Investigation of non-major hazards is one of the tools used to contribute to the overall compliance objective of a reduction in the incidence of ill health and injuries at work and so contributes to:
In addition the work within OSD relating to inshore diving contributes to the following HSC priority programmes:
Within HID this activity is limited to two areas of work:
The contribution of the Biological Agents Unit to this programme covers two areas of work. First there is the provision of scientific and technical support to other Directorates of HSE. An important example of this is the investigation of outbreaks of Legionnaires Disease where we provide specialist advice to FOD. The second area of work is the investigation of incidents involving activities with GMOs that are not classified within the Major Hazards Work Block.
The investigation of accidents and incidents in the onshore diving industry is undertaken in line with the OSD policy as detailed in the OSD Inspection Manual, i.e. All category 'A' incidents (e.g. majors) must be investigated, all category 'B' incidents (e.g. non major incidents where it is apparent that there is likely to have been a serious breach of H & S legislation) should be investigated and Category 'C' incidents which should be investigated on a selective basis.
The investigations undertaken by the Biological Agents Unit are conducted according to the FOD Investigation Procedure and reports are made using the FOD Investigation Report Form. To date all requests from other Directorates for technical support have been actioned and all incidents involving GMOs that have been notified or otherwise come to light have been investigated. This policy of investigating all GMO incidents has been made on the basis of the public concerns about work with GMOs. It is seen as important to be in a position to act pre-emptively to prevent unfounded "scare" stories emerging in the media. Some but not all of the incidents involving GMOs have related to activities that are subject to permissioning.
All complaints are required to be investigated.
Delivery is substantially via investigation backed up as required by research (internal and external agencies) but the nature of investigation is such that support required cannot be pre judged. Investigation activity is both guided by and influences operational policy, intelligence gathering and guidance provision (OSD and HID CD).
An estimate of 1.5% of OSD's total resource is directed at inshore diving investigation.
The Biological Agents Unit directs about 5% of resources to reactive technical support to other Directorates and about 7% of resources to investigation of non-major hazard GMO incidents. The latter figure is higher than in previous years due to an increase in the number of reported incidents. It is believed that this increase is due to the publicity that has been given to the reporting requirements of the Contained Use Regulations rather than there having been an actual increase in the number of incidents.
Nil - unless court awards costs in England/Wales - not quantifiable.
Why?
The inshore diving sector has a particularly high rate of fatalities.
All work with biological agents is an area of public concern.
Investigation of incidents is a key tool used by HSE in ensuring:
Over the three years up until 2003/04 there have been 5 fatalities per year across the range of work sectors covered by inshore diving, a significant proportion where there is an 'at work' element.
This programme addresses all risks associated with inshore diving and those risks associated with micro-organisms that are not covered in the Major Hazard Block.
Nil.
The historically high number of major accidents in the industry, combined with the assistance given to local authorities in this area means there is little scope to reduce this effort in OSD.
There is some scope for reducing the number of incidents involving GMOs that are investigated in detail. However, given the public concern about GMOs such a move would entail risks.
The risk of reducing this activity would be significant with a direct impact upon reputation, ability to influence and an increase in harm. If the number of GMO investigations were to be reduced there would be a risk that HSE would not be in a position to respond effectively when unfounded "scare" stories emerged in the media.
The assumption that this programme will meet the objectives is based upon a history of investigation bringing about recommendations, procedures and guidance etc. to prevent recurrence. Accidents and incidents will continue to happen and it is fairly safe to assume that the abandonment or pruning of this programme will have an adverse but unquantifiable effect upon the amount of harm caused by non major hazard accidents. However, indications are that the combination of investigation and inspection is having an impact in that there is a marked improvement in the fatality rate in the sector in 2003/04.
Other options have not been considered.
The main priority business risks as identified in the OSD Business Risk Management Model are:
Control measures for the above business risks are in the process of being developed.
Approximately 2 staff years are directed to Investigation of Non Major Hazards at and estimated cost of 102,820 (92,190 staff costs and 10,630 GAE).
Nil.
The main engagement in the inshore diving sector is through the Recreational Diving Committee.
The main interface of the Biological Agents Unit with its stakeholders is through the Advisory Committees covering GMOs and pathogens (ACGM and ACDP respectively).
Along with proactive inspection the performance indicator for this programme is a sustained reduction in the number of fatal and major inshore diving accidents and the number of reportable incidents involving biological agents. However, it should be noted that the number of reported incidents involving biological agents is increasing due to the requirement to report incidents becoming more widely known.
HID is responsible for delivering this contribution to HSE's Priority Health and Safety Hazards Programme Block.
Programme. There is no single programme manager within HID. Heads of Division are responsible for delivery of their contributions to the HID programme.
The programme detail is put together from HID's OG Core operating plan - resources are allocated to it at Unit level. The aggregation of this is shown above under resources and costs.