Regional consultation events
HSE held seven regional consultation workshops during January
- Location
- Date
- Liverpool
- Thursday 08 January 2009
- Newcastle
- Tuesday 13 January 2009
- Bristol
- Thursday 15 January 2009
- Birmingham
- Tuesday 20 January 2009
- Cardiff
- Thursday 22 January 2009
- London
- Tuesday 27 January 2009
- Glasgow
- Thursday 29 January 2009
Feedback on consultation workshops
The seven regional consultation workshops drew to a successful close on 29 January in Glasgow. Such was the interest that the events in Glasgow, Birmingham and London had morning and afternoon sessions to meet the demand. Just under 700 stakeholders attended the workshops.
The events were well received and stakeholders actively participated by providing HSE with considerable food for thought on the future development of the health and safety system in Great Britain. Stakeholders were also enthusiastic about incorporating the goals into their delivery plans, whether at national, sector or company level. A big thank you to all those who came along and for being so enthusiastic.
There was considerable support for the Strategy’s goals with few if any omissions identified. A number of suggestions were made about running order, overlap and emphasis. Other suggestions offered include:
- Too much emphasis on enforcement at the expense of the advisory function. And the opposite view that there is not enough emphasis on investigation and enforcement;
- A shift in approach to health and safety training, giving more emphasis to ‘coaching’ to enable managers and workers to determine what is sensible and reasonable. Also strong support for an effective system to address the appropriate competence of health and safety professionals;
- Risk awareness and a common sense approach to risk should be built into the education system and should be a life skill;
- We received a number of helpful suggestions on engaging others who have a role to play in delivering the goals - insurers, Primary Care Trusts, the education sector, the media. the legal profession, as well as useful feedback on how to work better with current partners;
- HSE’s working partnership with Local Authorities should continue striving for greater consistency;
- Many in the system could enhance their current partnership roles - safety representatives, Trade Associations, Professional Bodies;
- HSE should continue to support initiatives by other stakeholders, such as endorsing guidance documents;
- More resource is needed for the health and safety system and HSE in particular;
- Strong support for renewed effort on workforce involvement, but also an opportunity to remind employees of their duties;
- Recognition of the difficult business climate at present but agreement that the strategy is still applicable and good health and safety management will reap positive business benefits. Good health and safety is still good business.
Although recognising that this would be the next stage in the process, there was considerable interest in the development of delivery plans and in how these would be measured. A number of organisations could see strong alignment with their aims and ability to deliver the goals in partnership.
Once the consultation closes on 3 March the comments and ideas from the workshops will be considered alongside the written responses received. In the light of this analysis, the HSE Board will publish the final version of the Strategy in early summer.
