THE END OF ‘HEALTH AND SAFETY GONE MAD’
Health and safety is now a massive part of our lives and bigger than it has even been before. COVID-19 has helped people understand the value of PPE, workplace hygiene and the importance of having a health and safety strategy to effectively deal with risks.
There is of course always more work to be done in making people see health and safety as a serious matter. The health and safety community needs to continue to speak out about its achievements and explaining what makes health and safety at work so important.
This article will tell you about what is new in the health & safety world, what have well-known organisations been doing during the pandemic and what is next for the health and safety profession. The article also highlights the importance of mental health and how this has become even more important than ever due to the impact of COVID-19 on people. Some of the information in this article has been taken from the ‘Safety & Health practitioner eBook’.
Here at BSA we have never experienced anything like the COVID-19 pandemic. We have had to adjust our way of working quickly and efficiently. Throughout this pandemic and as it continues, we have and will continue to work with many of our clients giving them the knowledge, guidance and assistance they need to re-open and run their businesses but in a safe and secure way.
What Is New In The Health & Safety World?
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the health & safety community was carried out efficiently, leading the fight to keep frontline workers safe as the pandemic continued and making workplaces safe to return to as premises began to reopen.
The profession has also strived to really focus on people’s wellbeing at work and at home. As the lockdown began, the health & safety community wanted to at first find out what health and safety challenges organisations faced during the pandemic and then what they could do to help.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic different styles of working has given businesses and people the time to focus on health and safety as well as the wellbeing of themselves and their workforce. For that reason, the pandemic has represented an enormous opportunity for organisations to improve their entire health, safety, and wellbeing culture.
Health and safety is normally only mentioned in the media when it’s often painted in its negative term of “gone mad”, but the pandemic has driven people to take health and safety seriously and made people reassess the importance of it.
What Have H&S Organisation’s Been Up To?
HSE: As the national regulator for health and safety, the Health and Safety Executive has been at the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Its work promoting health and safety compliance and best practice has taken on a new importance over the last year. The HSE continues to play a critical role in the national response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The work of the HSE uses science and evidence to inform their approach on updating their guidance and providing advice that is pragmatic and proportionate in dealing with the risks posed by coronavirus.
The HSE gives businesses these simple steps to follow to keep their workplace COVID-secure:
• Carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment
• Develop increased cleaning, hand washing and hygiene procedures
• Maintain two-metre social distancing where possible
• Where people cannot be two metres apart, manage transmission risk
British Safety Council: The British Safety Council is dedicated to preventing serious injury and illness in the workplace, offering training and consultancy, and leading campaigns. Its work has taken on a greater importance during COVID-19, both during lockdown and the return to work.
Mind: Mental health has taken on a new dimension during the pandemic. Many people have struggled during lockdown, while the exposure to the virus that many key workers have experience has taken a mental toll. Mind has had to adapt and has now gone digital and are running telephone-based services. They have responded to a huge demand for information about how to cope with people’s mental health during coronavirus, with well over a million downloads of information from their website.
RoSPA: RoSPA has been working to prevent serious accidental injury across the UK, researching accident prevention, providing training, consultancy, qualifications, events and products for businesses and professionals, and campaigning for better regulation and more awareness.
NEBOSH: NEBOSH provides health, safety, and environmental qualifications to practitioners around the world. It seeks to improve health, safety, and wellbeing by promoting training and best practice, offering internationally recognised qualifications to established leaders and aspiring professionals alike.
What Is Next For Health and Safety?
The health and safety industry has had to adapt massively this year. Joining and hosting digital events, online learning and training courses. Webinars and podcasts will be the safest way of learning and development for health and safety and many other sectors for some time yet. While many of us remain working from home and many regions remain under lockdown or placed into tiers with different rules the health & safety profession like others will continue to navigate an uneven and fast-changing environment.
Over the next year, the profession will evolve to meet new challenges, to cope with the continued impact of COVID-19 and to find more ways of keeping people informed, educated, connected and most importantly safe.
Help
Useful Links:
HSE: https://www.hse.gov.uk/
British Safety Council: https://www.britsafe.org/
Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk/
RoSPA: https://www.rospa.com/
NEBOSH: https://www.nebosh.org.uk/home/
Although we are coming towards Christmas and the New Year BSA are still here to help you! Email us on bsims@bsims.co.uk or call on 01483 467270 where we will be more than happy to assist.
Thank you for taking the time to read our latest newsletter. We hope that it’s been insightful and given you a good overview of the Health & Safety world in 2020.
It’s been a tough year for everyone, so here’s to a bright and prosperous New Year!