Health & Safety for Directors

Course Outline

Importance of Health & Safety

• Moral, legal, financial and reputational arguments for Health & Safety Management
• Why Health & Safety leadership is important
• The importance of strong leadership, worker involvement and assessment/review
• Directors’ responsibilities – appointment of a Health & Safety director and the role of non-executive directors
• Legal liabilities of individual board members for Health & Safety failures (with reference to the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, common law and the Directors Disqualification Act 1986)
• The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007

Planning Health & Safety

• Integrating Health & Safety into the business agenda
• Identifying significant risks to the organisation
• Establishing and maintaining a Health & Safety policy
• The importance of integrating the policy into the organisation’s culture, values and standards
• Corporate governance
• Communicating, promoting and championing Health & Safety throughout the organisation

Delivering Health & Safety

• Effective Health & Safety management systems and practices (ensuring sensible, responsible and proportionate risk management)
• Ensuring risk assessments are carried out
• Addressing the Health & Safety implications of changes to processes, working practices and staffing
• Visible leadership
• Developing procurement standards to minimise the risks introduced by suppliers of goods and services
• Training for all employees, including board members
• Employee involvement in decisions that affect their Health & Safety
• The role and function of Health & Safety committees

Monitoring Health & Safety

• The role and importance of specific and routine reports on performance
• Proactive and reactive performance measurement
• Auditing the effectiveness of Health & Safety management and risk controls
• Reporting the impact of change and major failures
• Procedures for monitoring changes in the external environment (such as changes to legislation) and implementing change as appropriate
• Setting targets for improvement

Reviewing Health & Safety

• The role and purpose of top-level reviews of Health & Safety
• Determining whether policy is in line with organisational priorities and plans
• Determining whether the Health & Safety management system is reporting effectively
• Identifying shortcomings and impact of board decisions
• Deciding actions to address any weaknesses
• Annual reporting
• Continuous improvement