HSC urges bids for grants as WSA Challenge Fund opens for business

HSC press release: C013:04 - 31 March 2004

Business organisations across Great Britain are being urged to bid for government grants of up to £100,000 to get more workers in small firms involved and working with their employers on occupational health and safety.

Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), today announced the launch of a grant scheme, designed to help build partnerships and drive safety and health improvements. The scheme provides funding for Workers' Safety Advisers (WSAs) to help workers and employers identify and manage risks together; recommend control measures and provide an expert source of health and safety information.

"Increasing worker involvement has been shown to improve health and safety performance and is a key part of HSC's new strategy", Bill Callaghan said, "but six out of ten workplaces have no form of employee involvement. The WSA Challenge Fund is a great opportunity to deliver the strategy and get resources into the hands of people who need it most - employers and employees in small firms. My challenge is for innovative bids that show commitment to working together with partners and to using WSAs as a force for improvement."

Andrew Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, announced the creation of the Fund in October 2003. It makes available £3 million over the next three years for awards
to inspire social partners to collaborate on projects that encourage and promote employees and their employers to work together to drive improvements in managing health and safety. The scheme focuses on small firms and organisations that lack such arrangements.

Applicants for awards from the Fund - the maximum grant available during the first round (April 2004-March 2005) is £100,000 - must demonstrate a commitment to improve health and safety, support for the work of a WSA to promote worker involvement and the partnerships they need to enter into to achieve these aims.

Partnerships applying for funding could include workers, trade unions, employers, trade associations, local authorities, voluntary organisations, chambers of commerce, professional bodies and other organisations committed to working together.

An independent Management Board appointed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will assess applications. Professor Stephen Wood, Chair of the Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, will chair the Board. Award winners for the first year of the Fund will be announced on 9 June 2004, with funding commencing in July.

Information on the WSA Challenge Fund and details of how to apply for awards
can be found on HSE's website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/workers/index.htm
Completed and signed application forms should be sent to: Matthew Holder, Innovative Engagement Unit (BWED5), HSE, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS, to reach him by Friday 7 May 2004.

Notes to editors

1. HSC published its strategy for workplace health and safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond on 23 February 2004 (see www.hse.gov.uk/press/2004/c04007.htm). The strategy aims to promote a vision of health and safety as a cornerstone of a civilised society and to achieve a record of workplace health and safety that leads the world.

2. A WSA Pilot run in 2002 introduced new mechanisms for deploying safety representatives into small firms to act as WSAs. This sector is notoriously hard to reach and one that needs particular support in encouraging the partnerships and joint working fundamental for improving health and safety. The nine-month pilot deployed nine WSAs in England (North East, North West, South West and London), Scotland and Wales. HSE chose areas they believed would benefit most from external support including those within the voluntary, hospitality, engineering and construction sectors.

3. Eighty eight employers, predominantly from small firms, participated. Surveys before and after the Pilot showed that WSAs' involvement led to improvements in small non-unionised workplaces' approach to health and safety. Nearly 73% of employers said awareness of health and safety matters had increased and a third said communications had improved. Over 75% of employers said they had changed their approach to health and safety and nearly 70% of workers observed an increase in the amount of discussion on health and safety. The Pilot facilitated the creation of safety committees in some workplaces and joint working on risk assessments and training. For more details see: http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2003/c03045.htm

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