HEALTH AND SAFETY FOR DIRECTORS

Organisations face many statutory obligations. Directors of organisations can be held personally responsible for failures in health and safety. Boards of Drectors can be held corporately responsible for failures in health and safety. JRL Solutions Ltd provides a half day course to enable directors of organisations to be equipped to meet their obligations under legislation. Better health and safety is an essential part of any successful organisation leading to enhanced business profitability and opportunity. 

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 introduces a new offence, across the UK, for prosecuting companies and other organisations where there has been a gross failing, throughout the organisation, in the management of health and safety with fatal consequences. The failures of a number of directors can now be added together.

The Act is concerned with breach of duty falling far below what can be reasonably expected of the organisation in the circumstances. Juries will take into account attitudes, policies, systems or accepted practices, safety culture and relevant health and safety guidance.

Issues for directors include:-

• Training of employees particularly those in safety critical roles
• Procedures not followed by employees and junior management (maybe supervision)
• Management at operational level
• False belief that risks can be contracted out to another organisation
• Contractor management
• Communication with employees and others
• Deficiencies in management, audit, review and KPI adherence
• Attention to near misses
• Middle managers telling those at higher levels what they want to hear
• Senior management making decisions based on incorrect/incomplete information and
  particularly budget spending decisions that affect health and safety

The syllabus of the course includes:-

• Strategic health and safety management and its interaction with other business systems
• Statutory duties of directors
• Causes of accidents and incidents and prevention through hazard identification, risk assessment and control strategies
• Consequences of failing to manage health and safety effectively
• Employee selection and the effect of human factors on health and safety
• Consultation and communication
• Performance monitoring for continual improvement