HID Delivery Plan 2004-2008

HID Programme : Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder Engagement

Interventions with stakeholders contributes indirectly to achieving:

HSE's Strategic Programme on Major Hazards; also
2 points from HSC's 4 Point Strategy:
- 1 - Working in Partnership;
- 4 - Communicating the Vision.

Planned and reactive intervention with stakeholders by correspondence, meetings, seminars, conferences, joint projects.
Collaboration in research, performance monitoring, training, exchange of information and data, production and publicity of publications.

Policy to seek stakeholder agreement where there is a real prospect of advancing health and safety standards.
Development of partnerships where the respective roles and output measurement is understood.
Creating a comprehensive record of key stakeholders, their interests and performance.
Manage stakeholder intervention within intervention guidelines of proportionality, consistency etc.

HSE/HID reputation is weak in terms of such issues as being a listening organisation, for flexibility and speed of delivery.
A perception that HSE does not fully engage stakeholders.
The plateau of health and safety performance suggests that a more innovative approach needs to be added to conventional interventions.
The introduction of charging has created a barrier to dialogue and exchange of opinions at site level (some say) and this can be redressed with stakeholders in for a remote from the inspection threat.
Enables HID to properly take account of stakeholder interests and opinions in developing intervention and enforcement policies - so increasing the "buy in" to HID's aims.
Provides a means of gearing HID advice and information to reach dutyholders that might not be encountered through inspection.

This activity addresses all major hazard risks.

Stakeholder interventions conducted in 2003 seem to be delivering effective actions and performance and need to be extended in future.
A review of stakeholder performance in 2002 indicated strengths and weaknesses that can be acknowledged in the programme.
At this stage there is an assumption that the time devoted to this programme is an efficient use of HSE resource - but there is little evidence to support this. It may be necessary to conduct operational research after 2004 to determine the long-term value of the programme.

The main risk is in selecting the most appropriate resource input to the programme. Too little and the work will be ineffective, too much and it diverts resources from other priority activities.
The programme requires the introduction of good control of interventions with stakeholders - at present this is ad hoc and unstructured.
The IT system, COIN, needs to be able to handle "stakeholder" records.

Stakeholder reviews, as part of the "Change" programme, were quite emphatic about the impression that HSE creates. It forms the basis on which to build a more modern, cooperative and productive partnership system.
The performance indicators for the major hazard programme should be affected by this activity but the isolation of this influence seems unattainable.
The current lack of stakeholder information and records (in the Chemical Industries Division) means that there is a low starting base for having information about stakeholders and the resource and effectiveness of the intervention.

Identify all key stakeholders in 2004/05 and ensure that a system is in place to record interventions.
Review the current intervention activity and consider whether this can be improved upon for the future. If so put enhanced arrangements in place.

Whilst numerical evaluation (bean counting) has little to contribute to this programme it is essential that the interventions with stakeholders are reviewed and evaluated on a subjective basis.
In particular, each intervention initiative needs to be planned with a clear and agreed objective and monitored to determine success or otherwise.
As this is a new approach to planning stakeholder intervention there ought to be operational research undertaken within the next 3 years to critically and externally evaluate to effectiveness of the intervention strategy.