, the biggest hazards are falls from
height, contact with machinery (chainsaws),
musculoskeletal injuries, personal
complacency and the formation of bad
habits. We look for those things, but also
praise innovation and best practice,’ says
Graham. ‘We record findings honestly, and
don’t look to embarrass or discipline people,
but rather to coach and challenge teams to
maintain safety standards.’
The hierarchy of risk control
So what does suitably planned and risk-
assessed tree work look like? Clare says:
‘When it comes to Forestry England’s
operational response, it’s all about going
through the hierarchy of risk control. The
risk control process is our way of assessing
how to manage forestry works at every step.
‘Risk control starts with questions such as,
does the tree actually need to be removed?
If the tree is close to or across a road or trail,
we’ll establish whether the work can be
done mechanically. If mechanised removal is
feasible, we’ll look at accessibility and what
type of machinery is needed to get the job
done. If the job can’t be done mechanically,
we will decide on the best way to put an
operator in safely. When it comes to storms
and windblow, a lot of the safety procedures
come down to operator competence. Here,
we establish whether our own operators are
confident and competent to do the work, or
whether we need to contract it out.
‘We look at every aspect of the process.
What sort of tree are we dealing with?
14/04/2022 14:41

Diseased ash trees
become brittle and
dangerous to climb
What is around it? What
equipment will we need?
Which way will we make the
tree fall? Are there any trees
it could fall into? Do we need
to close roads or trails? Each
tree is assessed like this,
before it is felled, as well as
the ground conditions and
operating environment.’
Tina emphasises that
before any forestry work, or
even small-scale tree works,
the person considering
undertaking the task should
ask themselves: Do I have
the necessary skills to undertake the work
safely? Do I have the correct equipment?
Can I undertake the task safely? ‘If the
answer to any of these questions is no, then
the work should not even be considered.
A robust risk assessment should always be
carried out by someone who understands
the hazards and risks,’ Tina adds.
FISA is keen for mechanised felling
(using tree shears/grapple saws) to
become the norm in forest sites and with
diseased ash trees because an operator in
a protective cab is far safer than a person
R E S O URCES
Noise in the workplace:
iosh.com/noise
Musculoskeletal disorders:
iosh.com/musculoskeletal-
disorders
IOSH training courses:
iosh.com/awareness-courses
FISA forestry safety guide:
bit.ly/FISA-forestry-
safety-guide
FISA 608: bit.ly/FISA-608
50-53 Forestry_30-Apr-2022_IOSH.indd 53
with a chainsaw in hand. As Gillian
notes, with the progression of
mechanisation using suitable carrier
vehicles and hydraulic cranes fitted
with tree shears or grapple saws, the
need for working at height is reduced.
‘We’re pleased that a growing number of
contractors have this kind of equipment
and we hope that continues. The more we
can encourage the industry to mechanise
the better,’ she says.
Clare says Forestry England is also
looking into mechanisation. ‘Tree shears
tend to be used in roadside work. As with
all mechanised work, there is still a risk:
for example, chain shot, whereby if a
chain is broken, bits of it could injure the
operator or others in the vicinity. If these
systems are to be used, we need to ensure
the correct control measures are in place.’
The IOSH Rural Industries Group
would always advocate eliminating the risk
where possible, says Tina. ‘Anything that
reduces risk will always be welcome in any
workplace; however, it is only part of the
story. There will inevitably be occasions
where mechanised systems cannot be used.
In most cases they rely on an operator and
that operator still needs to be trained.’
OSH professionals in other industries
will need to appreciate that forestry
doesn't always enjoy the safety levels you
would expect to see on a good construction
site: ‘It is arguably still a bit behind,’
admits Gillian. ‘We have some excellent
contractors and management companies,
but across the board, we’re perhaps seeing
that forestry isn’t quite at the same level as
construction and it needs to get there.’
Graham adds: ‘Seek some professional
help – the Arboricultural Association is a
good starting point. And if you are using
contractors, try to foster a positive health
and safety culture with good reporting
of near misses and hazards. Create an
honest dialogue, praise innovation and be
prepared to work together.’
FORESTRY
OUTSIDE WO R K
A guide to
working with
contractors
When engaging a contractor,
your responsibility is to ensure
they are competent. Information
must be exchanged before work
commences and the method of
working should be agreed. Also,
when works are being carried
out adjacent to a highway, it is
essential to implement necessary
permissions and controls.
Can the contractor demonstrate
their competency?
Have they undertaken similar
work previously?
Can they provide references?
Do they have the
appropriate equipment?
Can they provide evidence
of regular refresher training,
especially if using equipment
such as mobile-elevating
work platforms?
Are they members of a trade
or professional body such as
the Arboricultural Association
or Forestry Contracting
Association, or accreditation
schemes such as SMAS or CHAS?
If using chainsaws, can they
justify why? Have their
chainsaw operators attended an
EFAW +F or an FAW +F course?
Do they have a first aid kit that
covers catastrophic bleeding?
Do they have sufficient public
(and if necessary) employers’
liability and professional
indemnity insurance?
Have they been subject to HSE
notices? What is their RIDDOR
history like?
Have they been informed of
hazards that could create or
increase risk, such as roads,
watercourses, cycle trails or
overhead cables?
IOSH MAGAZINE 53
14/04/2022 08:46
 I NFLU ENC E
10 pitfalls
to avoid
Scott Crichton CMIOSH, principal health and safety
consultant at WorkNest, identifies common health and
safety policy mistakes – and how to get it right next time.
A
well-considered health and
safety policy is the starting
point of any effective safety
and health management system.
Unfortunately, in our experience,
these essential documents often
miss the mark. They may be too long (or
not long enough), missing important
information, compiled incorrectly, or too
generic to have any practical value. In
some cases, they’re simply created as a box-
ticking exercise and left to sit on a shelf.
Here are 10 areas where health and
safety policies commonly fall short, and
1
what you can do to address them.
No statement
of intent
Every policy should start with a
written statement of intent that
sets out your general approach to
managing workplace hazards and
risks. It typically takes the form of
a one-page document signed by
the most senior person within
54 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
10 False Steps_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 54
ST RAT EGY OVERSIGHTS
the organisation and
can be supported by
the chair of the board
for extra weight.
Often this
document is either
missing or not signed,
which can lead to a lack of
demonstrable commitment
from senior individuals in the
organisation. This in turn affects health
and safety culture. Additionally, a
statement of intent should cover not
just safety but health: that includes
stress, mental health and wellbeing.
Your statement of intent must
explain what you’re aiming to
achieve by implementing your
policy and providing performance
indicators. The importance of
setting clear and measurable
2
objectives is often overlooked.
Doesn’t specify
how health
and safety
is organised
The second part of a health and safety
policy usually outlines the structure
of your organisation
and sets out key health
and safety roles and
responsibilities. Without
this, wires can easily be
crossed, making it more
likely that things won’t
get done. You risk creating
a culture of ‘it’s not my job’.
One way to approach this is through
an organisational chart that visually
defines how health and safety is
managed within your organisation.
Responsibilities can then be defined in
role/job descriptions to support this.
You should capture who:
Has overall responsibility for
managing health and safety within
your organisation
Has day-to-day responsibility
for effectively implementing
your policy
Your health and safety champions
are – these people play a key role
in the implementation and review
of the policy.
Health and safety is very much a
team effort, and your policy
should reflect this.
14/04/2022 14:41

3 5
Doesn’t cover
all the relevant
hazard areas
Your health and safety policy
should set out the arrangements for
managing relevant health and safety
risks. This section should form the largest
part of your policy, with real thought
given to the specific hazards present
in your environment.
However, this is typically where
weaknesses and opportunities for
development can be found, as employers
sometimes miss very obvious and
significant hazards. Arrangements
typically cover areas such as asbestos,
consultation, evacuating your premises,
risk assessments and training.
Make sure there is an index in place
that lists all the hazards linked to your
organisation and ensure that your policy
covers all of the significant dangers that
you, your employees and others face
during the course of their work. This will
also help to ensure that your policy isn’t
generic – another common downfall.
It may be more appropriate to have
shorter policies that cover specific areas
such as display screen equipment, first
4
aid and working at height.
No worker
involvement
Organisations tend to produce
health and safety policies with
little, if any, input from their workforce.
However, involving employees in the
creation and review of policies is a great
way to increase awareness of risk and
ILLUSTRATIONS: S HUTTERSTOCK
encourage ownership.
It’s a good idea to produce an
accompanying employee handbook that
translates the contents of your policy
into the relevant information employees
10 False Steps_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 55
need to work safely, and does so in
an easy-to-read way.
Not every organisation has a health
and safety handbook; indeed, they are
not required by law. But this can be
a significant flaw, as it can mean the
contents of your policy isn’t properly
communicated. After all, it’s far more
likely that employees will digest a
jargon-free 20-page handbook than
a 50-page policy.
6
Not easily
accessible
Your policy should
not be shrouded
in mystery or covered in
dust. It should be readily
available to internal and
external stakeholders within
your organisation. It should
also be easily accessible
to employees, perhaps via
the company intranet, to
address any excuse for
not having read it.
POLICY SHORTFALLS
No evidence the
policy has been
communicated
and read
Employers often share policies with
their workforce but have little way of
knowing that employees have read them.
You should communicate the policy and
any subsequent amendments to staff,
and ideally obtain documented evidence
that this has been received, read and
understood. Failing to do so can be a costly
mistake – particularly in the event of an
accident, where you may need to prove
the employee was made aware of your
health and safety rules and procedures. To
get confirmation, use physical signatures
or digital systems that send automatic
notifications when a shared document is
read, or simply make this a part of your
induction process. This will strengthen
your defence if an incident occurs.
7
Too long
Some policies lack important
information, but others are
much longer than they need
to be. While they should cover all
bases, policies should be succinct
and purposeful. It shouldn’t be a
dense, daunting document that no
individual has the time or inclination
to read, or that people must wade
through to get to the information
they need.
IOSH MAGAZINE 55
13/04/2022 16:35
 I NFLU ENC E
8
Not discussed
with other
occupiers/
organisations
Within your policy, you should
consider how you will cooperate
and coordinate with any other
employers with whom you share
premises. As well as being a legal
9
requirement, failing to do so can lead
to a lack of control – there could be
an assumption on both sides that the Not reviewed
other party is managing certain risks, annually
when neither party is. A health and safety policy
is a living, breathing
document and should be reviewed
often – at least annually. In many
cases, organisations assume that
producing a health and safety
policy is a one-time task, when
in reality it’s about effectively
managing risk. Therefore,
continual improvement is essential
to keeping your policy alive.
The policy should be referred to
when incidents (accidents and near
misses) happen and when there
are significant changes to how your
organisation operates.
56 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
10 False Steps_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 56
10
Not written
by the right
people
Organisations
can write health and safety
policies themselves, and
there’s no legal requirement
to involve professionals.
Indeed, the GB Health and
Safety Executive says health
and safety policies are best
written by someone within
the organisation, as they need
to reflect the organisation’s
values and beliefs, as well as a
commitment to providing a safe
and healthy environment.
That said, producing these
important documents can feel
like a daunting task, particularly
if you’re not the most safety-
savvy, pushed for time, or don’t
know where to start. So there are
benefits to enlisting specialist
experts to assist you.
Your policy will benefit from
your unrivalled knowledge of
your own business and its risks,
combined with their expert
industry knowledge. This will
ensure your policy is robust, fit
for purpose and reflects best
practice. What’s more, it’s the
safest way to avoid the many
common mistakes outlined in
this article.
RESOURCE
IOSH competency framework:
iosh.com/my-iosh/
competency-framework
13/04/2022 16:35
 StaySafe
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 I NFLU ENC E

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY

58 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

58-61 Vision Zero Summit_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 58 14/04/2022 09:28

 VISION ZERO SUMMIT

15
MINS

ZEROING
IN
From 11 to 13 May, the second
Vision Zero summit will
open its virtual doors for
discussions on the greatest
challenges in the world of
work. Jeremy Waterfield
takes a look at what
to expect from the
programme of events.

T
he world of workplace safety
and health will be looking to
build upon the progress made
at the first Vision Zero summit,
held in Finland three years ago, at this
year’s summit in Japan. It promises to be
a key milestone in the journey to turn a
commitment to Vision Zero into real-
world changes.
Driven once again by the Global
Coalition for Safety and Health at Work,
this second summit will give a global
platform to international experts in
OSH, allowing them to share the latest
prevention knowledge and strategies.
They will be joined by senior OSH
operators from high-profile corporations,
all presenting unique insights into how to
apply a Vision Zero mindset.
The middle day of the summit will see
IOSH lead a programme of technical
sessions, called ‘Future business leaders:
achieving healthier performance and
productivity’. This will address how
Vision Zero prevention culture can be
implemented in the business world.
Anyone listening to IOSH head of
strategic engagement Alan Stevens will
learn how OSH has the power to not only
keep workers healthy and safe, but also

IOSH MAGAZINE 59

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 I NFLU ENC E
H O ST N AT I O N
Technology boosts delegate
accessibility and promotes
‘anshin’ in the workplace
That the event will be held online in
no way diminishes the pride felt by Dr
Toshihiro Fujita (pictured), vice-chair
of the organising committee of the
second Vision Zero summit, to which
Japan plays host. Indeed, he says the
online format means this summit will be
even more global, making
it more accessible
to delegates and
speakers from
more than 40
countries – who
otherwise may
not have been
able to afford the
budget or time to
fly there.
As director of the
Osaka-based Institute of
Global Safety Promotion, chairman
of the summit’s Session Chair
Committee and a task group member
of the Global Coalition for Safety and
Health at Work, Toshihiro sees the
summit as a historic moment in the
global development of safety, health
and wellbeing.
create wealth, boost economies and help
liberate populations.
‘This summit promises to be a turning
point in the development of safety and
health practice, with a focus placed on
people’s wellbeing,’ says Alan.
‘The world is realising that good OSH
practice can allow societies to flourish
and has seen how it is helping countries
through their passage of development,
60 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
58-61 Vision Zero Summit_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 60
‘This will be a critical event in
securing the marriage of people
and robotic technologies in a new
workplace environment,’ he says. ‘New
trends in OSH and in technology are
already coming together to write a new
chapter of “collaborative safety”, where
humans and machines combine
to improve both productivity
and workers’ safety and
security through the
wider perspective
placed on wellbeing
by Vision Zero.
‘We are indebted
to Vision Zero for
introducing this concept
of wellbeing to the
workplace. We don’t have a
Japanese translation for “wellbeing”;
the nearest is “anshin”, which means
“lack of worry” or “peace of mind”.
‘But we’ve learned how key the
Vision Zero mindset is to the promotion
of collaborative safety. We are at the
dawn of a new, collaborative way of
working, a new world of work that will
be supported by new technology.’
particularly in Asia and Africa,’ he adds.
‘By working through the Global Coalition
to unite bodies such as the International
Labour Organization [ILO] and World
Health Organization with governments,
employers and OSH professionals, IOSH
is taking on the challenge to reduce the
negative impact of workplace accidents and
illnesses, lessening the burden they put on
individuals and emerging states. In freeing
Alan Stevens, IOSH head of strategic engagement
up that burden, OSH is accelerating
the progression of emerging economies
and ensuring the future sustainability
of societies.’
Four per cent of global GDP is wiped
out by occupational accidents and
diseases (ILO, 2015). With the world’s
leaders now seeing the potential for
OSH to reduce this waste – meaning
that the savings can be reinvested in
education, better services and a stronger
infrastructure – we are starting to fully
recognise what must be seen as a massive
asset for any emerging economy.
‘For too long, the burden of inadequate
safety and health has placed strains on
countries’ social security systems, holding
their economies back and blighting
the lives of those directly affected by
the financial insecurity that can result,’
says Alan.
‘In emerging, more informal economies,
the burden of poor OSH is largely borne
by the individual because there is no social
security system, and this leads to debt
and hardship. Young family members,
especially girls, are then denied access to
education, which holds the economy back
further, causing more social deprivation.’
Better workplace safety, health and
14/04/2022 14:43

wellbeing not only protects
workers, but can also make
economies run more smoothly
and lead to better life chances.
This will be a major focus
of the summit and should
provide inspiration for
OSH professionals and
their strategic partners.
‘Good OSH makes good
business sense and the
successful businesses of the
future will be those that place
safety, health and wellbeing at
the heart of their operation,’
Alan concludes.
Collaborative approach
For Dr Tommi Alanko, chair
of Global Coalition Task
Group Vision Zero at the Enterprise Level
and a director of the Finland Institute of
Occupational Health, a key driver behind
this year’s Japan summit is ‘collaboration’.
While the first summit was largely about
finding common ground through the
Vision Zero mindset, much has happened
across the globe since then, particularly
Dr Tommi Alanko,
chair of Global
Coalition Task
Group Vision
Zero at the
Enterprise
Level
PHOTOGRAPHY: ©RIITTA S UPPERI / K EKS I
58-61 Vision Zero Summit_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 61
with the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact
upon our lives and workplaces.
Tommi says this has transformed
the way we work together to address
risks in the workplace, working within
our businesses and organisations, and
– especially now – alongside our (often
global) supply chains. OSH professionals
have also been increasingly collaborating
across sectors during the pandemic. He
cites the power of online technology in
facilitating this collaboration, allowing
greater sharing and learning – something
that he sees continuing at the summit.
‘This summit will be all about
bringing something new to share with
partners in the Vision Zero mission,
helping each other to find new ways to
integrate occupational safety and health
into businesses and organisations,’
says Tommi.
‘We’re all working together to reach a
point where OSH becomes an integral
part of the way companies do business;
indeed, a point where safety is embraced
as the responsibility of the whole business,
not just its health and safety department.
‘In my experience, where OSH is in
good shape, the company or
organisation is also likely to
be in good shape.’
The COVID-19 pandemic
has put safety and health
in society – and not least
workplace safety and health
– firmly in the spotlight
and encouraged greater
engagement with our
profession. The world of
work is looking to safety and
health professionals like never
before. Whether it’s concerns
about the spread of infectious
diseases, issues of home-
working, mental health or the
challenge to gain and retain
talented staff, employers and
businesses want answers.
The Japan 2022 Vision
VISION ZERO SUMMIT
GLOBAL PER S PECT I V E
Driving a
vision into
real action
The ILO has estimated that
2.78 million workers around the
world die from occupational
accidents and diseases every
year, while 374 million
workers suffer from non-fatal
occupational accidents (ILO,
2020). This toll gave fresh
resolve to calls to establish a
global prevention culture. The
game-changing Vision Zero
commitment gave birth to the
Global Coalition for Safety and
Health at Work.
The Global Coalition
established the Vision Zero
summits, with the first staged
in Helsinki, Finland. The success
of the summit saw the Coalition
establish a family of six task
groups aligned to priority areas,
one of which is Vision Zero at
the Enterprise Level, which
includes IOSH and is focused
on implementing Vision Zero
thinking and best practice across
a range of business enterprises.
Zero summit might be virtual, but it
still presents a perfect stage for all those
involved in workplace safety, health and
wellbeing. They will come together to
share, listen, inspire, be inspired and
grasp this unique opportunity to make
people’s lives better.
To view the references for this
article, go to ioshmagazine.com/
vision-zero-japan
IOSH MAGAZINE 61
14/04/2022 14:43
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p62.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 62 08/04/2022 11:10

 Enhance
DEVELOPING THE SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES OF ALL OSH PROFESSIONALS

IN THIS A new IOSH model details how to support social sustainability P64 | James Pretty on his journey to becoming a health and
safety instructor P68 | Future Leader Saravanakumar Natarajan on becoming one of IOSH’s youngest Chartered Members
S E CT I O N P70 | Back to basics: rehabilitation and returning to work P72 | Talking shop: how to bring mental health into the open P74

BACK TO BASICS

RETURNING
TO WORK
P72
P HOTOGRAPHY: G ETTY

IOSH MAGAZINE 63

63 Enhance Opener_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 63 13/04/2022 16:37

 ENHA NC E

15
MINS

CHAMPIONING
PEOPLE A model approach, developed by IOSH, details the
journey OSH professionals can take to support
their business in social sustainability.
WORDS MARCUS BOOCOCK

M
ost people are aware of what it takes
to make an organisation sustainable
in terms of the environment, but
the concept of social sustainability
is becoming increasingly important too. Socially
sustainable organisations are those that prioritise
the adoption of a person-centred approach to
everything they do, treating employees as an asset,
and creating the conditions to promote decent
work where human capital underpins corporate
performance and sustainability.
There can be little doubt that the role of OSH
professionals and the goals of social sustainability
are complementary, as both are concerned with
ensuring people are healthy, safe and well.
‘OSH professionals play a crucial role in helping
organisations to create reporting and
learning cultures in which prevention
lessons are learned, and they are
best-placed to work across the business
to support social sustainable practices
and OSH performance evaluation and
reporting,’ says Ruth Wilkinson, IOSH head
of health and safety.
In fact, many existing OSH activities support
the drive toward social sustainability, so OSH

64 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

64-66 Championing People_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 64 13/04/2022 16:38


professionals should not feel intimidated
by contributing to reporting instruments,
supporting the preparation of non-financial
disclosures, or considering the social impacts
of business activities.
So says Dr Chris Davis, IOSH research
programme lead and author of the
upcoming IOSH publication, Wave
generation: a model approach to socially
sustainable safety and health as part of its
Catch the Wave infinitive.
‘OSH professionals may be wondering
where to start when it comes to this
area,’ Chris says. ‘They are being asked
to consider ISO 45001 and ISO 45003,
as well as working towards the UN’s
Sustainable Development Goals and the
principles of the International Corporate
Governance Network.
‘However, when you look at the core
principles of OSH that those in the
profession are familiar with – in essence,
ensuring all workers are safe, healthy and
well – they are already contributing to
social sustainability.’
A model approach
The upcoming publication introduces a new
model approach. It consolidates existing
knowledge on OSH and social sustainability,
and takes as its conceptual starting point the
OSH management system structure outlined
in the ISO 45001 international standard.
The model contains five elements that
reflect the growth to maturity of OSH, from
a primarily preventive function to one that
is far more outward-looking, future-focused
and supports a social sustainability agenda
(see The elements of IOSH’s model approach
to social sustainability, right). There is
also a sixth element, reflecting that OSH
is often influenced by broader factors such
as organisational culture, communication,
and equality, diversity and inclusion
(EDI). This falls outside of the main
model but is shown as an overarching lens
that always impacts on the main model.
Chris says this reflects the journey of
OSH professionals through their careers,
reflecting that everyone will be at different
64-66 Championing People_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 65
MODEL APPROACH
The elements of IOSH’s model
approach to social sustainability
1
People: it is crucial that
organisations ensure their
people are fit, healthy and
well, and well-equipped and
competent enough to undertake
their roles, as well as being
engaged and satisfied.
2
Work and environment:
there is a clear opportunity
for OSH professionals not
only to provide safe working
conditions, a safe physical and
psychosocial environment and
appropriate equipment, but
also to create an environment in
which workers can find purpose,
autonomy and job satisfaction.
3
System and integration:
developing the capacity
to monitor, review,
report on and learn from the
dynamic relationship between
people and work is essential.
Not only is this beneficial to
OSH, but the existence of a
systematic approach to OSH
will also provide reassurance –
particularly when independently
reviewed or certified – to those
interested in the long-term
stability of an organisation.
4
Organisation: it is
important to have a
relationship between OSH
and other functions. Given that
the most valuable information
related to OSH performance is
thought to come from other
CATCH THE WAVE
functions or external sources,
cross-functional collaboration
and communication streams
could be hugely beneficial.
5
External: there is a
growing expectation
within reporting
instruments for organisations
to consider their engagement
with – and, of course, impact
upon – stakeholder groups.
As such, given the universal
nature of its fundamental
principles, OSH could well
be seen as being a valuable
vehicle through which
organisations are able
to engage externally.
OVERARCHING FACTORS
It is important for
practitioners to understand
how overarching factors
– culture, communication,
approach to EDI and so
on – influence everything
that happens within an
organisation. By doing
so, it may provide insight
that explains the success
or failure of an OSH
management system.
IOSH MAGAZINE 65
13/04/2022 16:38
 ENHA NC E
stages. ‘As you move through the model,
it reflects that maturity journey – from
core principles that OSH professionals
use all the time, to new areas where
they may have less experience,’ he says.
‘So OSH professionals will be
able to look at the new model and
consider what they are already doing
and where they need to go next. The
further through the model you go, the
more broadly you are operating – for
example, striking up relationships with
different functions within the business
and stakeholder groups.
‘It is important to note that the model
is iterative – in other words, it isn’t
a single journey at the end of which
one reaches a finish line. In fact, as
knowledge of socially sustainable OSH
develops and interconnections become
clearer, opportunities to evolve those
core elements are likely to emerge.’
Overnight change
Chris says the COVID-19 pandemic
meant that many OSH professionals
had to adapt their role practically
overnight as businesses began to turn
to them for support in areas they
weren’t familiar with. At the same
time, businesses increasingly began
to recognise how OSH is crucial if
they are to be successful.
Ruth says: ‘Organisations cannot
be sustainable without protecting
the safety, health and wellbeing of
their most vital resource: workers.
Consequently, companies driven by a
human-centred purpose that embraces
the interplay of social sustainability,
thoughtful human capital management
and a comprehensive set of employee
safety, health and wellbeing practices
– all critical components of a robust
human capital management strategy
66 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
64-66 Championing People_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 66
AN ORGANISATION
CAN’T HAVE A
SUCCESSFUL
SUSTAINABILITY
STRATEGY WITHOUT
A STRONG HEALTH
AND SAFETY CULTURE
– are more capable of producing lasting
value, profit and sustainable workforces.’
Businesses, and the OSH
professionals who support them,
are at different stages of the journey
towards social sustainability.
Lesley Kavanagh, senior director for
partner responsibility at Nike, is in no
doubt about the importance of OSH in
creating a socially sustainable business.
‘I have dedicated 30 years of my
career to advancing sustainability,
including health and safety strategies,
within manufacturing environments,’
she says.
‘I believe all people have a
fundamental right to the protection
of life and health in the workplace.
As OSH professionals, we can
help organisations have the right
processes, systems, resources and
cultures in place to create safer and
healthier working environments for
employees and people working across
the value chain. This can have a
ripple effect into the communities
in which companies operate.
‘Not only is putting people first
the right thing to do, but it is critical
to the success of any business. In
addition to mitigating risks, it allows
the company to become an employer
of choice, attracting and retaining the
best talent. This is a virtuous circle
leading to a more engaged workforce
that can be a source of innovation
and improved productivity.
‘An organisation can’t have a
successful sustainability strategy
without a strong health and safety
culture. As OSH professionals, we
can continue to influence and lead
by example, to help ensure health
and safety is a key component of
all sustainability strategies.’
To view the references,
go to ioshmagazine.com/
social-sustainability-model
14/04/2022 14:44
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IOSH MAGAZINE 67

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 ENHA NC E
LIVING THE
DREAM
James Pretty CMIOSH explains his
journey from equipment operator
to health and safety instructor,
via the UK, Australia, Oman
and Brunei.
INTERVIEW MATT LAMY
68 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
68-69 Member Interview_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 68
J
ames Pretty is a senior health, safety
and environment (HSE) instructor
and consultant who has had a hand
in national-level OSH projects. But
less than 15 years ago, James was operating
plant equipment with only the occasional
toe-dip into health and safety inspections.
‘It’s such a shame that health and safety
isn’t offered more regularly as a career path
at school and colleges because, if I could
go back to the 16-year-old me, I would say
“health and safety” to him,’ says James.
‘I spent a couple of years in Australia,
where I did some plant machinery
instruction. When I came back to the UK,
a friend said he had an instructor role
available in Oman. The problem was, I
didn’t have an instructor qualification.
I gambled the last £1000 in my bank
account, took the course and, at the end
of the two weeks, passed,’ he says.
‘I started in Oman in 2013 with lifting
equipment instruction but, after eight
months, my boss asked if I wanted to do
my own further studies so I could start
being a full HSE instructor. My career
skyrocketed from there. I went from
lifting instructor with no experience to
in-country value [ICV] programme
manager in three and a half years.’
National influence
As well as his ICV role, James was also
asked to join an Omani Skills Council.
‘It was the first very high-level role
I’ve had and it involved developing a
national occupational standard and an
accompanying apprenticeship for lifting
operations. To get more Omanis into jobs,
the government wanted a programme for
HSE officers – taking them from graduate
to HSE officer in two years. They’d come
to the programme I was running and do
IOSH Managing Safely to start with, then
OSH qualifications, then a work placement
for six months. If that all worked out, they
would go into the second year and do their
NVQ Level 5 diploma. Those experiences
– the ICV and the Skills Council – helped
me for the next stage of my career.’
13/04/2022 16:39

G U I D I N G L I GH T
The value
of mentoring
James is a keen proponent of
mentorship and has signed up as an
IOSH mentor. ‘Everyone remembers
their favourite coach or mentor,’
James says. ‘Not because they were
necessarily the smartest person they’d
met, but because they showed the
most faith in them. Even now, I know
that one of my old bosses, if I phoned
him up, would drop everything
to help if I needed it. That kind of
support is invaluable.’
James’s mentoring experience meets
a number of competencies within the
IOSH competency framework, which
is the Institution’s first step towards
guiding members’ skills and career
development. For example, this article
relates well to IOSH’s competencies in
coaching and mentoring, advocating
for safety and inspiring people, and
innovation and creativity.
That was to head east in May 2019
to Brunei, where he took the role of
senior HSE instructor and consultant for
Megamas Training Company, looking after
the firm’s IOSH and NEBOSH training
programmes. At Megamas, James has
trained some of the Brunei Safety, Health
and Environment National Authority’s
(SHENA’s) own staff, and his skills have
been used in a specialised role.
‘I’m fortunate to know the chief
inspector here. He’d been emailing me
draft guidance and I’d been replying
with my opinions. He happened to be
in our office one day and asked me if I
PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK
wanted to play a more active role. I ended
up joining the PPE task force within
SHENA’s Industrial Health, Safety and
68-69 Member Interview_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 69
MEMBER INTERVIEW JAMES PRETTY
Environment Group (iHSEg).
‘iHSEg is a volunteer task force and
we’re tasked with trying to develop and
build guidance and standards. Brunei has
had health and safety laws for 13 years but
many people don’t even know they exist,
let alone what they say.’
Not invincible
With experience around the globe, James
knows that the guidance needed can differ
JAMES’S T IP S
from country to country, and from culture
to culture. ‘In Australia, the struggle is Becoming
what I call “invincibility syndrome”. The
Aussies are a tough bunch, but some think
Chartered
they are utterly invincible until they get 1 Don’t think you know it all
hurt, and then it comes as quite a shock.
‘Even from Oman to Brunei, there are Approach people who have done
big differences in the way some things 2 it before and get their advice
happen. So, adaptability and flexibility
If you don’t achieve it straight
is a big weapon in the trainer or health 2 away, take a step back, accept
and safety professional’s armoury.’ the feedback and try again.
Despite the exciting opportunities
he has enjoyed with different national IOSH competency
framework:
regulators and official bodies, James’s
iosh.com/my-iosh/
primary source of job satisfaction is
competency-framework
still instructing.
IOSH mentoring scheme:
‘Coaching people is the most enjoyable
iosh.com/mentoring
thing, especially at the moment because
many of the Bruneian students we get
in have been unemployed for some time Top teaching
and they’re desperate to work. In the
large families here in south-east Asia,
techniques
they need to be breadwinners. Learn to say the same thing
‘When they’ve spent two weeks with in seven different ways
me, even before they do their exams, I Engage all the time – keep your
can see they have become different people. students in the challenge zone
When they arrive, they don’t understand Always ask your
why we do a lot of the things we do. But students questions
Don’t let the same people
as you explain the reasoning, you can
speak constantly
see they have these lightbulb moments.
Use a range of approaches
‘It’s brilliant when people come to see
and resources – group exercises,
you months later, and not only can they videos, case studies
talk to you about the subject, they can be Focus on as much real-life
your peer. I’ve got many ex-students who content as possible
are now professionals in their own right, Promote the approach that
some of them senior managers in health working together is vital.
and safety – even Chartered Members. It’s
fantastic when they say that you were the
spark that ignited their career.’
IOSH MAGAZINE 69
14/04/2022 14:45
 ENHA NC E
Q &A
SARAVANAKUMAR
NATARAJAN
How did you get into the
health and safety profession?
During undergraduate studies, my
ambition was to join the armed forces but
personal reasons meant I was unable to.
Instead, I started to focus on health and
safety. The reason for my interest in both
these careers is similar: to protect people
and have the utmost job satisfaction in the
day-to-day care of others.
You were in India’s National
Cadet Corps – how did that
help your career?
I got basic military training during
my undergraduate studies, and I held
the rank of company sergeant major.
That experience was a turning point: it
taught me time management, how to
take accountability for tasks, how to take
the first step towards new initiatives,
and the importance of being honest and
motivated even in difficult situations.
Most importantly, it taught me to be
service-minded.
Tell us about your job. What
are your day-to-day activities?
Recently, I joined as a safety supervisor
with M.AI Barghash Co, an engineering,
procurement and construction company
operating in large-scale water, oil and
gas pipelines and other onshore works in
Saudi Arabia. I’m involved in all health,
70 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
70-71 Future leaders_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 70
After three years with the
Indian Army National
Cadet Corps while at
university, Saravanakumar
Natarajan CMIOSH has used
a military-like focus in his
OSH career to become
one of IOSH’s youngest
Chartered Members.
INTERVIEW MATT LAMY
safety and environment (HSE) activities,
from developing safety programmes
to verifying implementation at project
level. This includes conducting planned
and unplanned HSE inspections and
audits, verifying emergency preparedness,
delivering safety training, communicating
HSE requirements to various departments,
and managing environmental demands.
Previously, I worked with Global
Tech Park in India, handling the HSE
side of construction projects, including
preparation and implementation policy,
manuals and safety requirements. I also
had the opportunity to develop, execute
and monitor the entire HSE system.
Tell us about health and safety
in India and now Saudi Arabia.
In India, around 80% of the population
works in unorganised sectors and more
than half of the people work in agriculture,
13/04/2022 16:41
 FUTURE LEADER SARAVANAKUMAR NATARAJAN

so getting health and safety awareness
to rural communities is challenging.
However, we can expect good health and
safety development in India as it has
its own standards, codes and laws, an
increasing literacy rate – currently 75%
(2022) – and the highest youth population.
Saudi Arabia has the world’s third-
largest migrant population (Migrants and
Refugees, 2020) and some construction
works there are temporary in nature. So,
the big challenge for HSE professionals
here is adapting to people with different
backgrounds, cultures and languages.
However, I feel that both Saudi and India
are heading in the right direction.
When did you join IOSH’s
Future Leaders Community?
I joined in March 2020 to connect
with 7000 other Future Leaders and
to sharpen my knowledge. IOSH
membership provides great value for
PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAMY
SARAVAN AN’S
You became the 10th-youngest DOS AN D DON ’ TS
Chartered Member of IOSH
– why were you keen to achieve
this so early?
Achieving
When I started my career, I encountered IOSH Chartered
many senior HSE professionals who were
Chartered Members of IOSH and they
Membership
seemed very competent. I felt becoming a Check the IOSH qualifications
Chartered Member would be helpful for page and start with the right
me in terms of being a globally recognised accredited qualifications.
health and safety professional.
Check memoranda of
understanding between
What do you find most IOSH and other organisations.
rewarding – and challenging
Try to learn at least one new
– about the profession?
thing every day.
Job satisfaction is the greatest reward.
Directly and indirectly, the HSE profession Go through back issues of
is the major reason why so many people can IOSH magazine and attend
return home safely to their families each CPD events for updates.
day. Probably the biggest challenge is that,
Don’t look at shortcuts to get a
as safety professionals, alongside technical
qualification or a membership.
knowledge we also need to understand
The learning process is the thing that
psychology and legal requirements, and

makes you a professional.

me with access to live webinars, the
competency framework, IOSH magazine
and the Career Hub.
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETT Y
have communication skills.
How will you inspire other
young HSE professionals?
I recently registered as an IOSH mentor,
although even before that I advised and
guided many people to achieve their
membership grades. I’ve also suggested
many young people in my circle should look
into HSE as a profession. I have more than
7000 followers on LinkedIn, and I make
sure I’m available to provide support.
Where do you see your current
role taking you?
I hope to learn many new things in my
new industry in Saudi Arabia. Wherever
I go afterwards, my ambition is to take on
large responsibilities where I can ensure
the health and safety of the people around
me, support my team and help the success
of others. I live by the Indian Army motto:
‘Service before self.’
Don’t underestimate CPD
and initial professional
development – understand their
purpose and use them wisely.
For fellow
Future Leaders:
Update yourself with developing
trends and don’t miss learning
opportunities from workplace
experience. Develop your professional
and personal network, using
platforms such as IOSH Future Leaders.
Learn new languages to communicate
effectively with people from different
backgrounds. Inspire others by
guiding them in the right direction.
Remember: when we are no longer
able to change the situation, we are
challenged to change ourselves – learn
to be the best, and make a positive
impact on people around you!

To view the references for this

article, go to ioshmagazine.com/
Saravanakumar-Natarajan

IOSH MAGAZINE 71

70-71 Future leaders_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 71 13/04/2022 16:41

 ENHA NC E

WORKPLACE SICKN ESS

REHABILITATION
AND RETURNING
TO WORK
In the latest of our series exploring core OSH topics
and your role in ensuring risks are well managed, we
focus on rehabilitation and the journey back to work.

1
Why put a return-to-work
process in place?
After the past two years – where
employees have been furloughed or
advised to work from home – the
importance of an effective return-to-
work system and process has never
been more valuable.
Even in pre-pandemic times, people
could be away from work for many
reasons. Because of this, organisations
should have processes in place to
support workers to return to work
as soon as they are able.
At its simplest, OSH aims to prevent
workers getting injured or made ill
because of work. But it also has a vital
role to play in supporting organisations
and their staff in rehabilitation and
return-to-work processes.

72 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

72-73 Back To Basics_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 72 13/04/2022 16:44


2 EVEN IN
The six-step approach
IOSH describes six steps for
organisations to follow when
managing workplace sickness absence.
Record sickness absence
Keep in contact
Plan and implement workplace
controls or adjustment
Make use of specialist advice
or treatment
Agree a return-to-work plan
Coordinate the return to work.
Further detail and advice for
supervisors and managers on the
practicalities of each of these six steps
can be found in the IOSH Managing
Occupational Health and Wellbeing
course. OSH professionals can be of
particular support to organisations
in step 3, by offering advice that
helps to initiate workplace controls
or adjustments.
3 4
Specialist support
In addition to OSH professionals,
there are also specialists who
can assist an organisation with
its rehabilitation and return-to-
work processes.
Ergonomists: applying human
sciences such as anatomy and
PHOTOG RAPH Y: G ETTY / TH E CONT ENT IN THIS ART ICLE IS FROM IOSH FOR IOSH MEMBERS.
physiology to the work environment
Occupational health (OH) advisers:
qualified in OH nursing or
community public health
Occupational hygienists: competent
in anticipating, recognising,
evaluating and advising on the
control of chemical, biological
or physical health hazards
Occupational physicians: medical
doctors specialising in OH
Occupational therapists: specialists
in physiotherapy or psychotherapy.
72-73 Back To Basics_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 73
PRE-PANDEMIC
TIMES, PEOPLE
COULD BE AWAY
FROM WORK FOR
MANY REASONS
Organisations may find there is a
need to contract out these services.
However, it’s worth understanding
that such investments could result
in business benefits. For example,
a forklift truck organisation that
helped its experienced workers
return to work earlier by investing
in contracted physiotherapy
services avoided staff absenteeism,
the cost of which would have been
four times greater than the services
paid for.
IOSH return-to-
work resources
IOSH has sponsored research
into rehabilitation and the return
to work. Our research into returning
to work after cancer and common
mental health disorders looks at
the barriers and facilitators from
different group perspectives.
MORE IN FO?
For more on returning to work,
go to iosh.com/return-to-work
To view the article’s references,
go to ioshmagazine.com/
workplace-sickness
BACK TO BASICS
Returning to work after cancer
As many as 63,000 people with
cancer in the UK today want to work
but are unable to do so because they
do not have the right support. It is
also estimated that by 2030, an
extra 130,000 people with cancer
could return to work after treatment,
with the right support (Healthy
Working Lives, 2020). This research
helps organisations provide
that support.
iosh.com/work-after-cancer
Returning after common
mental health disorders
Mental disorders such as anxiety, stress
and depression are among the leading
causes of disability worldwide and have
a major impact on productivity and
sickness absence. This research calls
on employers to take greater account
of a person’s needs when planning
their return to work.
iosh.com/mental-health
IOSH Managing Occupational
Health and Wellbeing course
With 69% of line managers untrained
in how to recognise poor mental
health in their employees, this course
is available as an online programme
of study that provides practical
advice and tools for managers to
help create a healthy and productive
place of work.
iosh.com/health-and-
wellbeing
Research on rehabilitation
and return to work
The International Social Security
Association (ISSA) estimates that
for every dollar invested on work
reintegration and rehabilitation,
employers realise an average return
of more than three times the initial
investment (ISSA, 2017).
bit.ly/ISSA-return-on-
work-reintegration
IOSH MAGAZINE 73
13/04/2022 16:45
 TA LK I NG S H O P MENTAL HEALTH

EMMA LARKINS CMIOSH AMY GOLDSBROUGH CMIOSH

Consultant and tutor, The Bradley Group Regional health and safety manager (North West),
Although we are moving in a Unite Students
positive direction, there still appears Depression, among other mental health issues,
to be greater acceptance of physical is starting to be recognised by society as a
illnesses. This could be down to our serious illness, but there’s still a long way to go.
experience: we understand how the flu or a If you call in absent from work there’s a worry
sickness bug makes us feel, but does everyone of being ‘caught’ outside the house. What’s often
understand how mental illness feels? misunderstood is that going outside can greatly
It isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer; illness can contribute to recovery.
affect people differently on different days. We need to have better conversations
This can make it difficult for organisations to to enable leaders to understand the
understand, manage and accept. This breeds importance of mental wellbeing.
stigma and could affect somebody calling in Empathy and understanding are
absent with a mental illness. skills that need to be developed;
This will change in time. they can’t just be switched

SUCCUMBING
Meanwhile, education, on. A wellbeing
awareness and kindness may programme is a good
help organisations towards start, and there should be a
acceptance and progression. continuous plan to improve it.

TO STIGMA?
Absent workers often say they’re
JOHN physically ill even if they are SAMANTHA
having mental health issues.
MCNAMEE Four industry leaders offer MEPHAM CMIOSH
CMIOSH Partner, health and safety,
Co-founder and principal
their thoughts. Rider Levett Bucknall
consultant at Ravensdale Health, It is estimated that one in four UK
Safety & Wellbeing adults suffer from mental illness each
Poor mental health isn’t as obvious as physical Huge thanks to year (Mind, 2020), so logically we should get
our four experts
illness. Few are prepared to talk openly about it, for contributing more calls about it. Why don’t we? Self-stigma is
and perceived views of employees and employers can their valued a factor. As someone with experience of mental ill
opinions to Talking
fuel the taboo. Employers need to measure output in Shop over the past health, I recognise there can be inherent shame,
12 months
ways other than attendance. Through flexible working which is irrational as most people are supportive.
patterns and locations, employees can contribute far Lack of understanding can mean people aren’t
more than is expected or demanded. By understanding comfortable talking to those with mental
factors affecting wellbeing, building protective measures in illness. Employers must build environments
the workplace and reducing risks, employers can improve where people are comfortable talking about
staff mental wellbeing. Signposting to resources supporting mental illness. People should also know what
mental health and wellbeing also helps – but all employees to say if, or when, that call comes in.
must be able to see the benefit.

H AV E YOUR SAY… What are your organisations doing to ensure the tide is turning
on mental health awareness and education? Let us know. ios hmagazine.com/phy s ical - men ta l - hea l t h

74 MAY/JUNE 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

74 Talking Shop_May-June 2022_IOSH.indd 74 13/04/2022 16:46

p75.IOSH_MayJun22.indd 75 08/04/2022 11:11
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