REPORT HIGHLIGHTS HSE'S TRUSTED ROLE AS RISK REGULATOR

HSE press release E057:03 - 15 April 2003

A new reported published today concludes that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is trusted as a risk regulator by the general public, although they have little understanding of the Executive's core functions.

Research carried out by the University of East Anglia's Centre for Environmental Risk and the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL), assisted by the University of Cardiff's School of Social Sciences, has revealed that HSE has a high public trust profile arising from people's perception of it as an organisation independent of vested interests, working in the public interest and raising awareness of health and safety issues rather than denying or attempting to explain them away.

Although the report, Public Perception of Trust in HSE as a Risk Regulator reveals widespread public knowledge of HSE, it identifies limited public understanding of HSE's core functions; some knowledge of its operational activity (inspection and investigation) but very little of its policy, information and research functions.

The research determined not only how trusted HSE is by the public, but also what underlies that trust. Amongst the findings in the report are:

• Levels of trust in HSE appear to be high, relative to other government risk regulatory bodies and related stakeholder groups.
• HSE can be confident that a broad cross-section of members of the general public perceive its role and remit in regulating occupational health and safety as a legitimate and necessary function of the State;
• Members of the public place a high level of emphasis on the need for health and safety regulators to 'act in the public interest', as well as being effective in this respect and accountable for their actions;
• There is a strong existing perception that HSE serves 'the public interest' in the sense of meeting an altruistic role of care for people and workers, and this was seen by the researchers as the core component of HSE's current (positive) trust profile, and hence a significant current asset to the organization.

Dr Laurence Golob of HSE's Risk Policy Unit said "This research is significant as it is a matter of great importance that we are a trusted organization, not only for ourselves, but also for those whom we regulate. Public trust in HSE strengthens public confidence in the regulatory system, which HSE helps the Health and Safety Commission to formulate and administer. Without such confidence, there may even be some areas of work, those which engender societal concerns, which would find it difficult to proceed and might even be prevented from proceeding by adverse public and political opinion."

The research has established an insight into the trust profile of HSE by engaging directly with a representative sample of the general public. A combined approach was used, firstly undertaking a series of interviews with focus groups and then using qualitative findings from this initial phase to conduct a wider, quantitative survey to benchmark a range of salient aspects of HSE's trust profile.

The report is exceptional in establishing an insight into an individual organization's trust profile. Previous assessments of trust have tended to show a relatively low level of public trust in 'government'.

The findings of this report will be included in the ongoing review and development of HSE's approach to managing its reputation, behaviour and relationships with its stakeholders including the general public.

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are responsible for the regulation of almost all the risks to health and safety arising from work activity in Britain.

2. HSE look after health and safety at nuclear installations and mines, factories, farms, hospitals and schools, offshore gas and oil installations, the safety of the gas grid and the movement of dangerous goods and substances, railway safety, and many other aspects of the protection both of workers and the public. Local authorities are responsible to HSC for enforcement in offices, shops and other parts of the services sector.

4. The Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) is Britain's leading industrial health and safety facility, offering a unique portfolio of skills and expertise. Operating as an Agency of HSE, HSL plays a pivotal role in supporting HSE's mission to ensure that risks to people's health and safety from work activities are properly controlled. This involves HSL in two main areas of activity: operational support through incident investigations and studies of workplace situations; and longer-term work on analysis and resolution of occupational health and safety problems.

5. Researchers for the project were Professor Nick Pidgeon and Dr John Walls , of the University of East Anglia's Centre for Environmental Risk, Andrew Weyman from HSL and Tom Horlick-Jones from the University of Cardiff's School of Social Sciences.

Public Perception of Trust in HSE as a Risk Regulator is available now online at www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm. Hard copies of the report are available shortly.

Public Perception of Trust in HSE as a Risk Regulator RR 100 ISBN 0 7176 2185 5, price £20, will be available from HSE Books

HSE's Research Reports are available on the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm.

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