HSE Chair's reminder, those who create risks are best placed to manage them

E043:08 9 September 2008

Addressing delegates at the "Cutting edge health and safety" National Safety Symposium in Warrington on Monday 8 September, the Chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Judith Hackitt delivered a strong message, "We in HSE are not responsible for managing health and safety in your workplace - you are." The symposium hosted by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is now in its 33rd year and provides a forum for health and safety professionals in the public sector for updates on progress and best practice.

Giving her vision of health and safety in the 21st century, Ms Hackitt went back to the roots of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) and revisited the fundamental principle that 'those who create the risk are best placed to manage it'.

Since the introduction of HSWA, safety performance has improved by more than 70% but more than 200 people continue to die at work every year. HSE's provisional figures of work related fatal injuries in Great Britain last year revealed that 228 workers lost their lives as a result of a workplace accident. A further 28,000 workers suffered major injuries in the form of broken limbs, amputations and serious burns. Over 2 million people have illnesses that were either caused or made work by work.

Highlighting real health and safety issues affecting Britain's workforce, Ms Hackitt slammed critics who have repeatedly concentrated on 'elf and safety' stories, "there is a need to draw a clear distinction between real health and safety - stopping people getting killed and the nonsense and jobs-worths who shamelessly use 'elf and safety as an excuse."

Ms Hackitt said, "You should know that HSE does not care about banning conkers, pancake races or playground games such as British Bulldog. Health and safety does not stop anyone from doing their job - it actually enables them to do it more safely and efficiently. This ranges from finding better ways to help emergency services to perform risk assessments and anticipate problems before they find themselves in life or death situations so that they can quickly adopt the right measures, to enabling small firms to comply with legislative requirements in a simple and proportionate manner."

Commenting on the challenges ahead for health and safety professionals in the 21st Century, the HSE Chair emphasised her belief that Great Britain has a first class health and safety system but that there is no room for complacency. Only partnership working, Ms Hackitt said, can make the changes necessary to ensure that Great Britain remains one of the safest places in the world to work.

Ms Hackitt also revealed that the HSE board is due to launch a new strategy for workplace health and safety in Great Britain in early December. HSE will initiate a consultation process in December which will enable stakeholders to comment on the strategy. The strategy will optimise the performance of the overall health and safety system and clarify the roles of the regulated, the regulator, the workforce and others affected by health and safety in Great Britain.

Notes to editors

1. HSE Chair Judith Hackitt was speaking at the 33rd national safety symposium at Warrington on 8 September 2008.
2. HSE launched a set of key principles on sensible risk management in August 2006, to help people focus on real risks. This followed a series of stories about alleged 'health and safety' stopping people taking part in leisure activities etc. The campaign established 10 principles of sensible risk management - see website for details. Also, as part of the campaign, HSE launched the 'myth of the month' cartoon - see www.hse.gov.uk/myth
3. HSE's job is to protect people against risks to health or safety arising out of work activities. The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and Health and Safety Executive merged on 1 April 2008.
4. More information about HSE can be found at www.hse.gov.uk
5. HSE publishes a full range of workplace health and safety statistics, these can be viewed at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm

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