RoSPA Press Office : Press Release
October 25, 1999
DIRECTORS MUST TAKE SAFETY LEAD
Directors must lead by example to prove they take health and safety seriously, more than 70 business leaders will be told at a conference in London on Wednesday.
Roger Bibbings, Occupational Safety Adviser for The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said that more board-level directors had to be persuaded that health and safety was a strategic business issue.
The DASH - Director Action on Safety and Health - conference is being organised by RoSPA on behalf of a liaison group of influential bodies, including the Health and Safety Executive, the Engineering Employers’ Federation, the Health Education Authority, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Trades Union Congress, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and Aston and Loughborough Universities.
Roger Bibbings said: "Far too many directors still do not understand the business benefits of health and safety, let alone the responsibility they have to prevent deaths and injury in the workplace.
"The DASH conference will lay down a challenge to directors to lead by example and ensure that systems are in place to reduce the likelihood of accidents and ill health." A recent survey for Butterworths Tolley showed that almost a third of safety managers believed that health and safety was rarely or never a priority for their senior executives.
The conference is at the IBM South Bank Conference Centre on Wednesday, October 27, during National Health and Safety Week.
Joining the call for action will be: Miss Jenny Bacon, Director General of HSE; David Giachardi, Director of Policy and Association Affairs, EEF; Richard Swinson, Executive Director with OS&H responsibility in UK, RMC; Ken Mandle, Global Director, Operations, PowerGen; Jim McLoughlin, Human Resources and Administration Manager, ScottishPower; June Corden, Managing Director, Central (High Rise); and Jim Marshall, Regional Health and Safety Officer, GMB.
More than 270 people died in work accidents in 1997/98. There are about a million accidental injuries and about 2.1 million cases of ill health caused or made worse by work each year. October 25, 1999
DIRECTORS MUST TAKE SAFETY LEAD
Directors must lead by example to prove they take health and safety seriously, more than 70 business leaders will be told at a conference in London on Wednesday.
Roger Bibbings, Occupational Safety Adviser for The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said that more board-level directors had to be persuaded that health and safety was a strategic business issue.
The DASH - Director Action on Safety and Health - conference is being organised by RoSPA on behalf of a liaison group of influential bodies, including the Health and Safety Executive, the Engineering Employers’ Federation, the Health Education Authority, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Trades Union Congress, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and Aston and Loughborough Universities.
Roger Bibbings said: "Far too many directors still do not understand the business benefits of health and safety, let alone the responsibility they have to prevent deaths and injury in the workplace.
"The DASH conference will lay down a challenge to directors to lead by example and ensure that systems are in place to reduce the likelihood of accidents and ill health." A recent survey for Butterworths Tolley showed that almost a third of safety managers believed that health and safety was rarely or never a priority for their senior executives.
The conference is at the IBM South Bank Conference Centre on Wednesday, October 27, during National Health and Safety Week.
Joining the call for action will be: Miss Jenny Bacon, Director General of HSE; David Giachardi, Director of Policy and Association Affairs, EEF; Richard Swinson, Executive Director with OS&H responsibility in UK, RMC; Ken Mandle, Global Director, Operations, PowerGen; Jim McLoughlin, Human Resources and Administration Manager, ScottishPower; June Corden, Managing Director, Central (High Rise); and Jim Marshall, Regional Health and Safety Officer, GMB.
More than 270 people died in work accidents in 1997/98. There are about a million accidental injuries and about 2.1 million cases of ill health caused or made worse by work each year.
