How can directors and senior managers stay on the right side of the law?

1. Post-recession leadership in
health and safety
How can directors and senior managers
stay on the right side of the law?
Sally Roff , Partner at DAC Beachcroft

2. 1.Emerging risks
2.Consequences
3.Opportunity for action

3. Changing economy and impact on safety

4. EMERGING RISK 4
RECESSION

5.  Redundancy programmes
 Re-organisation
 Cautious recruitment
 Eagerness of workers to
compensate for lost hours
 Reduced investment in equipment
 Increased maintenance backlogs
 Use of plant beyond normal life
expectancy

6. Why should directors take action now?
Commercial benefits and competitive advantage of an
effective safety culture.
Potentially catastrophic consequences for
organisations with a poor safety culture.
Following an accident, the spotlight is increasingly on
the attitude and behaviour of directors towards safety.

7. Commercial benefits
“To those who tell us we can’t afford health
and safety, as professionals we need to let
them know they simply can’t afford to be
without it”.
IOSH President 2012, Subash Ludhra

8. Commercial benefits
1. Lower absenteeism
2. Lower wage costs
3. Reduced maintenance costs
4. Increased morale
5. Lower staff turnover
6. Reduced risk of fines and insurance claims/premiums
7. Increased productivity, quality and profitability
8. Happier customers

9. Potential consequences of poor safety culture
Increases in:
1.CM investigations
2.Prosecutions of individuals under s.37–
imprisonment
3.Fines following Sellafield and Network Rail – even where no
fatality
4.Costs on bottom line
5.All in the context of… less advisory support from HSE and
significant costs of investigation via FFI

10. Corporate Manslaughter – jury questions
1.Is there evidence to show that there were attitudes,
policies, systems or accepted practices within the
organisation that were likely to have encouraged a failure
or to have produced tolerance of safety failings;
2.Has the organisation complied with any health and
safety guidance that relates to the alleged breach?

12. Potential consequences of poor safety culture
For organisations:
Human – death/injury, low morale
Financial – £500k starting point for CM fine,
management time, loss of customer confidence
Reputational – publicity order, press attention
For individual directors:
Liberty - Imprisonment
Financial – Fine/management time
Reputational - Risk of disqualification
Stress

13. "In the middle of difficulty lies
opportunity."
Albert Einstein

15. How do your decisions and behaviours
influence safety culture?
Are employees/contractors
genuinely encouraged to
look for risks and speak up,
or merely to get on with the
job?

16. How do your decisions and behaviours
influence safety culture?
Do directors unwittingly set
priorities and targets which, by
implication, take precedence
over the management of
hazards and risks?

17. How do your decisions and behaviours
influence safety culture?
When directors visit sites and work
locations to look at safety, are they alert
to the really serious dangers or do you
concentrate on superficial compliance
(e.g. housekeeping and PPE)?

18. How do your decisions and behaviours
influence safety culture?
What do directors do, in the way
that performance is rewarded, to
promote a culture of health and
safety? Is performance merely
paid lip service or genuinely
rewarded and valued?

19. How do your decisions and behaviours
influence safety culture?
How do directors exercise their
governance of health and safety
and do they have the appropriate
skills to manage this? What
forums and processes are in
place?

20. AND IF AN ACCIDENT
HAPPENS…

21. Be ready for the inspector's call

22. Make sure your organisation has
effective Directors’ and Officers’
insurance cover

23. “The Golden Hour”…..

24. BECOME PART OF THE SOLUTION
DAC Beachcroft/Lloydmasters
Thought Leadership Project
2014
How can directors and senior
managers achieve and
maintain an effective safety,
health and environment
culture through times of
change?

25. Sally Roff, Partner, DAC Beachcroft
E-mail: sroff@dacbeachcroft.com
Tel: 07921 890829

26. SHP Health Expo 2014