RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

September 27 , 2006
GOING PUBLIC ON PERFORMANCE: TELLING IT HOW IT IS

An online tool to help organisations showcase their commitment to health and safety has undergone a major overhaul.

RoSPA’s Going Public on Performance website (www.gopop.org.uk) was relaunched at the RoSPA Scotland Safety and Health at Work Congress, which opened in Glasgow today.

GoPOP, which was originally developed in 2003, enables both private and public organisations to demonstrate their improving occupational safety and health (OS&H) performance.

RoSPA believes that the open and transparent reporting of performance and targets will promote the sharing of good practice, leading to higher standards of health and safety across employment sectors. Indeed, the Society has adopted the approach for its own corporate reporting (see www.rospa.com/review2006/) to drive the development of its internal health and safety system.

GoPOP is intended to support the Health and Safety Commission’s (HSC) challenge to organisations to report on OS&H performance in their annual reports. Using the internet as a means of communicating this information has the benefit of making it easily accessible to a worldwide audience.

The new-look website includes links to 60 organisations, including the winners of prestigious RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards, which publish high-quality information on OS&H on their websites, and easy-to-use guidance on how to report performance.

Reporting the involvement of directors in health and safety is particularly encouraged, and important at a time when the HSC is developing new guidance for directors on OS&H.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA Occupational Safety Adviser, said: “We hope the new GoPOP website will capture the imagination of those involved in health and safety, providing them with a powerful tool to use in their continuing efforts to reduce the number of work-related injuries and deaths each year.

“The site could help employers gain a competitive advantage because they will be able to show their suppliers and clients how well they are managing OS&H. They will also be able to show their insurer and potential investors that they approach OS&H in an open and measured way.

“RoSPA encourages organisations to report openly their progress in the sphere of occupational safety and health. Doing so not only encourages the reporting organisation to keep improving its standards, but also sets a benchmark against which other organisations can measure their performance.”