Roger Bibbings, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), warns of the dangers of downgrading health and safety issues in the current economic climate.

Given the current financial climate, all business functions are being challenged to improve their effectiveness.

The management of health and safety at work is, of course, not immune to this efficiency drive. In fact, more than a quarter of business leaders who responded to a recent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) survey reported that their organisation would face pressure to cut spending on health and safety during the coming year.

In a worst-case scenario, there is a danger that the prevention of occupational accidents and ill health could be seen at both a Government and an enterprise level as a problem largely solved - a “nice-to-have” rather than a really essential social and economic ingredient. There could be a temptation to cut corners, reduce standards or delay introducing essential protective measures.

Combating such thinking has got to be at the top of the agenda, not only of the HSE and other regulators, but of all boards of directors, health and safety professionals and facilities managers who are responsible for the wellbeing of their colleagues.

The current situation

The latest figures released by the HSE brought the welcome news that the number of people killed at work in Britain had fallen to a record low. Figures on work-related health damage are less clear.

At the time of writing this article, provisional data showed that 180 workers were killed between April 2008 and March 2009. This was down from 233 in 2007/08 and was 17 per cent under the previous lowest total of 217, which was recorded in 2005/6.

The challenge now is to make sure that these numbers stay down. This would have been a challenge in buoyant economic times, but it is even more so given the current pressure to tighten financial belts. There is a clear need to maintain pressure for action on serious issues like occupational road risk, managing asbestos or occupational cancer, particularly in organisations that may still be waking up to these dangers. And there is a need to counter any suggestion that an increase in the number of health and safety casualties must be accepted as part of the price to be paid by workers and members of the public for weathering the recession.

Among the things that could stand in the way of keeping casualties down are: government restrictions on funding for the HSE; companies cutting back on essential health and safety training; the shelving of health and safety improvement programmes; employees not speaking up about health and safety issues because they fear for their jobs; cuts in subscriptions to information services; less use of consultants and essential specialists; and even redundancies for health and safety advisers.

I have been urging all those with an interest in preventing needless suffering at work to redouble their efforts to drive down cases of work-related death, injury and ill health, which together still account for thousands of lives affected or ruined each year.

Making the case for health and safety

Ensuring the effective management of health and safety is just one of the responsibilities with which many facilities managers are tasked. If you are holding such a role you may well find yourself having to look carefully at your budget to see where cut backs could be made, all the while remaining mindful that a cut too far could have dire consequences for the wellbeing of your colleagues or for your employer’s ability to meet its legal obligations.

In your day-to-day job, you probably have a range of issues with which to keep abreast – from workplace transport, emergency planning, fire safety, workforce involvement and managing occupational road risk to dealing with absenteeism and keeping up to date with regulations and guidance. Currently, you may be trying to decide where efficiency savings can be made with the least potential for disaster. This is never easy but undertaken carefully, it can actually help your organisation to focus on its priorities and get a better return on its investment in health and safety.

It is more important than ever therefore for those on the front line of accident and ill health prevention – health and safety professionals, facilities managers, workforce safety representatives – in addition to business leaders, to be clear about the ethical and legal arguments for managing work-related risks.

A very important point to be made in present circumstances is that the business case for effective health and safety management is even stronger in a recession than at other times. This is because as sales and turnover reduce, cutting losses that result from easily-avoidable accidents and work-related ill health becomes an ever more important option for defending the bottom line. Very few businesses however are routinely costing their accidents and incidents, which is surprising given that HSE research shows that for every £1 recovered through insurance they are likely to be losing at least £8 - or possibly as much as £36 - in uninsured costs.

The current recession has also come at a time when penalties for non-compliance are being increased substantially. For example, the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008, which came into force in January 2009, raised the maximum fine which may be imposed in the lower courts for most health and safety offences to £20,000 and made imprisonment an option for more health and safety offences in both the lower and higher courts.

The Act came less than a year after the implementation of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which made it clear that the full weight of criminal law would be brought to bear on organisations following deaths caused by corporate negligence. An organisation found guilty of this offence may find itself facing an unlimited fine - possibly up to 10 per cent of annual turnover averaged over the previous three years - and there could also be severe damage to corporate reputation.

In addition to the enhanced business case for health and safety and tougher penalties for non compliance, the current recession has come at a time when third parties such as clients are demanding increasingly higher standards. In an environment that is becoming more and more competitive, the ability to demonstrate effective health and safety management will be all the more important in winning future business.

Despite all these justifications for investing in safety and health management, not to mention the obvious ethical reasons for protecting workers, the health and safety community cannot necessarily expect special treatment. Expecting all health and safety expenditure to be automatically ring fenced may not be that realistic.

Renewed impetus

Those involved in health and safety management are undoubtedly finding themselves having to make tough judgement calls about where to best direct their resources just at a time when the Government is asking them to give renewed impetus to health and safety in response to a new national strategy for reducing accidents and ill health in Britain’s workplaces recently launched by HSE.

The new strategy - called “Be Part of the Solution” – unveiled in June 2009, has a commitment to taking a “hands-off” approach to well-managed businesses with lower risk profiles, and the continued promotion of the senior management role in leading health and safety and involving the workforce.

The focus on senior management is a recurring theme. There has been a tendency in some quarters to view the management of health and safety as a “red tape” burden that hinders business efficiency and effectiveness. This view seems to endure in too many quarters despite the efforts that have been made right across the health and safety community in recent years to prove that preventing accidents and ill health is actually a key strategic aspect of business performance. Those who think health and safety is too expensive should try having an accident or visit the family of someone dying from an occupational disease!

So it is an interesting time for those at the top of the management tree – the spotlight is focussed sharply on their health and safety responsibilities just when there is ongoing pressure to cut budgets. But rather than seeing this as just another nightmare scenario, it is actually a wonderful opportunity for all senior managers to rise to the challenge of safeguarding their employees by ensuring that they are using their limited resources in the most cost effective ways, cutting avoidable misery and waste by focusing on priorities, not trivia - and taking action that really does save lives and reduce injuries.

If you are responsible for leading on health and safety on a day-to-day basis, an important part of your role will be to act as a clear champion, remaining visibly committed to the cause in dealings with your colleagues, helping them understand their responsibilities and the part they must play in delivering even better health and safety performance.

Seeking help

In my role at RoSPA, I deal with regulators and those trying to influence the overall direction of national health and safety policy, as well as with the committed individuals who are striving to prevent accidents and ill health in their own workplaces on a daily basis. I can see that these different groups of people are all trying to balance the challenges presented by recession with the renewed focus on health and safety management.

And it will be an ongoing challenge.

But, let me end with a word of encouragement. You do not have to be a lone ranger when it comes to managing your firm’s health and safety programme. There are many organisations that can offer assistance, helping you understand your general responsibilities, providing a tailored response to the specific challenges you face, putting you in touch with your peers locally so you can share good practice, or enabling you to have a greater influence on the development of national policy by connecting you with like-minded organisations.

At RoSPA, we encourage organisations to look for ways to work together. Unless the whole health and safety community - regulators, employers and the third sector - responds to challenges together, with clearer thinking and a new sense of resolution, individuals who are alive and well today are likely to suffer in the future.