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Sensible Regulation or Nanny State?

Sensible Regulation or Nanny State?. Brian Etheridge Regional Director London. Sensible regulation or nanny state?. Our approach to regulation Making sense of risk The good, the bad and the ugly Making sure the balance is right Discussion. A strategy for workplace health and safety.

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Sensible Regulation or Nanny State?

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  1. Sensible Regulation or Nanny State? Brian Etheridge Regional Director London

  2. Sensible regulation or nanny state? • Our approach to regulation • Making sense of risk • The good, the bad and the ugly • Making sure the balance is right • Discussion

  3. A strategy for workplace health and safety • The changing world of work • Advances in safety had plateaued • Targets concentrate the mind • The emergence of occupational health as an issue • A new parent Department in DWP • Becoming a modern regulator

  4. Key drivers for change • We cannot do it all • Resources are finite and spread too thinly • Great job on safety – more to do on health • Fear and contact incompatible • Long term gains needs hearts and minds not grudging acceptance

  5. Review of research on the effectiveness of interventions • Evidence for balanced mix of interventions • Enforcement and the fear of enforcement is effective • Advice and information less effective without enforcement; when used, advice welcomed • Some SMEs do not approach HSE for advice and prefer specific advice • Employee involvement beneficial

  6. Our vision • To gain recognition of health and safety as a cornerstone of a civilised society and to achieve a record of workplace health and safety that leads the world

  7. Our mission • HSC and HSE working with Local Authorities to protect people’s health and safety by ensuring that risks in the changing workplace are properly controlled

  8. Strategic themes • Developing closer partnerships • Working with and through others • HSE and LAs • Occupational health • Helping people to benefit from health and safety • Understanding the benefits • Involving the workforce • Accessible advice and support • Focussing on our core business • Being clear about priorities • An interventions strategy • Enforcing where appropriate • Communicating the vision

  9. Some supporting material • HSC enforcement policy statement • HSE enforcement management model • Interventions strategy • Statement on accessible advice and support • Independent legal oversight • High hazard regimes

  10. Some key messages • Sensible health an safety is a cornerstone of a civilised society • It’s about managing risks not eliminating them • The people best placed to make workplaces safer from harm are the people who work there • We are committed to being a good partner and to work with others to improve health and safety • The size of the task is enormous

  11. Making sense of risk Managing risks or making excuses?

  12. The good, the bad and the ugly • Stories grounded in truth • Excessively risk averse decisions made with good intentions • May be uninformed or misinformed • Risk not easily quantified • Conkers, hanging baskets and gravestones

  13. The good, the bad and the ugly • Urban myths and stories • Pure invention or mischief • Self perpetuating stories • Encourage risk averse behaviour • Myths are acted upon • Trapeze artists, Christmas crackers, warning signs on mountains

  14. The good, the bad and the ugly • The deceitful • Health and safety as the excuse for unpopular decisions • Cricket nets

  15. But what is sensible risk management? • The Strategy • HSE: an organisation of experts talking to experts • Simplify the concept of risk assessment to make it more relevant and accessible • Health and safety as an enabler not a hindrance

  16. Libertarian Zealot Public debate is polarised Ban Conkers Now No Nanny State But do either really understand the difference between hazard and risk?

  17. What do you find acceptable? • 30 fatalities to workers • Smoking kills 10,000 in London alone • 127 cycling fatalities • 37,000 killed or seriously injured on our roads • 800 pedestrians killed • Statistically your home is far more dangerous than your work

  18. Eliminate all risks

  19. Manage risks to an acceptable level • The tolerability of risk framework - unacceptable risks cannot be justified - tolerable risks with controls - broadly acceptable where further effort would be disproportionate

  20. Making the judgement • Risk v cost • Risk v risk • Risk v public/individual benefit and cost • Societal concern • Expert judgement v irrational prejudice • The system won’t work without trust • Benefits must be recognisable • Foreseeability changes

  21. Risk assessment • Sounds reasonable but does it imply an overblown bureaucracy, a PhD and consultants? • Short hand for think what could go wrong and take it into account • Personal responsibility

  22. Have we got the balance right? • Summary of occupational health and safety statistics • Perception of business • The risk debate

  23. Current levels of occupational ill health and injury 04/05 • 220 workers killed, 361 members of the public • 360,000 reportable injuries to workers • 2,000,000 suffering ill health from work • 576,000 new cases in the last year • 35 million days lost to work-related ill health • ? £billion cost to the economy

  24. Health and Safety requirements • 78% of CEOs and 59% of employers believe they benefit their company as a whole • 65% of CEOs and 52% of employers believe they save them money in the long term • 57% of CEOs and 51% of employers agree they defend them against unjustified compensation claims • 65% of employers and 69% of CEOs disagree they seriously hamper their business • 54% of both CEOs and employers disagree they are biased against small companies

  25. Helpfulness of HSE • 80% of CEOs and 53 % of employers agree that, as an organisation, HSE is helpful - for CEOs this was the highest score among five organisations listed • 86% of CEOs and 79% of employers believe that HSE staff are helpful BUT • 46% of both CEOs and employers agree that health and safety requirements are expensive to implement • 52% of CEOs and 46% of employers believe that health and safety requirements are overly bureaucratic

  26. Actions arising from the debate I • Revise some of our key risk assessment and risk management documents e.g. “5 Steps to risk assessment” • Review our guidance as thinking on what being sensible about risk means becomes more clear • Ensure our internal communications support our staff in giving balanced advice, rather than always erring on the side of caution • Research examples of apparently excessively risk averse decisions, and unpick the reasons why these decisions were taken • Research to see how embedded in society the notion of a excessively risk averse culture is and its drivers

  27. Actions arising from the debate II • Work with the Department for Education and Skills as they support the education sector in developing their own guidance and standards • Work with the Department for Constitutional Affairs as they develop a compensation bill • Draft a set of sensible risk management principles on which we will consult • Seek to agree a position statement in the Spring of 2006

  28. Conclusions • Our approach is set out in our strategy and supported by other key documentation • Risk, hazard and risk assessment not well understood • The good, the bad and the ugly and the perception of a compensation culture • Feedback from business generally supportive but more to do • Safe enough – not yet? • Sensible regulation or nanny state?

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