RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

May 16, 2001
STRICTLY BOARDROOM - CHAMPIONING A SAFER WORKPLACE

Britain’s boardrooms will be challenged to set themselves ambitious health and safety improvement targets at a national conference next week.

Establishing occupational safety and health as key business objectives is the theme of the first day of The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents Congress at the NEC Birmingham, May 21-24.

Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission, will outline progress in plans to revitalise safety thinking in the workplace. Included is a new code for directors, requiring boards to appoint a "champion" for health and safety.

Leading employers in both the public and private sectors are also being urged to publish details of health and safety performance including deaths, injuries and enforcement action in their annual reports - allowing shareholders to see how well they are coping with problems.

Lessons to be learned from the Ladbroke Grove and Southall rail crash enquiries will be pinpointed by top barrister Gerard Forlin as he looks at corporate health and safety failure.

He will also consider directors’ responsibilities, changing public expectations, penalties and the Government consultation on corporate manslaughter.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA Occupational Safety Adviser, said: "The Society’s DASH - Director Action on Safety and Health - campaign has helped to shape thinking on the whole area of boardroom responsibility. Health and safety are no longer issues which can be ignored or left to specialists. The lead has to come from the top with directors meeting the expectations of employees, shareholders and the public."

The second and third days of the conference will deal with new directions in occupational safety and health issues at work.

The final day will allow delegates to explore managing risk on the road - in the wake of the recently-published discussion document from the Government task force examining at-work road traffic accidents. RoSPA has estimated that between a quarter and a third of all road deaths may in some way be linked to people driving for work. Three leading figures involved in the task group - including chair, Richard Dykes - will be present.