JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023

THE KNOWLEDGE / THE PRACTICE / THE BUSINESS / THE EVIDENCE

Why a common sense

approach to health and safety
could spell trouble

THE KNOWLEDGE THE PRACTICE THE BUSINESS THE EVIDENCE

What are members’ Our crucial duty of care Standing up for OSH Deep dive into the
expectations for 2023? towards casual workers in the boardroom bullying of immigrants

1 Cover_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 1 13/12/2022 09:46

 The IOSH Online Experts
Proud to be an 'Outstanding' Training Provider

Time for a
Refresher

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 W ELC OM E
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF
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for safety and health in the workplace. appy new year! How excited global public’s consciousness. We must

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IOSH MAGAZINE 3

3 Welcome_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 3 13/12/2022 17:54

 Contents
CONTENTS J A N UA RY/F EBRUA RY 2023

SAF E T Y, HE ALT H AN D W E L L BE I N G I N T HE WO R LD O F WO R K

T HE K NOW L E D G E
6 THINGS YOU
NEED TO KNOW
The latest stats and
facts, news and views

10 BEHIND THE
HEADLINES
A call for diversity and a
two-tier workforce warning

12 INTERVIEW
Coroner Kevin McLoughlin
on work-related fatalities

14 LEGAL
The latest law updates

16

21
PROSECUTIONS
Recent judgments

THE WIDER VIEW

Online highlights, including
56
THE ART OF
PERSUASION
webinars and videos

22 THE FUTURE OF OSH

Members’
Mem
Me m predictions How to infl uence
business leaders to
for
fo the year ahead
or th

26 BLUEPRINT
BLU
D
L
Discover
Disco
sc o IOSH’s new invest in OSH
and
nd eenhanced CPD tool
an

4 JANUARY/FEBRUARY
JAN
A NUAR
UARR Y/F
Y/FEBR
EBRUAR
EBR 0 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
UARR Y 22023

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 51
THE E VIDENCE
68 ROUNDUP
From the papers
An overview of recent
research and reports

71 DEEP DIVE
Research: in depth
A closer look at two
THE PRACTICE new papers and
their findings

28
34 NON-STANDARD WORK
Keep it casual
How to ensure safety standards THE LAST WORD
are maintained for all workers

38 WORKPLACE FATALITIES
TH E BI G STO RY 74 PROOF POSITIVE
Cream of the crop
Singapore: back to safety (Un)common sense Celebrating the
What’s behind a recent rise in Why common sense is sector’s progress
falls from height in the country? a flawed concept in and achievements
health and safetyy
43 SKILLS
How to be a problem- solver
A look at the know-how needed
to prevent and overcome issues

46 CASE STUDY
The search for safety hacks
How a hackathon at the Port of
Tyne helped health and safety

51 SAFETY THEORY
On the ropes
Part two of Paul Verrico and THE B USIN E SS
Sarah Valentine’s look at risks
60 ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
A smart way forward?
What you need to know

38
about AI in the workplace

65 STRATEGY
COVER ILLUST RAT ION: OS CAR WILSON

The brilliance
of resilience
The importance of
organisations being able
to withstand shocks
68
IOSH MAGAZINE 5

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 KNOWLEDGE
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS ISSUE

‘International action
is needed on all fronts,
both mandatory
and voluntary,
and the report
recommendations
include improved
legal frameworks
and enforcement and
strengthened social
and legal protections.’
RICHARD JONES, FORMER IOSH HEAD OF POLICY
AND REGULATORY ENGAGEMENT

6 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

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 2. IN N UMB ER S
UK work
injuries up
GB Health and Safety Executive
report reveals rise in work-
related injury and ill health.

1.8M
working people suŬered from
a work-related illness in 2021-22

123
workers were killed in work-
related accidents in 2021-22

1. M ODERN SL AVERY

GLOBAL FIGURE
TOPS 50 MILLION
The world’s first national standard on modern
slavery has been published – and it is the
£18.8BN
... the estimated cost of injuries
first to be free to download. Designed to help and ill health from current
working conditions (2019-20)
organisations understand modern slavery risks
so they can manage them effectively, BS 25700
aims to eradicate such practices throughout the
world. The publication also comes on the back of
a new joint report from the International Labour
Organization, Walk Free and the International
Organization for Migration, which estimated
that there were 50 million people in situations of
modern slavery in 2021, either in forced labour or
in a forced marriage.
565,000
PHOTOG RAPHY: ALAMY

working people sustained an

injury at work, according to the
Find out more about the standard at Labour Force Survey
bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/bs-25700
S o urce: H S E, 20 2 2

IOSH MAGAZINE 7

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THE KNOW LED G E T H IN G S YOU N EED TO K N OW T H IS ISSUE
3. N E U RO D I VERGENT W ORK ERS
More adjustments
research needed
More methodically sound research to inform
evidence-based guidelines on physical
workplace adjustments is required to support
neurodivergent workers, a joint UK-Swiss
study has highlighted.
The research found that employers
predominantly reduced acoustic and visual
stimulation to help relieve neurodiverse
workers’ sensory stress.
Very few studies, however, touched on tactile
and olfactory adjustments.
Find out more at ioshmagazine.com/
neurodivergent-research
• Autism-spectrum disorder
• Attention-deficit disorder
• Dyslexia
• Dyspraxia
Conditions that fall under the
umbrella of neurodiversity
4. I O S H N E WS
Time to access the
Blueprint tool
WHAT? IOSH members now
have full access to the new and
enhanced Blueprint tool.
WHY? The tool has been
redeveloped to allow members
to self-assess against the IOSH
competency framework to identify
where they are in their career and
plan steps to realise ambitions.
HOW? When members access the
tool, they will first be required to undergo a self-
evaluation. From there, they can create a professional
development plan and access a wealth of CPD
resources which can help them on their career path.
For more information, see page 26.
8 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
6-9 The knowledge_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 8
5. T RAIN IN G
Top tips to improve
quality of courses
With more than a decade of training experience,
Scott Crichton CMIOSH, a principal health
and safety consultant at WorkNest, explains
the positive steps that OSH professionals can
take to improve the effectiveness of training
and increase employee engagement when
delivering courses.
ioshmagazine.com/worknest-training
6. MEN TAL HEALT H
‘PUT ISSUE ON PAR
WITH FIRE SAFETY’
New research has found one in four employees in the
UK has experienced suicidal thoughts while at work.
The findings also reveal more than a fifth (21%) do not
feel comfortable talking to their employer about possible
struggles with mental health.
The research by suicide prevention charity R;pple
revealed that a person is 62 times more likely to die from
suicide (one in 88) than in a fire (one in 5447).
The organisation is calling on legislators and workplaces to make
suicide prevention mandatory and entrenched in existing health and safety policies.
Find out more at ioshmagazine.com/mandatory-training
7. MANAGEMENT
Return-to-work study suggestions
A UK study of line managers identified strategies researchers
exploring support for employees argue could support a sustained
returning after long-term absence return to work: managing workload,
PHOTOG RAPHY: ISTOCK / SH UTT ERSTOCK
due to common mental disorders flexible working time arrangements,
highlights five behavioural strategies location of work, mental health
that could enhance HR and senior check-ups and long-term support.
management policies and practices.
Research by the University Read more at ioshmagazine.com/
of Sheffield and Affinity Health she eld-a nity
13/12/2022 09:37
 8. D I D YOU K NOW? 9. IOSH N EWS 1 0. DRUGS AN D A LC O HO L
Energy price West Africa Majority
crisis: food and Conference
drink sector WHAT? IOSH is to hold its 2023
of workers
Recent figures from the O ce for National
Statistics reveals the impact of rising costs
West Africa Conference at the Cedi
Conference Centre, University of ‘accept
on UK food and drink service businesses. Ghana in Accra.
WHEN? From 7 to 8 February.
WHY? It is the first in-person West
testing’
Africa Conference IOSH will have held Most workers would comply with a

1 IN 20
food and drink service firms said they
planned to stop trading for two or more
additional days a week in November 2022
to reduce energy costs
since early 2020. It is being held as
part of IOSH’s ongoing commitment
to support members in West Africa
and to drive improvements in
OSH standards in the region. The
corporate alcohol and drug testing
policy, according to the findings of
a survey that informs Dräger UK’s
2022 Safety at work report.
The findings reveal that 83% of
conference will be themed around the
workers sampled would comply
International Labour Organization’s
as they believe it is in everyone’s
declaration that a safe and healthy
work environment is a fundamental interest to be safe at work.

6% principle and right. Perhaps more surprising is the

high level of compliance reported
More details at iosh.com/wac by home-working respondents, with
70% agreeing to submit to testing
of businesses in the
sector said they’d
when they are working remotely.
stopped trading for two The report suggests the safety
or more extra days a week in the three
months before November 2022. This
protocols faced during the pandemic
was among the highest of any sector may have prompted a change in
attitudes to health and safety.

21%
of businesses in the
sector said they were
ioshmagazine.com/
drugs-alcohol-drager

likely to reduce trading

hours, even if they were
still operating for the 1 1 . WHO
same number of days

MENTAL HEALTH AT WORK

58%
said high energy prices
were their main concern for
GUIDELINES PUBLISHED
The World Health Organization has issued guidelines on mental health
November 2022, the highest
percentage of any group at work that provide evidence-based recommendations to promote
mental health, prevent mental health conditions and enable people
living with mental health conditions to thrive.
The recommendations cover organisational and individual

2 IN 5
interventions, manager and worker training, returning to work,
and gaining employment.
An estimated 15% of working-age adults have a mental disorder
at any point in time.
41% said they expected their prices
to increase in November, compared Explore the guidance at ioshmagazine.com/who-mental-health
with an overall average of 28%

IOSH MAGAZINE 9

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THE KNOW LED G E ANALYSIS
Behind the
headlines
We delve into the OSH issues making the news.
N E U R O D I VE R SI TY
CALL TO CREATE MORE
DIVERSE WORKFORCES
A chartered psychologist is calling on
employers to consider neurodivergent
employees when planning where staff
should work so that these individuals
can thrive in the workplace.
Writing on the Diversity and Inclusion
Leaders website, Dr Nancy Doyle,
founder and owner of social enterprise
Genius Within CIC, notes that around
15% to 20% of the global population is
neurodivergent, so employers cannot
afford to ignore them (Doyle, 2022).
Neurodivergence includes conditions
such as attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), autism, dyslexia and
bipolar disorder.
Nancy advises employers to consider
two core psychological concepts that
affect most neurodivergent employees
– executive dysfunction and sensory
sensitivity – when planning work
patterns and practices.
Executive dysfunction compromises a
person’s ability to think and concentrate;
in some cases, she warns, they ‘might
struggle with basic admin and
compliance, even when their work is
creative and seemingly highly skilled’.
Those who struggle with sensory
sensitivity, meanwhile, can quickly feel
10 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
10-11 Behind the headlines_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 10
overwhelmed, for example, by bright suggestions. However, it does pose
colours and loud noises in the office. several practical challenges for line
Although Nancy recommends remote
working, she warns that it can present its
managers who are already under
huge pressure to make provisions
own challenges. For instance, working
from home increases the neurodivergent
for a wide range of employee groups
at a time when business resources
person’s reliance on videoconferencing will become increasingly stretched.
and written communication and this can What’s more, as she admits,
be problematic. neurodivergent employees are
Nancy points out that many people with not a homogeneous group, so
ADHD struggle to manage their time that means tailoring approaches
effectively while working remotely and to the individual and the costs and
‘miss the motivational boost that comes time associated with this.
from a quick, informal chat’. Even with the best intentions, some
She shares some pointers so that line line managers may find that their
managers can minimise the authority is undermined by senior
associated risks around management, whose priority in an
PH OTOGRAP HY: ISTOCK / GETTY
videoconferencing uncertain economic market is the
etiquette and how pursuit of profit over employee wellbeing.
to best maintain a
work/life balance. To read the original article,
visit bit.ly/BTH-neurodiversity
Her advice is to involve
affected staff in key
decisions because they are
more likely to buy into an
approach that they have
had some say in rather
than one that has been
forced upon them.
What are the
challenges?
Nancy’s insights are
important, her advice is
sound, and there is clearly Nancy’s advice poses
practical challenges for
great value in acting on her line managers
13/12/2022 09:38

WORK/LIFE BALANCE
BUSINESS REPORT WARNS
OF TWO-TIER WORKPLACES
A new report from Business
in the Community (BITC), a
British business-community
outreach charity, warns
about the risk of creating a
two-tier workforce after it
was found that employees
whose mental health and
wellbeing would benefit the
most from having a say in
how they work are the least
likely to achieve a good
work/life balance.
Your job can be good
for you (BITC, 2022),
which draws on insights
from BITC’s YouGov 2022
survey of 4225 employees,
roundtables with business
leaders, expert interviews
and a review of recent
evidence, suggests people in
board-level roles and those
earning more than £20,000
per year are more likely to
achieve job fl exibility.
On the other hand, work-
related poor mental health
is higher among employees
from a black, Asian, mixed
race or other ethnically
diverse backgrounds,
along with women, people
aged between 18 and
35, employees who have
experienced disability and
LGBTQ+ people.
The BITC publication
comes at a time when
the UK’s mental health is
deteriorating and work
is recognised as being a
10-11 Behind the headlines_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 11
significant infl uence in this
respect, with the report
citing 36% of employees
experiencing work-
related poor mental
health in the past year,
although this is a slight
improvement on the
2020 data disclosures.
BITC argues that enabling
employees to co-create how
they work has been shown
to reduce the leading work-
related mental health
risks, namely workload,
long hours, excessive
pressure and being
unable to take leave
while also promoting
work/life balance.
And the publication notes
that, although opportunities
to personalise working
practices may differ across
sectors and roles, it is
possible to co-create jobs in
some form in nearly every
role and at every level.
The report includes
several case studies that
demonstrate how employees
have been able to access
greater fl exibility in the
workplace, personalising the
way they work in ways that
have met both the individual
and the business’s needs.
What are the challenges?
BITC’s recommendations
do have considerable
merit. However, the report
The key to reducing work-related
mental health risks is to personalise
working practices
also raises a few
important issues related to
these recommendations.
Not surprisingly, the role of
line managers is critical. The
report argues that managers
‘must be trusted to co-create
ways of working that balance
the needs of both employee
wellbeing and business
needs’ and BITC outlines
six broad categories where
adaptations can be made.
The di culty, as the report
highlights, is that employees
are more uncomfortable
than they were in 2020
to talk about a range of
issues, including stress,
gender, race, disability and
sexual orientation, which
suggests there is a trust
issue in relation to line
managers. This may not be
an easy one to resolve in
some businesses.
Data from the YouGov
2022 employee survey
backs this up and reveals
that very few employees
access support to manage
their mental health
problems at work. In fact,
12% who had experienced
a work-related mental
health problem said they
had been forced out,
demoted against their
wishes, not promoted,
or disciplined.
This figure rose to 20%
for those at board level,
which brings into question
the earlier statement that
those in board level roles
are necessarily more likely
to achieve job fl exibility.
Read the report at bit.ly/
BTH-worklife-balance
IOSH MAGAZINE 11
13/12/2022 09:38
THE KNOW LED G E IN T ERV IEW

he UK Justice Committee’s

T 2021 recommendation to
make better use of coroners’
Reports to prevent future
deaths (PFD) highlighted that harnessing
the knowledge and experience of this group
of professionals in conversations around
work-related deaths is vital. One thing
Kevin McLoughlin (inset, right), senior
coroner for West Yorkshire in the UK,
has witnessed in recent years is a change
in the nature of fatalities among workers
– particularly since COVID-19.
‘A generation ago, we used to think only
about the risks to construction workers
and people who worked in manufacturing
plants. But now, office-based mental
health issues are more recognised,’ he says.
‘Employers should be aware of the pressure
they may be putting people under by
imposing demanding targets on individuals
who may be isolated and deprived of
the camaraderie of having supportive
workmates around them.’
For some, tragically, it’s too much to
bear. ‘Suicide is one of the things that I’ve
increasingly looked at,’ says Kevin. ‘I saw
a statistic recently that between 2009 and
2019 about 67,000 people killed themselves
in the UK (NCISH, 2022). It’s heartbreaking
and beyond astonishing .’

Tracking patterns
However, the ability to study trends and
pinpoint those at higher risk of suicide more
accurately brings hope of improving the
situation, Kevin adds. ‘In Leeds – part of my
patch – we’ve got maps for particular areas
of the city where suicide is prevalent and,
lo and behold, they coincide with poverty.
We can even see which tower blocks have a
higher incidence of self-harm. So people are
trying to drill down into this.
Fatal flaws
UK senior coroner Kevin McLoughlin on the
‘Currently we have to deal with things as
one-off cases, but it shouldn’t stop us trying
changing nature of work-related fatalities
to look at the overall patterns and what we and the challenges of getting a true picture.
do about it.’
Kevin, whose background is in OSH (he
is a Chartered Fellow and a former IOSH WORDS HELEN BIRD

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trustee) and who practised as a barrister
before taking up an appointment as a
senior coroner, also observes trends
among his own cases. ‘It shines through
on the suicide cases that young males are
more impulsive. Three-quarters of those
who take their own lives are male. This
suggests that if someone had been able to
intervene at the moment of crisis, it could
have been averted.’
PHOTOG RAPHY: ISTOCK
There are also barriers to reporting
on deaths accurately – which became all
too familiar during the pandemic. ‘The
12-13 121_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 13
Those working from
home may feel deprived
of the camaraderie of
supportive workmates
WE’VE GOT MAPS FOR
AREAS OF THE CITY
WHERE SUICIDE IS
PREVALENT. WE CAN
EVEN SEE WHICH
TOWER BLOCKS HAVE
A HIGHER INCIDENCE
OF SELF-HARM
legacy of COVID is one that everybody is
wrestling with,’ says Kevin. ‘How many
people died due to COVID, as opposed to
dying with COVID from pre-existing
disease? The more you look
at the issue, the more
complicated it becomes, in
that a lot of the people who
died of COVID came into
hospital with multiple
comorbidities and may
have died anyway. Equally,
there may be cases where
just the reverse is the case.
‘So trying to delve into the
statistics and work out the true picture
is challenging – and it may take years to
clarify the situation.’
And for all the potential benefits around
sharing – and learning from – PFD reports,
the reality isn’t quite so simple. ‘Coroners
are conscientiously making these reports.
The problem at present is analysing them
and identifying the learning priorities on
a national basis. I think a lot more work is
needed to analyse and codify these reports
to determine the lessons that society
should learn.’
Improvements in practice
Happily, Kevin has been able to see the
role his personal reports have played in
improving health and safety practices.
He recalls two separate cases where
workers had died while unloading large
glazing units.
‘I made PFD reports to say that this
is an industry-wide problem. When
heavy glazing units are tightly packed in
containers or bound together on stillages,
those unloading them need instructions
on the sequence in which to cut securing
straps. Moreover, the instructions need
to be presented in such a way that people
speaking a variety of languages can
follow them.’
He says the recipients of his reports
in the glazing industry responded in
an exemplary way, forming groups that
devised constructive ways of dealing with
the issue. ‘It was rewarding for me to
have identified a problem and seen such
a positive response from the particular
industry concerned.’
Learning
from tragedy
Kevin has also seen an
improvement in risk
assessments within
organisations over the
years. ‘In the early days,
risk assessments classifying a
hazard as low risk were sometimes
exposed as embarrassing following a
fatality. But over the years, the quality
of risk assessments has improved. I
take this as a demonstration of the
contribution made by OSH professionals
to workplace safety.’
Kevin’s hope for the future is that
inquests following workplace fatalities
will be approached by the lawyers
involved in a less adversarial manner,
less preoccupied with the possibility
of a prosecution. ‘When someone has
lost their life, the dominant thought
should be “How do we learn from this
painful tragedy?”’
To access the reference, visit
ioshmagazine.com/coroner-mcloughlin
IOSH MAGAZINE 13
13/12/2022 09:42
THE KNOW LED G E LEG A L

JUJ V
JOH
PARTLEWIS N
N
PLC ERSHIP
[202
2]
CA S E LAW

Judge dismisses
John Lewis car
park injury appeal
A man who tripped in a parking bay argued
that the retailer owed him a duty of care.

n May 2015, Kanwarjit Singh or paint the kerb to make it more visible.

I Juj, 83, tripped on a kerb next

to a disabled bay in which his
wife (who was disabled) had
parked their car. He sustained a fractured
wrist, maxillofacial injuries and a traumatic
brain injury.
The car park was adjacent to a Waitrose
supermarket in Ruislip, Middlesex, UK.
Although the car park was owned by
the local authority and not the store,
the appellant claimed that John Lewis
Partnership plc, which owns Waitrose,
had breached its duty of care under the
Occupier’s Liability Act 1957. This claim was
dismissed but the decision was appealed.
John Lewis denied liability for the fall,
saying that it was an occupier of the car
park. The company also claimed the kerb
on which he tripped did not pose a danger,
and the fall was a ‘true accident’.
The judge ruled at the initial trial that
the car park’s design, including the location
of the kerb, was an unreasonable danger
for the users of that bay – the disabled –
which did in fact breach the Occupier’s
Liability Act 1957. However, they ruled that
The trial judge ruled that nothing the
respondent had done, or failed to do,
had caused the accident.
The appellant brought an appeal
against the judgment and argued that the
original judge’s limiting of the respondent’s
duties as an occupier was incorrect.
On appeal, the judge considered three
areas in determining the case: Was
the respondent an occupier? Did the
respondent have a duty of care? What
caused the accident?
For the first point, the appeal judge said
that the original judge was wrong to exclude
the respondent’s ability to put up warning
signs if necessary for any issues (such as
the kerb), which had not been remedied by
the local authority. They ruled that John
Lewis was a joint occupier of the car park
in this respect.
The appeal judge then considered the
respondent’s duty of care to the appellant.
The presence of the kerb and the size of
the bay were obvious to any user of it – the
The parking bay kerb
appellant and his wife had parked there
on previous occasions without problems.
The kerb in question was not in a state of
disrepair or an abnormal height – so the
presence of the kerb and its proximity
to the bay was not unusual and it did not
constitute a trap. Therefore, the appeal
judge ruled that the respondent came under
no duty to warn visitors of any kind of the
presence of the kerb: it was obvious without
warning. The kerb’s presence, state and
location did not present a degree of risk high
enough to trigger a specific duty of care.
Finally, the appeal judge considered the
cause of the appellant’s accident. They ruled
that the appellant was aware of the kerb
when he tripped on it and the breach of any
PHOTOG RAPHY: ISTOCK / S HUTTERSTOCK

did not present a

as an occupier, John Lewis’s control was
limited to dealing with immediate hazards
and reporting these matters to the local
authority that owned the car park. The
respondent was not required to make any
structural changes, cordon off bays for use,
potential duty by the respondent had not
caused the accident. Consequently, they
degree of risk high agreed with the original trial judge that the
enough to trigger a appellant’s fall was indeed a ‘true accident’
without a breach of duty by the respondent.
specific duty of care The appeal was therefore dismissed.

14 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

14-15 Legal_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 14 13/12/2022 09:43

 This sponsored content has been provided by
Information Systems, available at cedrec.com
NEW L EGI SL ATI ON, GUI DANC E AN D CON SULTAT ION
BUILDING SAFETY
Regulation amends for
power generation
The Building (Amendment)
(Wales) (No 2) Regulations
2022 make amendments
to the Building Regulations
2010 to extend provisions
relating to on-site generation
of electricity in Wales to cover
non-domestic buildings from
29 March 2023. Where a
system for on-site electricity
generation is installed, it and
its electrical output should be
appropriately sized and have
effective controls. It must also
be commissioned by testing
and adjusted as necessary to
ensure it produces the most
electricity it reasonably can.
cedr.ec/8ky
FIRE SAFETY
Scotland gets new
fireworks controls
The Fireworks and
Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland)
Act 2022 imposes stricter
control on the sale and use
of fireworks in Scotland to
improve public safety. It
introduces a licensing system,
with mandatory safety
training, for those who wish to
purchase and use fireworks.
It also specifies powers for
local authorities to designate
firework control zones, as well
as restrictions on the supply
and use of fireworks.
cedr.ec/8lz
14-15 Legal_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 15
BUILDING REGULATIONS
New practical
guidance approved
The secretary of state
has approved two new
documents that give practical
guidance on meeting
the requirements of the
Building Regulations 2010 in
England. They focus on new
requirements within Part R of
schedule 1 to the regulations,
relating to:
• Physical infrastructure
and network connection
for new dwellings
• Physical infrastructure
for high-speed electronic
communications networks.
These approved
documents applied from
26 December 2022.
cedr.ec/8m0;
cedr.ec/8l0
WORKPLACE STATISTICS
Review of injuries,
illnesses and fatalities
The Health and Safety
Authority for Ireland has
published its review of
statistics for 2020-21.
Workplace fatalities dropped
by 30% in 2021; however, 38
people still lost their lives in
work-related incidents. Falls
from height and the loss of
control of a vehicle or its
attachments were the most
common causes of fatalities in
the period, accounting for 11
deaths each. Although there
was a reduction in workplace
fatalities, the number of
non-fatal incidents at work
remained high, increasing
8% on the previous year with
a total of 8279 incidents.
The top three causes of
non-fatal injuries reported
were manual handling (2656
incidents), slipping and falling
(2007), and loss of control
of an object machine or
vehicle (931).
cedr.ec/8l2
CHEMICALS
New hazard classes
added to CLP
The European Commission
ran a consultation on a draft
regulation that intends to
introduce new specified
hazard classes as part of
its revision to regulations
on classification, labelling
and packaging (CLP) of
substances and mixtures.
One of the key changes is
to introduce new hazard
classes to cover substances
with the following properties:
• Human health
and environmental
endocrine disruptors
• Persistent, bioaccumulative
and toxic
• Very persistent and
very bioaccumulative
• Persistent, mobile and toxic
• Very persistent and very
mobile substances.
cedr.ec/8l4
TRANSPORT
Change to directive
on dangerous goods
Directive (EU) 2022/1999
on uniform procedures for
checks on the transport
of dangerous goods by
road codifies and replaces
directive 95/50/EC on the
same subject. The directive
continues to apply to checks
carried out by member
states on the transport of
dangerous goods by road
in vehicles travelling in their
territory or entering it from
a third country. It ensures
these vehicles are checked
on su cient occasions and
establishes a uniform and
comprehensive list of items
to be checked.
cedr.ec/8l5
WORK EQUIPMENT
New machinery
safety guidance
The Waste Industry Safety
and Health Forum (WISH) has
published new information
documents relating to
machinery used in recycling
and waste plants, covering:
• Horizontal plane balers
• Belt conveyors
• Trommel screens.
WISH has also published
general guidance on the
main principles of machinery
safety in recycling and
recovery plants.
cedr.ec/8l6; cedr.ec/8l7;
cedr.ec/8l9; cedr.ec/8la
IOSH MAGAZINE 15
13/12/2022 14:32
THE KNOW LED G E P ROSEC UT ION S
R E TA I L
Topshop is fined
£1m after death
of child in store
What happened?
In February 2017, 10-year-old Kaden
Reddick and his family were shopping in
the Reading, UK, branch of retail company
Topshop. Kaden crawled beneath a queue
barrier, which came away from the floor
and landed on him. The 110kg object
struck his skull and killed him.
Design and installation
The queue barrier had been installed
16 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
16-19 prosecutions_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 16
three years earlier during a major store
refurbishment and was a notifiable
project under Construction, Design
and Management Regulations. The
barrier was secured by contractor
Stoneforce Ltd with just wood screws and
rawlplugs. The screws were described
by experts as being suitable for hanging
pictures from the wall, not for stabilising
a top-heavy and inherently unstable piece
of retail furniture.
Risk assessments
No risk assessment had been carried
out on the queue barrier, either pre-
installation or into its use once in store.
Although Topshop did have store risk
assessments, including one that covered
cuts and falling objects, it did not consider
the queue barrier specifically, and in
general there had been no consideration
about how this item, or ones like it,
differed from the main structure, such
as walls, or furniture that was regularly
relocated – for example, wall poles.
Design disagreements
General health and safety documentation
did acknowledge the presence of children
on-site and how they may be inclined to
interact with items in store, but this was
not considered or highlighted in relation
to installation of equipment, such as
queue barriers.
Sentencing
After an investigation lasting nearly six
years, Arcadia Group Ltd, Topshop/
Topman and Stoneforce were sentenced
for breaching section 3 of the Health and
Safety at Work Act and fined £1m. The
company is still liable for the fine, despite
having gone into administration.
PHOTOG RAPHY: ISTOCK / SHUTTE RSTOCK / ALAMY
Lessons learned
Find out what lessons IOSH members
can take from this case by Katie
Heath, principal environmental health
officer at Reading Borough Council, at
ioshmagazine.com/topshop-reading
13/12/2022 09:45
 MANUFACTURING
NESTLÉ PROSECUTED AFTER
WORKER TRAPPED ARM
IN ROLO-MAKING MACHINE
Food manufacturing firm Nestlé
has been ordered to pay more than
£800,000 after a worker’s arm was
drawn into a conveyor machine.
What happened
In November 2020, a maintenance
technician at its UK factory
in Newcastle upon Tyne was
investigating a problem beneath
the conveyor belt of the ‘Rolo
Racetrack’ machine. His sleeve
became caught in the roller above
his head. He was unable to free
his arm and shouted for help. The
25-year-old sustained life-
changing injuries.
Breaches for prosecution
The investigation found Nestlé
had not properly assessed the risk
created by the rollers under the
conveyor belt and failed to guard
the roller, which was a dangerous
part due to a ‘nip point’. It was also
found that Nestlé failed to provide
16-19 prosecutions_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 17
a safe system of work in relation to
the maintenance of the machine and
failed to provide a guard to prevent
access to dangerous parts.
In court
South Tyneside Magistrates’
Court was told a similar incident
happened at Nestlé’s plant in
Halifax, UK, but the firm had failed
to take appropriate action. Nestlè
UK admitted breaching regulation
11(1) of the Provision and Use of
Work Equipment Regulations and
was fined £800,000, plus costs of
£7776. It has since spent more than
£700,000 at the Newcastle factory
to make the site and machines safer.
More information
We spoke to the investigating
inspector in this case to get the story
behind the headlines. Get more
detail, including key lessons for
IOSH members, at ioshmagazine.
com/nestle-injuries
IN BRIEF
CHEMICALS
OSH o cer
failed to raise
cryo-chamber
concerns
A director who installed a
cryotherapy chamber at a site
in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2020
was unfairly dismissed, a
tribunal has ruled, because
the technical director and
principal health and safety
o cer at the business failed
to raise concerns about the
work undertaken.
For the full story and to find out
the five allegations faced by the
claimant and the reasons given for
his dismissal, visit ioshmagazine.
com/cryoserve-oųcer
TRANSPORT
Stagecoach
fined £380k
over driver’s
crush injury
Plymouth Magistrates’ Court
recently fined bus firm Stagecoach
Devon Ltd £380,000, with £18,000
in costs, after it pleaded guilty
to breaching section 2(1) of the
Health and Safety at Work Act
after one of its drivers suffered life-
changing injuries. David Heathfield
was crushed between a reversing
bus and a stationary vehicle at
a depot in Torquay, England.
He suffered compound multiple
fractures of his arm. We spoke to
GB Health and Safety Executive
inspector, James Collins, about
what happened: ioshmagazine.
com/stagecoach-heathfield
IOSH MAGAZINE 17
13/12/2022 09:45
THE KNOW LED G E P ROSEC UT ION S
F O O D P R O D U CTI ON
Bernard Matthews
fined £400k after
worker paralysed
The case
Food manufacturer Bernard Matthews
has been fined £400,000 after an employee
sustained a pierced left lung, several
broken ribs, four fractured vertebrae and
a spinal bleed after being drawn into a
large screw conveyor. Colin Frewin was
left permanently paralysed and spent six
months in hospital following the incident at
the company’s Suffolk manufacturing plant
in the UK.
The incident
In January 2020, the 54-year-old had been
tasked with cleaning a large screw conveyor
used to move and chill poultry turkeys.
As he tried to dislodge a turkey that had
become stuck using a squeegee, Colin was
drawn into the machine. It was only when a
colleague noticed he was missing from the
18 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
16-19 prosecutions_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 18
MANUFACTURING
WORKER DIES
FROM BURNS
AFTER FALL INTO
HOT WATER TANK
THE INCIDENT
In January 2018, a worker at Pan
Glo (UK) Ltd in Lancashire, in
the UK – previously known as
Cleanbake Ltd – fell into a tank
of water heated to 76°C, suffering
37% burns to his body. Despite
being pulled from the tank by a
colleague almost immediately and
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY / HSE
rushed to hospital, the man died
from his injuries a week later.
At the factory, the industrial
baking tins the firm makes were
gantry and heard his cries for help that the
emergency stop was pulled.
Similar incidents
Investigators found an unsafe system of
work meant that the chillers remained
running when Colin went to dislodge
the turkey. There was another incident
at the same plant five months earlier,
when a turkey deboning line had to
be shut down after developing a fault.
At Chelmsford Crown Court, Bernard
Matthews Food Ltd admitted breaching
section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at
Work Act. As well as the £400,000 fine,
the company was ordered to pay costs
of £15,000.
Read more at ioshmagazine.com/
bernard-matthews-frewin
13/12/2022 09:46

loaded into large cages and
moved by crane into huge tanks,
filled with different substances.
The tanks were placed in such
a way that workers could only
access their crucial working
parts by climbing over the lids
– an error in fl oorspace planning.
THE INVESTIGATION
The inquiry found there were
no risk assessments and no
safe systems of work in place
for maintenance procedures. It
also found the health and safety
manager had been at the site for
only a week; the company had
previously used consultants and
there was no formal health and
safety system; and the structure
of the tank lids was unsuitable.
16-19 prosecutions_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 19
A ROUN D T HE G LOBE
THE FINDINGS
The GB Health and Safety Executive
SEVEN SUFFER
investigation found there were a BRAIN INJURIES
number of failings that contributed
to the incident across a spectrum DURING COMMERCIAL
of areas, including planning,
equipment, management and
DIVE OPERATION
safety culture. DOF Subsea Australia has
been convicted of breaching
THE PROSECUTION its health and safety duties
At Preston Magistrates’ Court, after seven divers sustained
Pan Glo (UK) Ltd pleaded guilty neurological injuries. In 2017,
to breaching section 2(1) of a team of divers were repairing
the Health and Safety at Work subsea infrastructure at the
Act. The company was fined Ichthys gas field in the Timor Sea, at
£200,000, as well as court costs a water depth of 778ft to 885ft (237m to 270m).
of £14,597. Seven of the divers complained of injuries.
Australia’s independent offshore energy
Read an interview with regulator, NOPSEMA, found they were injured
the HSE’s investigator at during a process known as ‘blowdown’, which
ioshmagazine.com/panglo-death involves a chamber being pressurised with
helium and oxygen to a storage depth close
to that at which they were due to work. The
dive was described as Australia’s deepest-ever
commercial dive. Sentencing is due to take
place at a later date.
CAR PART PLANT
WORKERS FIGHT
13 FIRES IN 2 YEARS
A car parts manufacturer in Ohio, US,
has been cited by US Occupational
Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) for exposing workers to
fires, and failing to train them
on initial fire identification and
extinguisher use.
OSHA found the polyethylene
Hematite heats to create molten
plastic for parts catches fire in ovens. It is easily
ignited and di cult to suppress. Between June
2020 and June 2022, the company had 13 fires.
Employees had used portable extinguishers until
fires were out or the sprinkler system activated.
OSHA cited Woodbridge Englewood – which
trades as Hematite – for one wilful and nine
serious safety violations, and proposed penalties
of $271,403 (£227,289).
IOSH MAGAZINE 19
13/12/2022 09:46
p20.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 20 13/12/2022 10:57
 THE KNOW LED G E ON LIN E
The wider
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IOSH MAGAZINE 21

21 Wider View_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 21 13/12/2022 14:33

THE KNOW LED G E P RED ICT ION S F OR 2023
Chris
Streatfeild
CFIOSH, director,
Renewable Safety
The energy transition
and electrification
of our energy system will further accelerate
in 2023. Driven by net-zero commitments,
the renewable energy sector in the UK and
around the world will demand hundreds of
thousands of new workers. We need workers
with hard and soft skills who can design,
install, commission, operate and maintain
the technologies (for example wind,
storage, solar and green hydrogen) and
the supporting infrastructure.
The sector will need to recruit from a
wide and diverse talent pool, including
new entrants from college, first degrees
and apprenticeship programmes. We also
expect to see many workers transitioning
from related sectors with complementary
technical and safety skills such as oil and
gas and the military. We also hope to see a
continuation of the drive for further gender
and cultural diversity, which is essential
to help stimulate innovation and support
this transition.
The future
of OSH
What are IOSH members’ expectations
for the year ahead? Will there be
changes in legislation or policy, or
will it be business as usual? Here
are some of your responses.
22 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
22-25 Predictions for 23_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 22
To support this, I have three hopes
and expectations for 2023: skills – a laser
focus on developing essential STEM skills
and a culture of lifelong learning; safe by
design – recognising the importance of
organisational design, contracting strategies
and work management on health and
safety; metrics – better understanding of
the positive use of leading safety indicators
and the unrealised potential of big data
and analytics.
Bridget
Leathley
CFIOSH, freelance
health and
safety consultant
I’d love to say that
2023 will see all dirty and dangerous jobs
replaced by robots. I’d like to say that
we’ll make great strides in slowing down
climate change. It would be great if I could
predict that some well-established software
solutions for managing incident reporting,
risk assessment actions or hazardous
substances will be widely adopted to make
sure practicable controls are always applied
to foreseeable hazards.
This year is unlikely to see such
revolutions, but I believe there will be an
evolution in how we use technology in health
and safety. I took part in a workshop recently
in which we used 360-degree video in virtual
reality headsets as part of the safety training.
I have clients who, having seen the benefits of
saving travel time and costs during lockdown,
want to continue with virtual classrooms.
Some artificial intelligence approaches that
were just theory a few years ago are now
incorporated into affordable products, in
some cases spurred on by the pandemic. In
particular, computer vision was adopted
by some to monitor social distancing but is
now used by the likes of retail firm Marks &
Spencer to support coaching conversations.
Let’s hope for more intelligence in 2023, both
artificial and natural.
Martin
Wilshire
CMIOSH, director,
health, safety
and wellbeing,
Multiplex
Pressures from demands for wage parity
and increased worker migration across
13/12/2022 09:50
 businesses and industries will, in some cases,
bring priorities into conflict at corporate
level. In construction, the unskilled
and transient workforce is increasingly
vulnerable to exploitation and mental ill
health. As employers, we will have to work
harder and smarter to keep our people safe,
engaged, mentally well, competent and
aware, but we should also consider how
we improve retention.
Empathetic and values-driven
leadership will be critical to businesses
at such a challenging time and the IOSH
Catch the Wave initiative will have even
greater resonance in providing the right
environment, values and culture to develop
and retain people as the foundation of
productivity and profitability. Those
employers that rely on a significant supply
chain labour base should be ever watchful
to ensure their ethical labour policies and
safeguards are proactively working to protect
those at risk.
These challenges come at a time when the
Building Safety Act secondary legislation
will come into force during 2023, placing
greater emphasis on duty holders to
ensure competence not only technically,
but also behaviourally, throughout the
construction industry. Once again, ethical
principles, standards and conduct will
be at the forefront of creating a safer
built environment.
John Lacey
CFIOSH, IOSH
past-president
and honorary
adviser, IOSH
Hong Kong Branch
It is of prime importance that practitioners
start to strongly rebuild OSH alongside
industry and social needs. Future business
planning will need to incorporate health and
safety as a key building block to success.
In construction, major challenges
continue to exist. The Building Safety Act
ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCK
will require clear lines of influence on
all projects. Designers will have to focus
on safety in design, with all supply chain
22-25 Predictions for 23_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 23
GLOBAL RIGHT S
Spotlight on the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals
How can OSH professionals heed the
call for urgent global action?
I believe there will be an acceleration
in investments in green energy to
address the global crisis and stick to
the UN Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). New OSH job opportunities will
be available, and organisations will be
facing increasing personnel turnover
as people look to improve incomes.
OSH professionals will face huge
challenges in managing fast-track
projects, balancing production and
prevention. They will have to develop
competencies in new technologies
and related risks alongside a new
regulatory framework.
Mohamed Amine Zahr TechIOSH, group
health safety, security and environment
manager, Moroccan Agency for
Sustainable Energy (Masen)
It is crucial the world refocuses on
the SDGs, social sustainability and
OSH capacity. This means prioritising
responsible leadership, ethical
practice and inclusive workforces
essential for the future.
The key role of OSH professionals
continues to evolve, as we seek active
partnerships to deliver progress and
the UN SDGs. This work entails raising
awareness of OSH as a fundamental
right worldwide and highlighting
its many socioeconomic benefits.
These include minimising human and
economic cost, supporting business
performance and a ‘race-to-the-top’,
as well as opposing any harmful
OSH deregulation.
OSH professionals can use tailored
approaches, sharing case studies on
creating long-lasting social value and
promoting principles from ISO 45001
and other relevant standards, including
on mental health and wellbeing,
infectious diseases, modern slavery,
performance evaluation and climate
change. Meanwhile, as individuals, we
can continually improve, using the IOSH
Blueprint tool to enhance our business
and sustainability skills, as well as those
for OSH and ethical practice. And we
can encourage support for initiatives like
the UN Global Accelerator for decent
jobs and IOSH’s Catch the Wave, aiming
to ‘leave no one behind’.
Richard Jones CFIOSH, former
IOSH head of policy
It is imperative organisations start
to tackle the UN’s SDGs at local and
national level. Every safety professional
is part of this challenge. One of the 17
SDGs is good health and wellbeing;
however, our challenge over the next
year shouldn’t be to solely focus on this
area but to integrate as many of the
SDGs into our practices as possible.
We need to divest from linear and
silo thinking over the next year. We
need to integrate safety, health and
wellbeing across our businesses
and initiate conversations about
sustainability. If we become the voice
of sustainability, we can start to change
how wellbeing, safety and health is
prioritised in our businesses.
Chris Clark CMIOSH, senior safety,
health and environment adviser,
infrastructure, nuclear, Morgan Sindall
IOSH MAGAZINE 23
13/12/2022 14:34
THE KNOW LED G E P RED ICT ION S F OR 2023
I EXPECT BUSINESSES TO FOCUS ON
ENERGY-SAVING INITIATIVES DUE TO POTENTIAL
SHORTAGES AND SIGNIFICANT PRICE INCREASES
members taking due notice of their influence
and responsibilities as duty holders.
Top management and OSH professionals
will need to take a close look at section 5
of ISO 45001 and embed its guidance into
organisations to install the right strategy and
culture in rebuilding successful businesses
and prevent risk from failure or prosecution,
should incidents occur. OSH professionals
in the year ahead and beyond need to engage
with board members and mentor them on
the way forward. Get it right at the top and
the rest will follow.
Jay
Johnson
CMIOSH, associate
consultant,
Inverroy Crisis
Management
Lessons learned from the pandemic will
be gathered and scrutinised by OSH
professionals. These will be incorporated
into crisis and continuity plans, which
OSH professionals will be more involved
with as the pandemic highlighted the need
for robust crisis and continuity planning
and mitigation. OSH professionals
and organisations will be planning for
disruptions caused by the events in Ukraine
and the rise in the cost of living.
Daniel
Dyball
TechIOSH, QHSE
manager, Prior
Power Solutions
We have access
to some impressive technology from
autonomous manufacturing to state-of-the-
art safety systems, yet we still experience
fatalities that could have been easily
prevented. We focus a lot of time and money
24 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
22-25 Predictions for 23_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 24
on ensuring employees are competent but
don’t invest that same time and money into
safer technology. I don’t see any legislation
being reviewed or changed to support the
growth of safer manufacturing but I do see
the industry’s organisations incorporating
‘lean manufacturing’ [a methodology
that focuses on minimising waste while
maximising productivity] to further
improve the safety of their employees.
The mental health of employees is
something that we continue to adapt to.
For the next 12 months, I hope to
raise awareness of the importance of
cardiopulmonary resuscitation training
and safe use of an automated external
defibrillator within all businesses. With
more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac
arrests occurring a year in the UK, the
power to save a life could be in your hands.
Hayley
Guppy
GradIOSH, audit
and risk, Ministry
of Defence
I expect that
the issues for the safety profession
– and indeed the global workforce – will
endure from the COVID-era. Business
continuity will again be in focus with
industry investing and preparing for future
pandemics. An immediate focus for the
profession will also be on continuity testing
for possible blackouts. I expect businesses
to focus on energy-saving initiatives due
to potential shortages and significant
price increases.
Appointing safety professionals is always
a challenge, but I expect all recruitment
will become more difficult with the labour
market tightening. A shortage in workforce
has historically led to increased pressure on
a positive safety culture.
Jordyn
Aitken
GradIOSH,
Asia-Pacific
health,
safety and
environment manager, Alltech
I expect we will see further focus on
mental health, especially given the call
from the World Health Organization and
International Labour Organization for
action to address declining mental health
in the working population. Additionally,
I believe businesses will need to continue
to adjust to the effects of the pandemic
and how employees want to work. This
has – and will – put some additional strain
on the OSH profession from a technical
point of view; however, the outcome of
these potential changes to the way we work
will have a knock-on effect on health and
safety performance, and so it is important
employees are listened to and their
psychological safety protected.
Matthew
Hall
GradIOSH, health
and safety adviser,
Rolls-Royce
Nuclear
I expect to see more of the same from last
year in nuclear safety, such as continual
improvement as an industry across all areas
of safety but still with a great deal of work
to do with regard to containing current and
new risks. Mental health – rightly – seems
to be getting a lot of attention across both
nuclear and other industries, but there is
more work to be done. It’s easier to speak
up now and more help is at hand. This
undoubtedly needs to continue through
2023 and beyond. We need to keep focus.
Changes to REACH [Registration,
Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of
Chemicals] and COMAH [Control of Major
Accident Hazards] legislations post-Brexit
will also be a challenge to keep up with, but
I see a very positive 2023 – and beyond –
for the nuclear industry, given how much
emerging work is across many markets.
13/12/2022 09:50
 Karen
Godfrey
CMIOSH,
head of
safety, health,
environment,
quality and security (nuclear),
Morgan Sindall Infrastructure
I’d expect there to be a continued focus on
occupational health and wellbeing with
mental health at the forefront. With the
cost of living crisis, we should be preparing
for an increase in cases of poor mental
health – as a result of money worries,
relationship issues, poor nutrition and
fatigue – which will have a knock-on impact
in the workplace and result in an increased
risk of accidents and incidents.
In line with this, I’d hope to see the
provision of trained mental health first
aiders become a legal requirement in 2023.
While this will not prevent our colleagues
from developing mental ill health, it will
ensure that they are signposted to the help
that they need. An aspiration for my team is
to continue to develop working relationships
and alignment with our HR colleagues so
that we can better focus health and wellbeing
campaigns and ensure that the right
information gets to the right people.
Harry
Collins
CMIOSH,
health and
safety manager,
Shepherd Neame
I feel we are in a perfect storm: companies
having to combat the hangover from COVID
with regards to staffing issues and lost
competence in their workforces; high energy
WE NEED TO IMPLEMENT
THE BREXIT CHANGES,
STABILISE THE ENERGY
SECTOR AND FOCUS
ON SUSTAINABILITY
22-25 Predictions for 23_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 25
costs, meaning businesses will struggle to
make pre-pandemic profits; employees’
and workers’ standards and expectations
being raised with regards to wages, working
conditions, benefits and working hours;
and employers’ environmental, social and
corporate governance standards being
stretched due to corporate image. The
workforce is changing rapidly, and new
employees are expecting a good standard
of safety, welfare and support in their
working lives.
We need to fully implement the Brexit
changes, stabilise the energy sector and focus
on sustainability before making changes to
health and safety legislation.
I hope OSH professionals can gain better
recognition for the work we do. I have often
said to many colleagues and associates that
the work put into safety is complex – more
behavioural and more challenging than ever
before. The work we do does not sit high
enough in the national image.
James
Carter
CMIOSH,
network
health and
safety manager,
Marks & Spencer; committee member
of the East Midlands IOSH branch
As a profession, we’re now more than
familiar with reacting to an ever-changing
landscape. When talking about risk,
we need to continue to be agile in our
decision-making, to adapt and influence
throughout all levels of our organisations.
Listening and engaging have never been
so important.
The revised and enhanced Blueprint
launched in November has allowed
members an opportunity to further
self-reflect on individual behavioural
development needs. This offers us all a
brilliant platform and I’m excited to see
this grow throughout 2023.
With so much uncertainty and change
currently around us in our day-to-day lives,
our organisations’ absolute commitment to
health, safety and wellbeing must remain
the constant through brilliant leadership
that stretches beyond the technical,
enabling us to react to whatever appears
next on the horizon.
Hugh
Maxwell
CFIOSH, head
of safety, Leviat
I am seeing an
increased focus on
workplace health and safety, and wellness
in particular. Revised home and hybrid
working arrangements are becoming the
norm and to make such work-related
processes sustainable, I see greater
engagement and interdependence on
home safety and wellness, the like of
which we have not seen before.
As a number of other areas to drive
improvements took a back seat as
businesses learned to cope with COVID, I
see a realignment and revision of workplace
priorities. I hope this will be supported
by a review of legislation and further
transition away from the influence of
EU legislative arrangements. I think the
important thing is that businesses use this
revitalisation period as an opportunity
to strengthen their safety and overall
business performance – encouraging
greater engagement and participation
of all workers.
See more IOSH member predictions at
ioshmagazine.com/predictions-2023
IOSH MAGAZINE 25
13/12/2022 09:51
THE KNOW LED G E CA REER

BLUEPRINT: New toolkit:

NEW PLANS AND at a glance

An all-in-one package for

OPPORTUNITIES
members, mapped to IOSH’s
competency framework,
consisting of:
A self-assessment tool
to inform your personal
development plan
Virman Man explains how IOSH’s new and
A new suite of CPD resources
enhanced tool, launched at the end of last year, to support your learning
will energise you as you take the next steps in A CPD record so you can
track your progress
your OSH journey in 2023. An Ethical Practice in OSH
e-learning and assessment*.

The competency framework

covers 69 technical, core and
behavioural competencies.
Members can access Blueprint
at blueprint.iosh.com

*Mandatory for Chartered Members

and Chartered Fellows.

S
ee what Blueprint can do to support
you in maintaining and developing
your OSH skills and knowledge
so you can be the best you can be
in your role. Blueprint allows you control
over what and when you learn, so you can
progress at a pace that fits around your work
and domestic commitments.
Your continuing professional development
(CPD) will get a boost with Blueprint, which
has been designed as an easy-to-use tool
linked to IOSH’s competency framework.
This is a set of 69 technical, core and
behavioural competencies that are vital
for good OSH professional practice. You
must be able to demonstrate proficiency
in a combination of these competencies at
various levels. Depending on your specific

26 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

26-27 Blueprint_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 26 13/12/2022 09:55

 requirements, you can work to reach four
levels in any given competency: understand,
implement, lead and innovate. The IOSH
professional journey provides a structure
for your career progression.
Make a considered evaluation of your
professional attributes by using Blueprint
to carry out a self-assessment. This will help
you to create a personal development plan
that addresses gaps in your OSH knowledge.
Access to a library of specially produced
CPD resources gives you the means to
develop your proficiency in competencies
that will support you in your work. And this
will prepare you to become eligible to move
up to the next IOSH membership grade.
IOSH chief executive Vanessa Harwood-
Whitcher is proud of the development of
the professional journey, an initiative she
championed during her time as IOSH’s
director of professional services: ‘It’s
wonderful to see members taking advantage
of these new opportunities for their
continuing professional development. A
key part of our WORK 2022 strategy was to
enhance the profession by ensuring IOSH
invested in new tools, resources and career
pathways for members that would enhance
their status and capability.
‘The beauty of Blueprint is that members
have real control of their professional
learning. They can decide when they
do it and have an incredible choice of
learning materials, all informed by IOSH’s
competency framework.
‘As we introduce a new strategic
development phase for IOSH, the
professional journey represents a logical
step forward for the OSH profession to
ensure that it continues to be ready for
THE PROFESSIONAL
JOURNEY REPRESENTS
A LOGICAL STEP
ILLUSTRATION: IKON IMAGES
FORWARD FOR THE
OSH PROFESSION
26-27 Blueprint_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 27
future challenges as the world of work MEN TORIN G
continues to evolve.’
Make the most of the opportunities
Peer-to-peer
Blueprint offers learning
Refresh and deepen your knowledge
Further extend your range of To give your continuing professional
professional competencies development a real boost, sign up
Consolidate your strengths to the IOSH Mentoring scheme
(iosh.com/mentoring) and gain
Develop new skills
valuable OSH insights from an
Ensure you are grounded in good
experienced professional. On
ethical practice
the other hand, consider being
Improve your professional standing. a mentor: you get the chance to
share your knowledge and shape
Enthusiastic adopters the future leaders in OSH. Improve
People have been excited about their your leadership, communication
experience of using Blueprint. Here’s and coaching skills – and contribute
what they have to say about it: to your own CPD. Everyone wins.
‘I found Blueprint easy to navigate and well
LEARN IN G
presented. The creation of an individual
Other ways to
plan for progression was helpful. The
experience offered more than just having
to read pages of content, it was interactive maintain your
continuing
with the case studies and Q&As presented.’
Sarah Dows CMIOSH
professional
development
‘I think the views expressed in the ethics
module are enlightened and realistic,
and I am proud to be associated with an
Sign up for an
organisation that is specific and open about
IOSH CPD course
what it stands for.’
David Fagg CMIOSH Read articles
in IOSH magazine
What’s next? Attend an event
IOSH is about to launch its updated or webinar
membership grades, which are set to
Watch webinar
shape the OSH profession for years to recordings
come. We’ll also be launching a self-serve
Read our health and
personalised journey for you to upgrade
safety guidance and
your membership so that it reflects your research reports
level of professional competence.
To get ahead and be ready for this,
complete your self-assessment now and
Read up on topics in
IOSH’s occupational
health toolkit
start to upskill yourself. Check where
your strengths lie and make full use of the Visit iosh.com to
resources IOSH has produced to fill the see more ideas.
gaps in your OSH knowledge.
It could be the best thing you do for
yourself and your career this year.
IOSH MAGAZINE 27
13/12/2022 09:55
THE B I G STORY RISK
(UN)COMMON
SENSE
While it is a phrase familiar to many, for OSH
professionals it is a fundamentally flawed
concept. We explore why – and find out how to
ensure evidence-based approaches are used.
WORDS ANNA SCOTT
‘J
ust use common sense’: a phrase often
used in health and safety, usually said with
the best intentions but without thinking
it through, according to Kevin McCloskey
CMIOSH, consultant and owner of Just
Health and Safety. ‘What is this magical
thing health and safety professionals seem
to be blind to recommending?’ he adds.
Common sense is a term ‘mainly reserved
for those looking on with 20:20 vision after
an accident who want to feel superior’, Kevin says. Or
they are in the process of ‘setting someone up to fail
(for example by not providing the right equipment to
do a job), and usually said as a throwaway comment’. In
other words, common sense cannot be ‘pinned down or
relied upon as a strategy to control risk’.
Psychologists, philosophers and other academics
have sought to define common sense. Dr Peter Ellerton,
senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of
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28-32 Cover feature_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 28
Queensland in Australia, says common sense is
something that everyone should be able to understand,
even if it has to be explained first. ‘Usually when we talk
about something being common sense, we mean that it
is intuitively obvious (or at least obvious once someone
points it out), logically consistent, an appropriate
view to hold or position to take and grounded in
experience,’ he adds.
But it is a flawed concept. ‘Very few people lament
their own lack of common sense, but notice a lack of
it around them,’ Peter adds, explaining that we often
confuse something being intuitively obvious for
something being true. ‘There are a lot of reasons for this,
including our background assumptions, experiences and
overall world views. What seems blindingly obvious to
one person can seem incomprehensible to another. This
explains why we can all be champions of common sense
but end up disagreeing on a wide variety of subjects.’
In addition, the way ‘common sense’ translates
13/12/2022 09:56
 ILLUSTRATION: OSCAR WILS ON

IOSH MAGAZINE 29

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THE B I G STORY RISK
into different languages yields slightly
different meanings. Carsten Busch, ‘safety
mythologist’ and historian, explains that in
English the phrase emphasises ‘common’,
meaning behaviour perceived as rational
within a large part of the population. In
other languages, the phrase has a more
nuanced meaning. ‘Expressions such as
“gezond verstand” (Dutch) or “sunt fornuft”
(Norwegian) translate rather into a “healthy
sense” than “common sense”,’ he explains.
Psychologist Dr Jim Taylor says the idea
that common sense is ‘sound judgement
derived from experience rather than study
is one of the most revered qualities’, but is
‘neither common nor sensible’.
‘The idea that if a belief is held by a large
number of people it must be sound has been
disproved time and time again,’ he says. The
concept of common sense does not explain
why people buy things they cannot afford,
smoke cigarettes or eat junk food, Jim says,
adding: ‘Perhaps the biggest problem with
the common-sense argument is that it is
invariably supported by anecdotal evidence.’
Folk psychology – the belief we can draw
intuitive or common-sense conclusions about
people’s behaviour, thoughts and feelings –
has some accuracy but is often not correct. For
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28-32 Cover feature_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 30
Common sense
is less a guiding
principle than
an excuse for
dismissing
alternative
interpretations
example, most people believe no one would
confess to a crime they didn’t commit unless
they were tortured, but extensive empirical
research has shown that false confessions are
surprisingly common and occur for a variety
of reasons (Chiang et al, 2015).
Psychologists have theorised why many
of our intuitive beliefs about human
behaviour are wrong. For example, widely
shared beliefs endorsed by ‘experts’ that
make intuitive sense are assumed to be true.
Confirmation bias – focusing on finding
‘evidence’ that our beliefs are true and
ignoring cases that don’t confirm them
– compounds this (Chiang et al, 2015).
Managers
should not assume
teams are relying
on common sense
CREATING BIAS
Relying on a common-sense
approach to health and safety may
have an impact on worker wellbeing
and equity. Carsten Busch asks
how appropriate common-sense
assumptions are in our globalised,
hyper-connected world with
multicultural workplaces. ‘Can you
really assume that, for example,
immigrant workers or hired workers
from eastern Europe share the same
underlying knowledge, attitudes and
values with us? They won’t share
the same language or know what
common sense means. They will
however understand the judgmental
tone in your voice. I think that
parading common sense is a sneaky
way of putting your own world view
above that of others. That makes it
quite toxic for equity, doesn’t it?’
Kevin Jones says the ‘comfort of
common sense’ reinforces the status
quo of slow progress in health and
safety improvement and substantial
trade-o s in pursuit of corporate and
individual wealth.
‘We seem to be in a position
where workers are complaining
about poor mental health at the
same time as sacrificing their mental
health for career progression and
job stability,’ he says. ‘OSH relies on
workers refusing unsafe work, but
what happens when workers are
willing to su er? Workers should
not be expected to su er. That is
why the OSH laws emphasise the
employer’s primary duty of care.
‘What the laws do not require and
could not enforce is the employers’
duty of care. We need to convince
employers that the duty to care for
workers is equal or stronger than the
employers’ desire for wealth.’
13/12/2022 09:57
 To apply an example from OSH: common
sense might say that if there hasn’t been an
incident with a piece of equipment for the
past 10 years, the hazard is negligible. But in
fact the likelihood of impact has diminished,
not disappeared (Vecchio-Sadus, 2010).
Reinforcing power relationships
In the OSH profession, common sense has
not been and is not a guiding principle,
according to IOSH head of policy Ruth
Wilkinson. ‘Historically, the phrase
“common sense” has been either linked
with reports or general comments such as
“keeping people safe at work is common
sense”,’ she says.
‘Common sense is referred to within
OSH training on interpreting risk
perception across the workforce and
structure of an organisation,’ Ruth
says. ‘This is part of OSH practitioners
developing their understanding that
common sense is not a suitable control
for any hazard in the workplace.’
But common sense can reinforce the
of different outcomes.’ He sees different
approaches in different sectors, too. For
example, people working in the relatively
newer, offshore wind sector use harnesses
to climb vertical ladders and have fall
arrest equipment, compared with people
working on older oil and gas platforms
who climb similar ladders without any fall
arrest equipment. Both would believe their
methods to be common sense.
‘I think it’s wrong to totally dismiss it
when someone says, “We rely on common
sense” because if they have competency
and experience in a field, it’s more than
likely – providing they haven’t become
complacent and tuned out the risk – that
their version of common sense in this
LEGISLAT ION
instance will keep them in a good place,’
says Kevin. He also sees different attitudes
to common sense in OSH across SMEs
and big companies. ‘In some of the larger
companies, you can get headstrong and
egotistical people who want to introduce
what they believe is right for no good reason
other than they believe it to be right,’ he
says. ‘In some smaller companies I’ve often
found managers know their teams better
and rely on them to know how to operate.’
If managers don’t know their teams
or what their perception of risk is, and
are assuming they are relying on their
common sense, the repercussions could be
very serious, Kevin adds. ‘Reliance on any
one individual, regardless of their role, is

The case for simplification?

power relationship and culture of those
who use the phrase, according to Kevin
Jones, editor of SafetyAtWorkBlog. ‘It’s
less a guiding principle or working practice Common sense is a released a statement three days – being
than an excuse for dismissing alternative phrase beloved of titled, ‘Common sense perceived in the main
interpretations or for considering politicians – see UK restored to health and as beneficial (GB
home secretary Suella safety’ (Department Health and Safety
perspectives that do not support the
Braverman’s call for of Work and Pensions, Executive, 2013).
dominant economic purpose of the business
a return to ‘common- 2013). ‘A common- However, she
or employer,’ he says. ‘I have heard common
sense policing’ sense approach to adds: ‘What we don’t
sense being used by a senior OSH person (Home Office, 2022) simplifying legislation, or want are the real
to establish a rapport with some workers – and is often used removing unnecessary risks being missed.
and managers who are suspicious of health as an argument for bureaucracy to make Where common sense
and safety disruption. But this short-term deregulation in health compliance easier is a approaches to health
achievement reinforces the ineffectiveness and safety. good approach,’ says and safety are applied,
of formal risk assessment processes.’ Common sense, Ruth Wilkinson. there is no guarantee
As a behavioural and leadership coach, common safety She cites the example suitable and sufficient
Kevin Rogers CMIOSH, of consultancy was the title of Lord of changes to the UK’s controls for hazards will
Young’s 2010 review RIDDOR (Reporting of have been identified or
Rogers Safety, runs exercises for people
into ‘the operation Injuries, Diseases and implemented, and it’s
to reflect on their personal perception
of health and safety Dangerous Occurrences fair to say they probably
of risk. ‘It frequently shows that people’s
laws and the growth Regulations) in will not be sufficient.
perceptions are so wide and vary based of the compensation 2012 – requiring This includes suitable
on their past experiences, their general
PHOTOG RAPHY: ISTOCK

culture’. When the incidents resulting in and appropriate

attitude, their demeanour and their government published incapacitation to be training, measurement
character,’ he says. ‘Purely relying on two reports in response reported over seven of competency or levels
common sense would see you with lots three years later, it days instead of over of supervision required.’

IOSH MAGAZINE 31

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THE B I G STORY RISK
dangerous.’ Relying on common sense
would not, for example, provide a legal
defence in the event of an accident.
Wisdom vs common sense
In the OSH world, context and experience
have great significance, Peter points out,
citing the example of marine navigation
and established boating protocols that
are often ignored by novices in favour
of a ‘common-sense’ approach. ‘This
established knowledge is very hard-
won and represents the cumulative
experiences of generations of boaties,’ he
says. ‘What we see in this example is the
difference between common sense and
wisdom. The former can be cheap, easy
and accessible, while the latter takes
time and hard work.’
However, he adds: ‘Just because “we’ve
always done it this way” doesn’t mean
it is the most sensible way to do things,
particularly when times or circumstances
change and the old ways are no longer the
best ways. Habit, tradition and mental
heuristics might be very useful to work
quickly and productively, but they can
get in the way when the conditions that
formed them change.’
Moving beyond common sense
The problem with assuming a shared
wisdom in OSH, Kevin McCloskey says,
is that ‘crowds’ aren’t necessarily wise,
consistent or interested in detail. ‘This
is why we have a two-pronged legal
system which can, over time, set carefully
considered standards in order to minimise
harm to the vast majority of workers,
and provide compensation to those
who are disadvantaged through poor
working arrangements.
‘On the statutory law side, the duty
to risk-assess places the responsibility
where it should be – on those who are in
charge. For employers who have “vicarious
liability” for the actions of their employees
it would unforgivable, indeed risky to
the business, to try to rely on a populist
catchphrase to manage their affairs.’
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TO P T I P S
How to think
outside the
common-
sense box
Review risk
assessments and
procedures, checking
forreferences to common sense
and replace with a definition of
the competence and knowledge
required, how this will be
achieved and what level of
supervision is required until the
knowledge is demonstrated.
Ensure that there are no
assumptions of shared
worker wisdom within
the organisation and workforce.
Support the
development and
delivery of appropriate
OSH competency throughout
the organisation.
Ensure your individual
competency is
maintained via IOSH
membership/Blueprint and the
IOSH competency framework.
Ruth Wilkinson,
head of health and safety
(policy and operations), IOSH
There is much OSH professionals can
do to ensure evidence-based approaches
are used, Carsten says. ‘Good OSH relies
on transdisciplinary approaches so we
need to develop within our discipline,
and we also need other disciplines.’
Professionals shouldn’t be tempted to
apply overly simple solutions that ignore
essential elements of the systems they
are working in, he explains. ‘Common
sense is often invoked to simplify a
complex world by reducing complex
situations to the behaviour of a person.
That is a normal reaction, but not a
very useful one, and one that may have
negative effects,’ he adds. ‘And ask
critical questions. Often, we don’t need
more answers but better questions,
such as “Why did it make sense for
that person?”’
Communication skills, persistence
and openness to new ideas and changing
one’s mind are also crucial personal skills
when dealing with colleagues, Kevin
explains. ‘Health and safety professionals
are often in positions of giving advice,
rather than owning the tasks where risk
assessment and reduction is needed,’ he
adds. ‘Each professional develops their
own set of tools and techniques that can
be brought to bear.’
Peter says that perhaps the best
common-sense approach is to ‘realise
that we may not know the best way to
do something and to seek the advice of
those who have been doing it for a while’.
For colleagues working with health and
safety professionals who have built up
risk perception over time through the
work they do and training they have
undertaken, this is crucial.
As Jim Taylor concludes: ‘We need
to jettison this notion of the sanctity
of common sense and instead embrace
“reasoned sense” – that is, sound
judgement based on rigorous study
of an issue.’
To see references for this article, visit
ioshmagazine.com/common-sense
13/12/2022 09:57
 A New Year’s
resolution
that’s really
going to stick
Get my Professional Development Plan sorted
Build on my knowledge and skills
Track my CPD progress more efficiently
Put professional ethics at the heart of all I do
Maintain my technical, core and behavioural competencies

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enhanced Blueprint, check your inbox for a
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will contain your login details.

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our Blueprint article on page 26.

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p33.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 33 13/12/2022 10:58

 PRACTICE
EXPLORE SKILLS, IDEAS AND THEORIES

34 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

34-36 Casual workers_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 34 13/12/2022 09:59

 As gig working becomes more commonplace, how
can OSH professionals ensure that safety standards
are maintained for every worker in their care?
WORDS ALEX LLOYD
W
here once there was a
straightforward split
between the employed
and self-employed, today’s
labour market is much more complex.
The UK’s ‘gig economy’ workforce is now
estimated at 7.25 million people (Fennell,
2022). The global figure is expected to hit
73 million in 2023 (Mastercard, 2020).One
study found 18% of HR directors in the UK
think three-quarters of their workforce
will be gig workers in the next five years
(Fennell, 2022).
Non-standard work had always been
more common in developing countries
but is growing rapidly in industrialised
nations, as well as infiltrating sectors
traditionally associated with standard jobs,
such as office work (International Labour
Organization (ILO), 2016). In the UK and
PHOTOG RAPHY: ISTOCK
EU, non-standard workers have a legal right
to the same health and safety protection
as permanent staff, but the picture varies
34-36 Casual workers_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 35
globally. ‘Whatever way people work for
your organisation, you have an equal duty
of care towards them, not just legally but
ethically too,’ says Angela Gray, senior OSH
specialist for IOSH. ‘If that is how you are
managing your labour strategy, you have a
responsibility to have a policy nailed down
on how you are going to keep them safe.’
This should apply across the board, from
SMEs to large corporate organisations
– whether casual staff represent a small
portion of the workforce or most of it.
Who’s the boss?
Casual workers come in many guises, taking
in temporary, agency and zero-hours staff.
But they are all defined as workers under
UK law, providing they do not subcontract
their tasks or are engaged through a limited
company, with a right to work without
detriment. The status of gig workers who
operate via a gig platform, such as Uber
or TaskRabbit, is a greyer area, as they
are short-term flexible workers paid on
completion of tasks.
The law around the world is evolving
to define them, albeit slowly, with the
Supreme Court of England and Wales
ruling in February 2021 that Uber drivers
MEN TAL HEA LT H
Non-standard
workers: the
psychosocial
risks revealed
Job and income
insecurity due to
the temporary
and short-
term nature of
gig work can
lead to added
psychosocial risks
and stress for workers, says the
ILO specialist. ‘Common reasons
for workplace stress among app-
based taxi and delivery workers
include uncertainty of finding
su cient services, long working
shifts, pressure to drive quickly
and risk of work-related injury
and violence,’ says Ana Catalina
Ramírez (pictured).
‘Fearing loss of future work
opportunities, workers may be
discouraged from speaking up
about OSH concerns. Workers on
web-based platforms do both paid
and unpaid hours of work, which
increases the hours spent in the
job and lead to a lack of work/life
balance or di culty disconnecting.’
IOSH MAGAZINE 35
13/12/2022 14:36
THE PRA CTI C E NON-STANDARD WORK

should have worker status, thanks to
sustained lobbying by the GMB, a UK
general trade union. The European
Commission has also proposed new
measures to improve working conditions
for platform workers, which have a 2025
deadline to become law (EU, 2021).
Guidance from the GB Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) confirms that businesses
should treat gig economy workers no
differently to others, while in April 2022,
PPE regulations were amended to place a
duty on every employer in Great Britain to
provide suitable PPE to all limb (b) workers
– those who have a casual employment
relationship and work under a contract for
service – free of charge. Previously it was
only required for limb (a) employees (those
with a contract of employment) (HSE, 2022).
Price of freedom
There is strong evidence that gig platform
workers have a poorer work/life balance
than permanent employees, not least
because of the precarious nature of their
income. In addition, almost half of this group
are taking on tasks to supplement the income
from a full-time job (Fennell, 2022), leaving
them vulnerable to fatigue and burnout.
When the European Agency for Safety
and Health at Work analysed 93 studies into
the link between non-standard employment
and negative impact on health and safety, 76
found it was associated with a deterioration
in terms of injury rates, disease risk,
hazard exposures or worker and manager
knowledge (EU-OSHA, 2021).
While gig work is varied, much of it
still centres on lone workers operating in
vulnerable, unregulated settings, with one
survey revealing 42% of drivers and riders
had suffered damage to their vehicle due to
a collision while working (UCL, 2018).
It makes for a perfect storm of high risk
and high pressure. ‘Work in the platform
economy often includes groups of workers
that are already particularly vulnerable
to OSH risks, such as migrant workers,
discouraged from reporting incidents
to their employer, as well as barriers to
accessing healthcare or other services in
the event of an accident or injury.’
Talk the talk
New methods of working need new
solutions if OSH professionals are to
mitigate and prevent the hazards. ‘[Non-
standard workers] can be harder to engage
than traditional employees,’ says Angela.
‘You might not even meet them, and it’s
not as easy to fulfil your duties. It’s difficult
to rely on written information, emails
and video links, and to be sure that these
workers will read, understand or use it.’
Communicating to casuals that
the process is for their benefit – and
New methods of
working need new
solutions if we are
to mitigate and
prevent hazards
CASE ST UDY
Deliveroo
Founded in London in
2013, Deliveroo operates
a hyperlocal three-sided
digital marketplace,
connecting consumers,
restaurants and grocers,
and riders.
It operates in 11
markets worldwide,
with 110,000 self-
demonstrates their value to the business
– will also reap rewards. ‘Let them know this
is not just a tick-box exercise,’ says Angela.
‘There needs to be clear signposting to their
points of contact to report problems, both a
normal channel and a whistleblowing route.’
This will also help to mitigate the risk
of casual staff disrupting your existing
safety regime. ‘Having a good safety culture
in place will ensure permanent staff feel
empowered to challenge errors and support
their casual colleagues to work safely,’
says Angela.
Steve Garelick, GMB officer for transport
and logistics, emphasises that OSH
professionals need to educate upwards.
‘The people running some gig platforms
have very little understanding of health and
safety dynamic risk assessments,’ he says.
‘They are not looking at the bigger picture.
If you are going to operate a business and
expect individuals to serve that business,
you have a duty of care to their safety and
their security of wealth. It comes down to
being ethical and doing the right thing.’
To view references for this article,
see ioshmagazine.com/gig-workers
along Key kit has
with earning minimal safety
support for sickness requirements, although
and a new child payment. riders are required to
The policy covers them buy it. They are provided
up to an hour after they with information on
finish their shift, but car cleaning and maintaining
and scooter users need these items.
to buy their own vehicle In September 2022,
insurance, including Deliveroo UK created
P HOTOGRAPHY: S HUT TERSTOCK

employed riders. cover for food delivery. a voluntary partnership

young workers and women,’ says Ana Deliveroo provides There is a live rider with the GMB union to
Catalina Ramírez, OSH specialist for the free personal accident support team to advise discuss pay and consult
ILO. ‘Migrant workers may face increased and third-party liability on topics from payments on health and safety,
job insecurity, resulting in them being insurance to every rider, to safety. benefits and inclusion.

36 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

34-36 Casual workers_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 36 13/12/2022 10:00

 Are you making the
most of your benefits?
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• Competency framework • Award winning magazine
• Blueprint tool with over 900 CPD • Latest news direct to your inbox
resources • Also webinars with industry leaders
• Accreditation for higher education and eminent experts and thought
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organisations • Access to thousands of resources,
• Access to our technical helpline guides, e-books and articles
staffed by experts
• IOSH post nominals that
demonstrate your commitment to
competence and credibility

Community
• Sector groups that connect you to an
international network of OSH experts
in your industry
• Connect with our global network of
over 49,000 members
• Build your network at your local
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Career
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development plan
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• ioshjobV.com
BS1960.3/081222/IM

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p37.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 37 13/12/2022 11:02

THE PRA CTI C E WORKPLACE FATALITIES

S
ingapore has worked hard
to improve workplace safety
and health (WSH) standards,
with legislation, a national
strategy, enforcement, education and
ambitious goals.
The current target is to cut the workplace
fatality rate to less than one per 100,000
workers by 2028, bringing it in line with
that of the safest countries in the world.
Sustained efforts have seen that key metric
fall from 4.9 in 2004 (Ministry of Manpower
(MOM), 2010) to 1.1 in 2021 (MOM, 2022a).
Yet in 2022, despite a decline in the
number of both major and minor injuries
(MOM, 2022b), there has been a worrying
rise in the number of workplace deaths. As
of 12 October 2022, when IOSH spoke to
Singapore’s MOM, the government ministry
for workforce policies, they numbered 39,
compared with 37 for the whole of 2021
(MOM, 2022c).
Behind the figures
The most common hypothesis is that ‘as
Singapore’s economy opened up post-
COVID and economic activity has picked
up significantly, people have been rushing
and rusty,’ says Silas Sng, commissioner
for workplace safety and health divisional
director, OSH division, MOM.
He says: ‘I have spoken to several
contractors on the building and
construction side, which has been the
biggest contributor to fatalities and
injuries. They have a double whammy
situation where they are rushing to
complete delayed projects at the same
time as coming to grips with new projects

SINGAPORE:
BACK TO SAFETY
After years of steady decline, workplace fatalities in the country
rose significantly in 2021-22. We explore the potential causes
and the action being taken.
WORDS JULIETTE ASTRUP

38 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

38-40 Singapore_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 38 13/12/2022 10:02

 they’ve taken on. ‘The rusty part – and this is
more hypothetical – is that employees have
not been working for a period of time.’
Nurul Asshekin, chair of IOSH Singapore
branch, says she is very concerned by the rise
in workplace deaths, especially as ‘Singapore
has grown from strength to strength in terms
of how we are managing the workforce,
especially in the construction industry.’ She
suggests it may ‘either emphasise the lack of
leadership and commitment towards a safe
working environment, or a severe push and
demands to workers for productivity at the
expense of the workers’ safety’.
She adds: ‘Working in the training and
education industry, we see that funds
for non-legally mandated training have
unfortunately been one of the first expenses
that most companies are cutting, and this
impacts competence and how current their
employees are in keeping themselves abreast
with the right knowledge.’
Taking action
Responding to the worrying trend, on
1 September the MOM announced a
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY
six-month period of ‘heightened safety’,
introducing unprecedented measures such
as the mandatory ‘safety time-out’ and the
38-40 Singapore_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 39
Safety and health
start at the top,
and if there is
zero tolerance
from the top, that
percolates down
upfront debarment of companies from
hiring migrant workers if, following an
accident, serious WSH lapses are uncovered.
Chief executive officers of errant
companies may now be required to
personally account to the MOM and take
responsibility for rectifications, or engage
external auditors to conduct a thorough
review of their WSH processes.
In addition, all companies in higher
risk sectors were required to conduct
a time-out during September to review
safety procedures.
The MOM also announced strengthened
support for SMEs, with the expansion
of its StartSAFE programme that gives
businesses access to WSH consultants,
paid for by the MOM, to help identify
risks and implement good practices. As
of 1 October, targeted measures for the
construction sector were also brought
in, including lowering the threshold for
issuing demerit points for workplace
safety breaches, with those exceeding
the penalty thresholds being debarred
from hiring foreign employees for up to
two years.
A new harmonised set of
disqualification criteria introduced
across all public sector construction
tenders also means contractors with poor
WSH performance can be temporarily
disqualified from participating.
Reactions and results
The MOM’s intervention has been
welcomed by Nurul, who sees the rise
in fatalities as ‘a culture issue that
cannot be quickly corrected without
adequate intervention’.
She adds: ‘It forces companies to take
a step back and reflect. Some would do it
with good intent and understanding of
the purpose, but some companies just
tick the box.’
While it is still very early days, there are
positive signs, with the preliminary stats
IOSH MAGAZINE 39
13/12/2022 14:36
THE PRA CTI C E WORKPLACE FATALITIES
for accidents and fatalities for September
having come down. ‘The voices I’m hearing
from industry show the desire to comply,’
says Silas. ‘Everyone acknowledges that
recovery and economic growth is one
thing – but it should not be at the cost
of killing workers.’
Inspection and enforcement
Inspection and enforcement activities
have also been stepped up, with more
than 3500 inspections in the higher-risk
sectors between January and June 2022
– 35% more than the same period last year.
The MOM took enforcement action over
more than 9000 breaches under the WSH
Act and Regulations and issued more than
50 stop work orders (SWOs) in the first
six months of the year, a two-fold increase
compared with the same period last year.
This level of intensity is set to continue,
with a strong focus on Singapore’s
construction industry in particular. The
MOM has issued 63 SWOs to construction
sites between January 2022 and mid-
September 2022. These include an SWO
and S$15,000 (£9180) fine imposed on Wah
Khiaw Developments Pte Ltd on 11 August
2022, where the MOM found multiple
unsafe practices – including working at
height without barricades or fall arrest
systems, unsafe formworks, and unsafe
means of access.
Meanwhile, a fatal accident on 25 August
involving a lorry driver who was run over
by a forklift while he was securing it onto
a lorry for transportation prompted an
SWO at Synergy-Biz Pte Ltd, after a MOM
inspection the following day found multiple
unsafe conditions. A S$6000 (£3670)
composition fine was issued.
What’s next?
Going forward, a key lever will be the
new Approved Code of Practice [CoP] on
Chief Executives’ and Board of Directors’
WSH duties, launched by the minister for
manpower Dr Tan See Leng in September,
and aimed at ‘integrating WSH into
organisational processes and establishing
clear responsibilities of company directors
and CEOs’ (MOM, 2022d).
40 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
38-40 Singapore_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 40
How to
promote a
strong health
and safety
culture
Action for OSH professionals
Establish open reporting of
incidents, near misses and
concerns, coupled with the
concept of fair culture.
Explore what senior managers
and workers believe about
health and safety practices
within the workplace.
Find out what is expected of
the workers in terms of health
and safety values, beliefs,
attitudes and practices.
Consider prevention strategies
and interventions to address
any differences between
expectations and reality in the
organisation’s OSH culture.
Ensure good risk management
and OSH management and
acknowledge that measurable
and permanent change in the
OSH culture will take time.
Silas adds: ‘The CoP is not equivalent to
law in matters of prosecution, but a court
can make reference to it in deciding whether
a CEO has taken all reasonable and practical
measures – the yardstick of those measures
is the CoP.
‘We believe that safety and health start at
the top, and if there is zero tolerance from
the top, that percolates down.’
In addition, as announced by the MOM
on 1 September, a new multisectoral task
force will continue to work to strengthen
safety practices and outcomes. ‘We will
look to IOSH, linking with the local chapter
and the wider network, to see how we can
tap into that,’ Silas explains. ‘We don’t
have the monopoly on what is the best way
to improve the situation, and certainly,
whoever has good ideas that we can
implement, we will shamelessly take
those on if they can save life and limb.’
Broader lessons
The apparent backslide in safety practices
in Singapore demonstrates the need for
constant vigilance around OSH, as well as
the importance of strong data in identifying
red flags and empowering action.
Hopes are high that the steps already
being taken will be enough to see the
rise in workplace fatalities reversed and
Singapore resume progress towards its
vision of being one of the safest places
in the world to work.
But the situation also offers a reminder
for all OSH professionals, wherever
they live, of the potential for safety
cultures to slip, especially during times
of heightened pressure.
Ruth Wilkinson, IOSH head of health
and safety (policy and operations), says:
‘It’s important to note that we don’t
know what the cause is in relation to
Singapore. However, we know that poor
safety cultures exist when employees
demonstrate unsafe behaviours, the
organisation’s attitude and values are
not aligned to safety and safe
working, there is poor training, poor
communication, poor supervision, poorly
designed equipment or operations and
working conditions, and so on.’
Reasons for a decline in standards are,
therefore, multifaceted, from leadership
and training to competency and a culture
of tolerating poor and unsafe practices.
She adds: ‘It’s not enough to provide
safe equipment, systems and procedures
if the culture doesn’t encourage safe and
healthy working. OSH professionals must
aim to apply current thinking in a practical,
realistic way to achieve safe and healthier
working environments and practices.’
To see references for this article, visit
ioshmagazine.com/singapore-fatalities
13/12/2022 10:04
 ioshjobs.com
- the home for
health and safety
jobs online.
Recruit skilled and dedicated
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START from assistant to director level
to fill any vacancy, or take the
YOUR next step in your own career by
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New
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IOSH MANAGING SAFELY IN LOGISTICS appro rse
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IOSH
Examples of some of the additional subjects covered in this new course include:

• Safe use of racking • Preventing drive offs • Parcel handling

• Safe use of forklift trucks and • Use of compactors and bailers • ADR
recharging • Use of knives • Final mile/fulfilment
• Coupling & uncoupling • Shift work

Feedback from attendees on previous courses include:

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p41.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 41 13/12/2022 11:03

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p42.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 42 13/12/2022 11:05


How to... be a
problem-solver
We find out what soft skills are needed to overcome
– or prevent – OSH issues in the workplace.
P
roblem-solving
is a skill needed by OSH
professionals at all stages
of their careers. We asked
experienced OSH manager
and industrial hygienist
Dr Steve Cowley CMIOSH (pictured),
of engineering and health and safety
risk management company Finch
Consulting, for his advice on how to
do it well.
What kind of problems are OSH
professionals likely to face?
We are problem-solving all the time:
our role is to try to prevent health and
ILLUSTRATION: S HUTTERSTOCK
safety problems or to mitigate those
that exist. We’re generally trying to sell
a message to people about how things
43-44 Problem solver_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 43
WORDS HELEN BIRD
should be designed and run, so that
risk is minimised. And the hierarchy
of controls [a way of determining what
actions will best control exposures]
that we use as a framework is
almost a problem-solving list
in itself.
In what situations
can problem-solving
be effective?
I’m currently looking at a
problem that’s been created
by designing a process around the
product, and the processing of
that product – and then the person
has been brought into the picture
to interact with the process and
equipment. And that’s too late: we
THE PRA CTI C E SK ILLS
want these problem-solving activities
upstream in the design process. We
should stop and think about how
human input will work safely with
what we’re trying to achieve
equipment and process-wise.
So, we’re now having to
problem-solve, but the
solution is going
to be a compromise.
How do you approach
problem-solving?
We begin with gathering information.
The type of information we often
need includes:
What that problem is: how it
has arisen, the scale of the problem,
whether it is technical
IOSH MAGAZINE 43
13/12/2022 10:05
THE PRA CTI C E SK ILLS
or organisational, and whether it is
simple or multifaceted.
What the nature of the problem is: is
there a risk to people, the organisation
or the environment?
The risk of exposure: is the risk acute
– requiring immediate intervention and
short-term solutions – or do we have
the luxury of time?
The stakeholders: what are their interests
and are there competing interests?
What is the organisation trying to
achieve? Is there support where it’s
needed and time and cash in the budget
to solve the problem? Is there an
appetite for the best solution?
What soft skills do you need to
be a good problem-solver?
Open-mindedness, listening and creative
thinking skills. Problem-solving tools
are obviously helpful, but the choice of
tool will be determined by the scale and
nature of the problem.
My colleague Dr John Culvenor
experimented successfully with
physician and psychologist Edward de
Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’ methodology
in team-based problem-solving.
The hierarchy of controls is a great
foundation for creative thinking that
all health and safety professionals are
using because we’re constantly looking
44 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
43-44 Problem solver_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 44
for ways to achieve those higher-order
outcomes. We also need to be consulting
with all the stakeholders – so it’s an
open, communicative, creative and
consultative approach. Consultation
is more than communication.
Which elements of the IOSH
competency framework are used?
To an extent, all of them. In the technical
category we’re looking at health and
safety law – or compliance – and risk
management. Of the core competencies
we’re trying to provide leadership, and
planning is where we’re trying to get
upstream and get the problem solved
at design stage.
And then in the behavioural category
we’re managing stakeholders, we’re
communicating and working with others.
So problem-solving fits into a large part
of the framework.
How do you ensure that problems
are identified before they arise?
We must look for opportunities for
the organisation to learn, and prevent
repeats of the mistakes that have led
to past problems.
Ideally, the OSH professional is
consulted at the concept and design
stages. All stakeholders must be
identified and consulted. Users and
maintenance staff, for example,
usually have rich experience and
ideas that are of value to process and
equipment designs.
Assessing processes from end to
end, and considering machinery and
equipment lifecycles, identifying
the stakeholders at every stage and
engaging them in such group exercises
is always fruitful. Consultation is vital
for identifying and ironing out as many
problems as possible before money
is spent.
Read more about Six Thinking Hats in a
safety context at safetydifferently.com/
six-thinking-hats-for-safety
Clearer view
Liz Jackson MBE is sales and
marketing director and co-owner of
corporate finance advisers BCMS.
Having lost her eyesight at 26, she
believes problem-solving is innate
in people with disabilities. Here, she
describes what this means and how
she applies it in the workplace.
I was born with a baseline condition,
which meant I had tunnel vision
and night blindness, so I grew up
needing to navigate the world
differently. And much of that is in
problem-solving.
I was in a school production once
where I had to walk through the
audience from the back of the hall
to the front in the dark. I made it so
that my character had a wand, and
I tapped the chairs as I went to get
away with it.
When problem-solving at work, I
tend to follow a process. What’s the
reality of the situation we’re in? Then
we collect all the data to understand
it fully. What are my options? I’ll start
to make a list and I’ll pick the top
three things that I think will have the
biggest impact on me and navigating
that problem or solution. And then I’ll
make a list of what I’ll do – and get it
in the diary.
I use lots of coaching techniques
when problem-solving, including
GROW [goal, reality, options, will]. I
can navigate that process probably
in five minutes now. It’s a thinking
strategy for me that stops me from
PHOTOG RAPHY: S HUTT ERSTOCK
fl apping or feeling panicky.
13/12/2022 10:05
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p45.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 45 13/12/2022 11:06

THE PRA CTI C E CA SE ST UDY
The search for safety
HACKS A ‘hackathon’ to develop better safety
management software using AI has
helped the Port of Tyne move towards
its ambition of achieving zero harm.
WORDS MATT LAMY
I
n 2019, the Port of Tyne set itself
the target of ‘zero harm’ and is
developing a safety culture among
its 330 employees to eradicate
injuries. And a recent initiative, a
Smart Safety Hackathon – which
brought together teams from industry
and universities to compete to find
data safety solutions – has brought
that goal nearer.
As 95% of the UK’s imports and
exports are handled by the maritime
sector, British ports are a hive of
activity – and of risk, with a massive
number of vehicle movements,
heavy plant operations and the
specific safety challenges presented
by maritime work (Department for
International Trade, 2022).
The Port of Tyne, near Newcastle
on the River Tyne, is one of the UK’s
major deep-sea ports. It accepts 83%
of the world’s largest container ships,
with operations including bulk and
conventional cargo, ferry, cruises,
and car terminals (North East Local
46 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
46-48 Port of Tyne_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 46
Enterprise Partnership, 2022). The
Nissan car plant at Sunderland is a
major partner, exporting its vehicles
for the European and global markets
through the port, while its other
business interests include logistics,
estates and renewable energy
operations – offshore energy firm
Equinor has selected the port as its
maintenance and operations base
for the Dogger Bank wind farm.
The zero-harm initiative is paying
off. The port recently worked for 15
months without reportable injury
– its best performance in a decade.
In response to Maritime 2050
– the UK government’s vision for the
British maritime industry – the Port
of Tyne’s health, safety, environment,
and quality (HSEQ) team, led by Jen
Maddison, is also introducing AI-
based predictive safety management
The Port of
software. It’s an exciting project, Tyne recently
worked for 15
and one that will be significantly months without
influenced by the work of teams that a reportable injury
took part in last summer’s hackathon.
13/12/2022 10:07
 The project
‘The port industry has strategy, which set industry,’ Jen says.
a challenge when out the requirement ‘We also use it to run
it comes to safety,’ to establish a cross- our own technology
Jen says. ‘There are sector innovation hub projects, including
fatalities, and every at a UK port by 2030. the development
one of those is a The port had the hub of our next safety
tragedy, not just to up and running on its management
families and friends site within six months. software, for
but to colleagues, The 2050 which we’ve run
employers and Innovation Hub several sprints
the industry.’ is a partnership and hackathons,
After 15 months between, among including the most
without a reportable others, Nissan, the recent hackathon
incident, the port Department for in June (Port of
has also received a Transport, and power Tyne, 2022).
RoSPA gold award supplier Drax, which ‘We have an online
for nine years imports and stores safety management
running. The reason wood pellets through system (SMS) that
for such success the port. ‘The hub is we use to report
is its commitment a space for people incidents and store
to being at the to collaborate and risk assessments, but
forefront of safety. For develop technical it’s not slick enough
example, in 2019 the solutions for and feels out of
government released challenges, not date, so we need
its Maritime 2050 just in the maritime something better.’

Objectives
While scoping the new SMS, Jen’s HSEQ
team consulted with colleagues from
all business areas to examine what they
wanted from the system. The key point
is that everyone at the port must be able
to easily access the system to report an
unsafe act, an unsafe condition, an injury,
or an incident of damage.
‘Then we thought about what would
help us to achieve zero harm and what
things do we need? What did we like about
the existing system and what did we think
PHOTOG RAPHY: PORT OF TYNE
‘We want a system that is more
forward-looking, and which uses
AI and data to predict and identify
trends, so that we can get ahead of the
curve. We need a system that is easy
for the port to use now but which also
gives us benefits for the next 10 or 15
years,’ Jen says.
‘With the Smart Safety Hackathon,
we wanted to see what was possible
and we wanted to push the
boundaries to find out what AI can

it could do better? We’ve come up with a do to help us improve. We wanted

comprehensive scope because we have had to see what systems can do now, and
everybody involved – it’s not just what we what they might be able to do even
want from a safety perspective. further in the future.

IOSH MAGAZINE 47

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THE PRA CTI C E CA SE ST UDY

E xec u t i o n SAFET Y FIRST

The Port of Tyne works closely with
Newcastle University and the National
Innovation Centre for Data (NICD), based
New ways of thinking
Jen Maddison, head of HSEQ at the Port of Tyne,
at the university’s campus. NICD was
explains why data and technology is so crucial.
instrumental in running the hackathon,
developing the specification, scope and
‘Safety is the port’s ‘It’s important to astonished by the way
hosting the event.
number one priority, and access expertise that data scientists
Six teams took part: three from
it is supported by our outside the industry. thought about the issues
universities – Northumbria, Durham and
company values: open, We are continually and the possibilities they
Newcastle – and three from industry – excellent, respectful making connections came up with. To have
Siemens, Bulien and Signal Intelligence. All and responsible. Our with industries such as crunched through such
were made up of data scientists or specialists biggest challenges now offshore wind, oil and an amount of data and
in related fields. Over two days, they were are developing our gas, transport sectors to come away with some
tasked with seeing how applying technology safety culture and data- and the construction usable systems was
to the port’s data could be used to provide gathering – looking for industry. We’re asking: incredible. If that’s what
enhanced understanding and risk prediction. leading indicators that how do you do safety? they can set up in two
‘We gave them all our incident data from we can use to identify a How have you improved days, what could they
trend or a problem before your safety performance do in six months? And
2018 to 2022. That meant, if it was something
it becomes an incident, and safety culture? what can we look forward
like a near miss, they had the time and the
and that was the key ‘In the case of the to in two, five or even
date that it occurred,’ Jen says.
reason for the hackathon. hackathon, I was 10 years?’
‘We also have a free text box within our
reporting system, so people can write a
description of what happened. First, by using natural language processing information from incidents and make it
‘The main question for the teams was: (NLP) to analyse the free text boxes, they were more concise.
“Given data about incidents – such as able to pull out keywords or phrases – such as Jen says: ‘It could recognise berth names
the type of operation, the type of cargo, ‘fire’, or ‘slips and trips’ – and then make heat or ship names and their prefixes such as
the weather, the time of day, the times of maps of the port that showed where most of TS or MV, even if they weren’t in capitals.
darkness, tide heights – is it possible to those types of injuries occurred. ‘Then the team developed a chatbot,
predict if an incident is likely to happen?”’ ‘For example, we could bring up a Google and we could ask it, “What could the
Map image of the port showing where the consequences of this incident have been? ”
R es u l t s fire hotspots were. That was so visual, and it The chatbot would summarise everything
The winning team from Newcastle was effectively in real time because as more and give us an answer.’
University – who received a trophy and incidents were reported, those hotspots Jen believes this capability could help with
£2000 in prize money – produced a solution would change,’ Jen says. The winning team’s lower-level risks. The chatbot system could
that went further than their rivals. second step was to use NLP to analyse be used to identify trends and flag up lower-
level reporting that is consistently occurring.
Students from the winning team
FA ST FACTS – Muzaffer Şenkal and Melike Bektaş, both

Port of
Tyne
330
people directly
277,000
cars handled by
from Turkey – remotely joined a board
meeting to demonstrate their solutions.
‘We’re now focusing on getting our new
employed by the port the port each year safety management software right. We
should have that online next year,’ Jen says.
So u rc e: P or t of Ty ne, 2 0 2 1

‘We’re definitely going to use the hackathon

55,000 2.9
20ft-equivalent unit containers million tonnes of cargo
forum again.’

To view the references, visit

ioshmagazine.com/port-tyne
handled each year passed through each year

48 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

46-48 Port of Tyne_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 48 13/12/2022 10:09

p49.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 49 13/12/2022 11:06
 WHEN YOU WORK
IN THE MOST
CHALLENGING
ENVIRONMENTS,
YOU NEED E YEWEAR
TECHNOLOGY THAT
LE TS YOU PERFORM
A T Y O U R B E S T.

E XC LU S I V E C OAT I N G
AG A I N S T F O G A N D S C R AT C H
ON BOTH SIDES OF THE LENS

p50.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 50 13/12/2022 11:07

 THE PRA CTI C E SA F ET Y T H EORY
ON THE ROPES In part two of their article on ROPE theory,
Paul Verrico cmiosh and Sarah Valentine
explore Planning and Empowerment.

I
n our last article, we discussed Sir
Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Everest,
which forms a powerful metaphor
for many workplace activities. Jon
Krakauer (2011) also writes about
a mistake made by Adventure
Consultants’ expedition leader, Rob
Hall, during an ascent of Everest in
1996, that led to his death and the
PHOTOG RAPHY: ISTOCK
favourable spring weather. Four days
before Hall’s ascent, after watching
another party return without
summitting, Hall told Krakauer:
‘To turn around that close to the
summit… that showed incredibly good
judgement on young Göran’s [Kropp]
part. I’m impressed – considerably
more impressed, actually, than if he’d
considered the likelihood and the
foreseeability, and had ‘stopped work’
before his actions became reckless.
Before the climb, Hall had reiterated
to climbers the importance of obeying
his orders on summit day: ‘I will
tolerate no discussion up there…… my
word will be absolute law.’
On the morning of the fatal ascent,

deaths of a fellow guide and two clients. continued climbing and made the top.’ Hall had told thee climbing party this
Hall’s party was not the only To a health and safety professional, ‘turnaround d time’ for the
one attempting to summit during Kropp had risk-assessed the hazards, group p was 2pm – the

IOSH MAGAZINE 51

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THE PRA CTI C E SA F ET Y T H EORY
CA S E ST U DY
A failure to plan leads to a fatality
Our client was a very large
transport firm, which frequently
undertook road resurfacing during
which there were lane closures.
Heras wire mesh fencing was
used to separate people from
moving vehicles, marshals would
walk the length of excavations,
and residents were guided into
driveways by a lead vehicle.
Where inner-city works took
place, the characteristics of the
neighbourhoods required careful
thought to identify hazards and
control risks, such as petrol
stations, hospitals or nurseries.
Each section of road presented
unique issues.
At one project’s inception, a
dedicated tra c planner was
tasked to identify the needs of
the neighbourhood and create a
detailed plan. As the months went
52 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
51-54 Ropes_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 52
on, the tra c planner became
overloaded – he was expected
to produce drawings and risk
assessments at short notice.
Standards started to slip and risk
assessment was delegated to site
managers. The managers began
confidently, faithfully following
the process. But as time went by,
those risk processes began to be
applied superficially. Assessments
for sites a mile away were cut and
pasted into a new document with
a different street heading.
The devastating consequences
of those decisions came to fruition
when works ran alongside a care
home. An elderly dementia patient
was unable to decipher the tra c
route and stepped into tra c. His
death exposed the deficiencies turnaround time being the point at which
in the system and the company every member of the team, regardless of
received a significant fine. where they are on the mountain, must
begin the descent. There were delays
en route; some ropes were not in position
and the lead climbers were delayed. Hall
failed to stick to the agreed plan, which was
calculated (or risk-assessed) to consider the
weather, daylight, temperature and fatigue.
He changed the risk mitigations. It was,
in fact, after 4pm when the last of Hall’s
group successfully reached the summit
and, by then, external events, including a
storm and plummeting temperatures meant
the initial mitigations were hopelessly
overwhelmed. The climbing party had
difficulty communicating and staying on
the agreed route and were overcome with
exhaustion. The results were catastrophic.
Planning – the P in ROPE
Planning is one of the fundamentals of
modern life, which we all practise to some
13/12/2022 14:38

extent. Yet the Planning extolled in ROPE
theory goes beyond setting policies. As was
seen with Hall’s fatal mistake, thought must
be given to considering ‘what if’ scenarios
when conditions or factors change in a
dynamic setting. Kahneman et al (2021)
describe how groups amplify noise. If
groups learn the views of component
members, social influences diminish
diversity without diminishing the collective
error. For many decisions, there are clouds
of possibilities, only one of which is realised.
Attending to the judgements of others
can cause a bias towards the first mover.
The order in which cues about a developing
situation come about and their relative
persuasiveness may have far more impact
on workers at the sharp end than on those
P HOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK / ALAMY
planning at the blunt end.
When we investigate incidents, it is
important to realise people act rationally
at the point of decision-making because
there are strong initial cues that suggest
51-54 Ropes_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 53
the situation is under control and can be
continued without changing the likelihood
of misfortune. If things change slowly,
people fail to respond in a timely way,
becoming situationally blind.
Conklin (2017) notes ‘prevention efforts
can’t prevent causes that were not expected,
just as planning can’t plan for unexpected
events. We are so invested in preventing all
accidents we don’t build the ability for our
systems to recover if the accident happened.
We investigate to determine how we failed
to prevent the bad thing from happening.’
It is essential that proper monitoring is
conducted to provide assurances the work
envisaged is an accurate representation of
how it is performed. It is important that
this monitoring exercise is not viewed as
satisfying numerical metrics but as a way to
properly feed back on the way the work is
being completed against the work planned.
Planning in ROPE theory is about
considering the skills workers will need
‘What if’ scenarios must be
considered when plans change
in a dynamic environment. It is about
considering the metrics and data thatt
need to be gathered to become a learning
organisation, and understanding where
measures succeed in stopping fatal
outcomes and what recoveries are possible
in a mature system.
Ensuring the right people are engaged in
the planning process is crucial. People who
are not competent in the full lifecycle of the
activity can create oversights that are not
corrected when completing the planning
process. Additionally, engagement with the
workforce is essential to understand the
requirements of the work being performed
to identify demands on planning, such as
time estimates, local conditions, equipment
availability and so on. Reactive planning
will expose employees to risk. Proactive
management of work activities will remove
these risks and enable the work to be
completed as imagined.
Empowerment – the E in ROPE
Allied to stress management is the final
ROPE element: Empowerment. Krakauer
explains that, as he began his descent, he
noticed wispy clouds forming around other
Himalayan peaks but thought nothing of it.
A fellow climber who was a pilot by trade
later told Krakauer that, in his experience,
wispy clouds are sometimes the ‘crowns of
robust thunderheads’.
Yet that life-saving information was
never passed to guide leaders. It had been
explained in the pre-ascent briefing to the
guided party that Hall did not wish to hear
dissenting views while the expedition made
the final push to the summit. Krakauer felt
detached from the other climbers – they
were linked only by circumstance, not by
commitment, trust or loyalty.
If Planning involves ensuring that
workers have the ability ‘to be able to do
work in a varying and unpredictable world’
(Conklin, 2017) or ‘having the capacity to
IOSH MAGAZINE 53
13/12/2022 10:10
THE PRA CTI C E SA F ET Y T H EORY

make things go well’ (Hollnagel, 2014) then CASE ST UDY

Empowerment is about giving local teams
the ability to speak up and act in accordance
with their training, rather than sticking by Empowerment: psychological safety
rote to policies that were made off-site for
Our client was a multi- o ce awards for safety owned and, because use they
work as an imagined task rather than for
national manufacturer project work on defined had no risk assessments, s
work as done.
with a six-sigma risks. Management none were needed.
The role of a leader is to create an philosophy (using data expressed amazement The man who lost
empowered workforce that feels able to analysis to assure high such an event could have his life had previous
voice issues to feel psychologically safe quality). The culture was occurred at one of their safety infringement
and to focus leaders on problems brewing one of relentless focus on safest locations. investigations, one of
below the surface. If the leaders rule performance and output. Investigations revealed which had seen him
with an iron fist, managers will not feel A fatality occurred a very low level of safety sent to hospital. The
comfortable questioning processes. They when unplanned competence at the site. local management had
will not feel empowered. This can lead to maintenance required The safety manager decided not to record this
workers to move a described himself as as a lost time incident.
accidents and near misses, impacting an
heavy machine. The ‘really a quality man’ and The corporate focus on
organisation’s overall health and safety
team devised a method suggested he spent as zero harm effectively
record and performance.
involving a wheeled little as 10% of his time incentivised under-
Edmondson (2018) posits that we live sled, while a member of on safety. Managers and reporting. No one at site
in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, the team was grinding supervisors had attended level felt empowered to
ambiguous) environment. Workarounds bolts at fl oor level. IOSH Managing Safely escalate safety issues to
can occur when workers do not feel safe The machine toppled, courses where risk divisional management
enough to speak up and make suggestions crushing him. The site assessments and method as previous poor audits
to improve the system. Teams with high at which the incident statement completion had not been dealt
psychological safety focus on diagnosing took place had not were discussed; they with authentically.
problems and improving processes so reported a lost time concluded these were Managers felt unheard
incident in more than unnecessary at their site and, ultimately, became
accidents do not happen again. Those
five years and won head because it was foreign- tacitly complicit.
with low psychological safety rely on
workarounds. Leaders need to convince
workers they are ‘not pro-failure, but they
are pro-learning’.
To start developing a good culture,
leaders should encourage open discussion, and safety issues should be encouraged, and, therefore, empowerment. Sir Edmund
work collaboratively with employees and rather than penalising those who do not Hillary conquered the ferocious conditions
encourage them to develop and question speak up about issues that they have on Everest by modelling safety behaviours
the way things are done. spotted. Conklin (2017) correctly identified from which we can all learn.
Cowley and Borys’ (2014) view is that it that ‘workers aren’t the problem; workers A rope is part of the fundamental
is important for organisations to empower are the problem-solvers’. Good health and equipment for successful climbers. ROPE
employees to adapt to dynamic situations. safety empowerment within the workforce is essential for senior managers and safety
Organisations need to build employees’ can assist in driving down incidents and practitioners to navigate the high altitude
adaptiveness and resilience to ensure increase overall productivity. Creating of the workplace safely.
human variability is seen as an asset and ambassadors to drive performance and
an important element of effective safety facilitate a common framework enables a Paul Verrico is head of the global EHS
management. Introducing elasticity within link between the overall strategy and the team at law firm Eversheds Sutherland.
the safety management system and stepping employees’ everyday work situations. Sarah Valentine is a senior lawyer in
away from rule compliance empowers Additionally, organisations should that team and an assistant coroner.
employees to anticipate risks before failure promote local ownership and create
and harm occur. authentic experiences from which workers To see the references, visit ioshmagazine.
Focusing on positive feedback to motivate can learn, engage and share with colleagues. com/rope-theory-2. Read part one online
employees to identify and improve health This will all improve employee engagement at ioshmagazine.com or in the Nov/Dec issue.

54 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

51-54 Ropes_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 54 13/12/2022 10:10

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p55.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 55 13/12/2022 11:09

 BUSINESS
ELEVATE OSH IN YOUR ORGANISATION

The art of
persuasion
OSH is not always top of the boardroom agenda. We explore how
you can infl uence business leaders’ commercial decisions to get
them on board with positive health and safety from the outset.
WORDS EMMA BENNETT

M
any health and safety professionals
would agree they are often the
poorer cousin when it comes to
influencing senior business leaders.
OSH can take a back seat to those of other
and safety culture is just as good for business as
a high-profile advertising campaign or new piece
of software. So how can professionals persuade
decision-makers that investing in health and
safety is best for the bottom line?
PHOTOGRAP HY: ISTOCK

seemingly more tangible business units such A study by the International Social Security
as operations, marketing or finance. But there’s Association, which interviewed employees from
plenty of evidence to show that a positive health 337 companies across 19 countries, found that

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56-59 Influence_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 56 13/12/2022 10:11

 for every euro invested in OSH, they would
see a return of €2.20 (£1.90) (EcoOnline,
2020). A safe working environment
contributes not only to better mental and
physical wellbeing, but higher productivity
and fewer days lost due to sickness and
injury, less absenteeism and presenteeism,
and lower staff turnover.

Reputational risk
Aside from the obvious financial implications,
there are much more nuanced impacts
of poor OSH, as Angela Gray, senior OSH
specialist at IOSH explains. ‘Boards have an
obligation to make sure they’re acting on
behalf of the shareholders to invest money

that drives profitability. But, over the past

10 years, there has been a greater level of
expectation on them not just to get the
return on investment, but to do it in the
right way.
‘There’s a reputational risk if members
don’t take a holistic view that gives back
to the wider community, and a huge part
of that is their employees. Employees are
much savvier these days about what good
looks like in the workplace, with more focus
on mental health and wellbeing. They want
to work for an employer that has the same
values as them.’
This focus on having a social licence to
operate – as outlined in IOSH’s Catch the
Wave sustainability campaign – shows

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THE B USI NESS IN F LUEN C IN G
OSH professionals’ role is much more than
that of a health and safety policeman, says
Angela. ‘It’s much more about how they
support, advise and motivate leadership to
do the right thing with the right impacts.
OSH professionals are more valued for
their intrinsic skills and knowledge
that can be applied to multiple parts of
the business, from creating a positive
working environment to sourcing the right
equipment that’s safe for your workers
to operate.’
Bridging the gap
Kevin Robins CMIOSH, chief operating
officer at Havio, an OSH consultancy for
construction and the built environment,
agrees that collaboration is vital if they are to
convince decision-makers of the importance
of investing in health and safety. ‘The C-suite
will always have a commercial perspective,
and we’re coming at it from a compliance
and health and safety angle,’ he says. ‘It’s
our job to bridge that knowledge gap by
understanding the health and safety issues
in the business and providing real solutions,
and, importantly, linking those with the
financial benefits.’
This involves working with all levels of
the organisation to make everyone feel part
of the process. ‘If you create a collaborative
environment with the people at the coalface
where the real-life problems occur, that’s
where you’ll find the solutions. In OSH you
have to be a good listener, but you also have
to ask the right questions.’
The next step, Kevin explains, is to present
the findings to the board in a way that they
understand and identify with. ‘You have to
adapt your response and delivery to your
audience. What works on-site doesn’t work
in the boardroom. So do a root-cause analysis
and then provide real data and statistics off
the back of that to explain that you’ll see
absenteeism go down, behaviours improve,
people become happier going to work,
and then you get higher productivity and
positive interactions.’
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Speaking the right language
A step-by-step guide to successfully infl uencing business leaders
Have clear objectives Figure
1 out the problem you are trying
to solve and be clear about your
proposed intervention.
Know your business Understand
2
the strategic priorities of the
business and link your proposals to
them and the wider organisation. Health
and safety needs to be integrated.
Choose your moment Timing is
3 everything. Approach your target
when there is appetite and budget
for them to be able to react positively.
Communicate clearly Be articulate
4
and present a solid argument
in a calm and reasonable way.
Presentations should be succinct, on-
message and backed with evidence.
Collaborate Build trusted
5 relationships with the leadership
team. This means being able to
have open and honest conversations
and working closely with leaders to
provide advice and support.
Show business acumen
This tactic of using statistical evidence and
research – known as rational persuasion –
was found to be the most effective among
OSH professionals. Dr Cassie Madigan,
a senior lecturer in occupational health
and safety science at the University of
Queensland, conducted surveys and
interviews with safety and non-safety
professionals in Australia and the UK to
find out the best way to influence leaders.
She says: ‘Influencing is such an
important skill for health and safety
professionals – it’s 99% of our job. Most
Use the right words
6 Be adaptable and
fl exible in what you
say and how you say it to
fit the needs and wants of the person
you are speaking to.
Think commercially Learn how
7 to write a solid business case that
includes a cost/benefit analysis
outlining the direct and indirect costs of
health and safety challenges – and how
you will solve them.
Consider culture Every
8 organisation is different, with
varying levels of safety maturity.
Different infl uencing tactics will
work depending on how proactive
businesses are.
• Many of the skills required to be
an effective OSH infl uencer, such as
stakeholder management and building
effective relationships, form part of
IOSH’s competency framework.
Find out more at iosh.com/my-iosh/
competency-framework
decisions that impact health and safety are
made by other people in the organisation.
But we can use our interpersonal skills
and systems approach to safety to create
conditions where we can influence decision-
making and change the shape of risk.
‘Rational persuasion was the most
effective. Having the ability to write a good
business case, including a cost/benefit
analysis, is vital, so you must understand
what is important to the organisation.
Safety is just one driver of several, including
financial, political, legal or reputational, and
you need to address all of those.’
13/12/2022 10:13

Know your audience
The second most effective tactic highlighted
in Cassie’s research was ‘inspirational appeal’,
where professionals try to engage the person’s
values and beliefs. She explains: ‘That means
we have to think about whom we’re trying to
influence, get into their shoes and find out
what assumptions they are making.’
Stuart Haysman, of Haysman Consulting,
agrees that knowing and understanding
your audience is key to getting them on
board. ‘If you only get to present to the
board for five minutes once a month, you
need to understand what’s driving them
as individuals. What are their roles and
what are they interested in? You have to
understand that in a senior management
team group, each person has a different
goal – so your approach should change
depending on whom you’re talking to.
‘Then give them something memorable
that helps to convince them of your case. If
you’re talking to a finance director, use real
figures and so on. Also, plan your timing
carefully: if the company is making a loss,
are they going to want to spend £20,000 on
a mental health campaign?’
So what doesn’t work? Reading business
leaders the riot act on legislation. ‘Don’t just
PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK
use the law as a stick, because it just turns
people off,’ says Angela. ‘They know about
compliance and the danger of prosecutions.
56-59 Influence_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 59
Instead you should be reflecting it back to
them in a positive light and talk about the
benefits of good OSH to the business.’
Stay positive
Cassie’s research backs this up. ‘The
“legitimating tactic” – referring to rules,
policies and legislation to influence decision-
makers – was found to be the least effective.
Compliance only gets you so far. What
you want is commitment. If you’re telling
someone to do something, it takes away their
autonomy and people don’t like that.
‘OSH professionals can sometimes
focus too much on the negative, when we
should understand there can be an upside
to risk. ISO 31000 [on risk management]
includes the consideration of opportunity
risks, so we need to balance grasping those
opportunities and managing those risks.’
By doing away with the traditional
view of health and safety as a barrier to
innovation and profit, professionals can
create an open dialogue with those who
hold the purse strings and give OSH a
permanent seat at the boardroom table.
‘Make it clear that we’re not here to bash
you down,’ says Kevin. ‘You can break down
barriers by asking the right questions and
being responsive to your audience to really
understand what motivates them. That’s
credit in the bank.’
To see references for this article, visit
ioshmagazine.com/infl uencing-decisions
CASE ST UDY
Influence
in action
Kevin Robins was working
as health, safety, quality and
environment director at a
building contractor growing
at an exponential rate.
The challenge
‘The workforce
grew from
around 80 site
workers to
200 to satisfy
new projects.
There had to
be an effective
roll-out of new safety
processes, awareness
campaigns, trends analysis and
more proactive monitoring to
ensure new standards were
implemented and upheld.’
Infl uencing behaviour
‘To solidify support from the
senior leadership team [SLT] I put
forward my plan as a business
case, which included benefits that
could be realised. I reinforced the
idea by inviting another member
of the SLT to a site to show how
their presence and being seen to
walk and talk the initiative would
captivate the workforce – it did.’
The business introduced a:
New near-miss reporting plan
More collaborative site and
management team-working
dynamic to allow everyone to
freely challenge each other in
a supportive environment.
The result
By the end of the next full year the
accident frequency rate halved.
IOSH MAGAZINE 59
13/12/2022 10:13
THE B USI NESS A RT IF IC IA L IN T ELLIG EN C E

A SMART
WAY FORWARD?
AI is transforming the workplace, including health and
safety. Here’s what OSH professionals need to know.

WORDS KATHY OXTOBY

60 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

60-63 Ai in OSH New_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 60 13/12/2022 10:18

 F
or some of us, artificial intelligence
(AI) is the stuff of dreams, making
our lives easier. For others, it is a
dystopian nightmare, where robots
replace humans and take over the
world. But whatever your perception
of AI, for decades now, it has been a part
of our everyday lives at home and in
the workplace.
Put simply, AI is ‘a general-purpose
technology capable of mimicking human
intelligence processes’, says Iván Williams
Jiménez, policy development manager
at IOSH. ‘The increasing deployment of
AI technologies can not only perform tasks
previously undertaken by humans, but also
observe information and undertake analysis
in different ways.’
More businesses are introducing worker
management systems based on AI to
increase efficiency and productivity,
and to identify and manage OSH risks.
Dr Laura Bradshaw, research programme
lead in technology at IOSH, says there are
many ways that AI can be employed to
support safety and health in the workplace.
It can be used for near-miss detection,
‘but needs to be used cautiously, as this
could result in complacency around
reporting’, says Laura.
She says AI can detect when people do
not follow safety protocols, and offers cost-
effective learning opportunities in safety
and health. It can be used for speech
recognition and for incident reporting. It
can recognise still images, situations and
objects. By using virtual reality, AI can be
used for practice drills, which are normally
expensive to run.
AI has enormous potential to manage
OSH. ‘AI can easily be used to replace
workers in hazardous environments
– drones can be used to perform more
efficient workplace inspections in complex
environments,’ says Iván.
Laura says AI can free up workers from
mundane repetitive tasks. It is also ‘quick,
cost-effective and efficient, and doesn’t tire
ILLUST RAT ION: ISTOCK
– it has 24/7 applicability’, she says.
AI is good for planning and training,
says David Sharp, founder and CEO of
60-63 Ai in OSH New_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 61
CASE ST UDY
AI motorway schemes
are placed on pause
New all-lane running AI and machine learning related issue as many of
smart motorway schemes algorithms to identify those on the road drive
use AI to regulate potential issues, provides for a living, such as truck,
tra c, but their roll-out road managers with the bus and taxi drivers, but
has been paused by precise real-time location also trades, delivery or
the government until and trajectory of vehicles. sales personnel, self-
five years of safety The aim is to help predict employed or any other
data is available. The and prevent collisions or role that includes driving
technology, which uses issues. ‘This is a work- for work,’ says Laura.
AI sensors could the likelihood of an incident in “real time”,
so that managers can be alerted to shut down
lead to tracking equipment to prevent injury.’
of all aspects of Ireland-based software company Protex
AI helps environmental health and safety
worker activity teams ‘to use AI as a prevention tool to
identify behaviours that lead to accidents,
rather than waiting for them to occur’,
International Workplace – a digital learning says CEO Dan Hobbs.
provider specialising in health and safety The company’s privacy-preserving
training. ‘We use machine learning to software plugs into existing CCTV
deliver our course materials, and algorithms infrastructure to use its computer
to recommend courses and track learner vision technologies to capture unsafe
performance,’ he says. events autonomously in settings such as
warehouses, manufacturing facilities and
Predicting future outcomes ports. Working with the likes of leading UK
US-headquartered AI company retailer Marks & Spencer, Protex AI has been
SparkCognition provides a variety able to decrease incidents in the workplace
of industries, including manufacturing, by 80%, says Dan.
oil and gas, and aerospace, with a wide array But AI also brings risks and challenges.
of AI technology to help predict future ‘Potential misuse of AI-enabled workplace
outcomes, optimise processes and protect sensors could lead to tracking of all aspects
against hazards. of worker activity,’ says Iván.
‘We provide organisations with AI that He says algorithmic decision-making
analyses camera footage to prevent near in people analytics and performance
misses in the warehouse, on the plant floor management does not normally involve
and in difficult-to-access areas,’ says Stephen human intervention and ethical
Gold, chief marketing officer. ‘AI can detect consideration. ‘People working under
IOSH MAGAZINE 61
13/12/2022 10:18
THE B USI NESS A RT IF IC IA L IN T ELLIG EN C E
algorithmic management could be
exposed to heightened physical and
psychosocial risks and stress.’
The roll-out of AI in the workplace
can cause anxiety around job losses and
role retention, says Laura. ‘Trust can be
eroded with poor engagement. There
is a need to communicate with workers
early in the implementation process, and
engagement is vital.’
AI can increase bias. ‘There is a danger
that data could be used for discriminatory
purposes. We need to remember that AI
data is not neutral or objective – it has
human bias encoded into it,’ says David.
The pitfalls of the unintended and
unethical use of using AI systems in the
workplace, and the safety problems they
might cause staff, are increasingly well
documented. For example, Amazon has
significantly invested in the automation
CA S E STUDY
AI air
disasters
The Maneuvering
Characteristics Augmentation
System, an AI system designed
to activate and assist the pilot
in fl ight stabilisation, resulted
in two Boeing 737 Max
aeroplanes crashing. A Lion
Air fl ight plunged into the sea
off Jakarta and an Ethiopian
Airlines fl ight crashed after
takeoff from Addis Ababa
within four months of each
other in 2018-19. The deaths
of 346 people led to the
grounding of the Max fl eet,
and global scrutiny.
S o urce: Rushe, 2022
62 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
60-63 Ai in OSH New_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 62
and robotisation of its warehouses.
Despite this, work-related injuries
have been reported to be 50% higher at
robotic facilities than in its conventional
warehouses in the US (Reveal Center for
Investigative Reporting, 2020). ‘This raises
questions on work intensity levels, the pace
of work and productivity quotas pressure
on warehouse workers,’ says Iván.
While much has been reported about
AI’s failures – and successes – there
is much that is unknown about this
technology. As a recent NIOSH science blog
notes ‘research gaps exist regarding the use
and impact of AI on the workforce’ (Vietas,
2021). So what do we not understand about
the use of AI on workplace safety?
Bridging the knowledge gaps
AI can present a picture through data, but
it doesn’t always show the entire picture
of what is happening. ‘AI will be a tool
that can be used to enhance processes,
but there will always be a need for human
integration and connection in these
processes,’ says Laura.
A particular concern about AI is
its increasing use in monitoring and
surveillance through algorithmic tracking,
says Laura. ‘In a positive light, it can be
seen as monitoring worker wellbeing,
such as ensuring adequate rest breaks
for drivers.
‘However, it can also calculate how
long workers spend in restrooms or the
number of breaks taken within a shift,
surveying movements via trackpad,
fingerprints, webcam monitoring or
through wearables.’
These growing cases of high levels
of surveillance and tracking are having
adverse effects on workers’ stress, anxiety
and depression (Vou, 2021), says Laura.
‘Robust legislation and safeguarding are
required around algorithmic management,
to ensure workers’ safety and privacy and
to protect them from adverse effects or
psychosocial issues,’ she adds.
With the increasing use of AI for
workplace decision-making and assisted
How to
ensure AI is
used safely
Effective Ensure AI is the
right tool to address the
problem/concern.
Explainable The logic of
AI and its decisions should
be communicated to
stakeholders in a concise
and useful manner.
Accountable Organisations
and individuals should be
accountable for the outcomes
of the AI systems that they
develop and implement.
Secure AI systems
should be safe from
outside interference.
Fair AI systems should be
aware of and appropriately
address potential
discrimination and bias.
work, ‘it is essential that more robust evidence
focuses around the potential OSH benefits as
well as risks’, says Iván.
‘It would be interesting to explore more
available data and evidence drawing the links
between the adoption of AI technologies to
reduce work-related injuries, or to alleviate
work-related physical demands, repetitive and
stressful tasks which cause musculoskeletal
disorders or mental ill health,’ he says.
There is also much that OSH professionals
need to learn about the adoption and
integration of AI technologies in the
workplace. Iván suggests AI knowledge gaps
are partly due to ‘a lack of transparency’
13/12/2022 10:19

R E S O URCES
IOSH’s response to the
European Commission white
paper on AI: bit.ly/white-paper-
artificial-intelligence
IOSH’s self-driving vehicles: new
safety ambition consultation: iosh.
com/about-iosh/our-infl uence/
consultations/self-driving-cars-
new-safety-ambition
around how these technologies are
adopted and applied to workplaces.
‘To that extent, corporations in this
digital age need to keep pace with
requirements for enhanced public
disclosure, stronger due diligence,
and policies and practices for the
governance of AI.’
Iván says practitioners also need
to be ‘better informed and catch
up with technology debates and
consequently scaling up the role
of OSH in this field’.
‘This also applies to day-to-day
policies and procedures. For example,
fit-for-purpose risk management
strategies with regards to the
implementation of new technologies
might become more relevant than
ever,’ he says.
AI companies have a crucial role to
play in educating people about how
it works in practice, to allay fears and
address concerns. ‘SparkCognition
has a 50-acre research facility, which
brings together the physical and digital
world to help organisations really
experience this technology, how it
works and how it will optimise their
businesses,’ says Stephen.
‘The onus is on AI companies to
inform people about what it means
60-63 Ai in OSH New_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 63
for their job,’ says Dan. ‘At Protex AI, we
educate and reassure teams that AI is
there to help.’
Process creep IN N UMBERS
Could we hold back AI while more
research is conducted? Laura says: ‘This is
challenging because the pace of progress
AI in the world
is so rapid, and research is already playing
$136.6BN
catch up. Unfortunately, we don’t always
take the time to press pause and collect
more information around areas of concern.
‘Legislation is also constantly evolving
as we further understand emerging The expected
technologies and how they are being size of the global
AI market by
implemented and adopted. 2022 (£115bn)
‘Laws can be made for one use of G rand V i e w R e s e arc h , 2 0 2 2
technology, and it is then adopted in a
$15.7TRN
way entirely different from the original
intended use. This “process creep” is a
concern for lawmakers who are trying
to catch up with the rapid speed of
emerging technologies.’ Prediction of
economic impact of
Looking to the development of AI AI around the globe
technologies in the future, IOSH will by 2030 (£13.2trn)
continue to advocate that they ‘incorporate P w C, 2017
a more human-centred and ethical focus,
that prioritises occupational safety and
health and process safety’, says Iván.
15%
‘We believe that before any AI-enabled
devices or systems are introduced into a
workplace, a thorough and more proactive
OSH review of their benefits and risks
should be carried out.
‘OSH professionals, researchers,
Percentage of 1492
employers and workers must continue global companies using
considering how AI-enabled applications in AI for risk modelling
and analytics
the workplace might impact the workforce
McKinsey & Co, 2022
and workplaces – positively and negatively.’
Whatever changes it brings to the
workplace, ‘we need to remember that
AI is as much about humans, and human
behaviour, as it is about technology’, says
David. ‘So whether you view it as brilliant
60%
Approximate
number of
or terrifying, AI is really what you make it.
global firms
Don’t let it disempower you. Use it how you using AI in
want to use it.’ last few years
McKinsey & Co,
20 22
To see references for this article, go to
ioshmagazine.com/AI-workforce
IOSH MAGAZINE 63
13/12/2022 10:19
 Advertisement feature
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T here are numerous examples of
how AI is being used to enhance or
improve workers’ tasks and roles. When
considering implementing any new
technology, it is the responsibility of
the QHSE team to ensure that workers’
health and safety is protected.
However, I’d like to present a positively
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for managing an organisation’s and
ultimately their employees’ health
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at any QHSE events, such as incidents,
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or observations to derive insights?
Wouldn’t that enable professionals to be
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Using a form of AI called Natural
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KEY TOPICS
Frequent phrases or keywords that
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A powerful taxonomy determines typical
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not just a mythical primary cause, but
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HAZARDS
Commonly occurring hazards that
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p64.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 64
By Paul Nicholas
COMET Signals product manager
SIF / RIDDOR
Records displaying SIF / RIDDOR
characteristics can be isolated at the
determined that their company’s record
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touch of a button and then explored to can be derived from that data. The
identify previously unseen insights. alternative is that this data is potentially
being wasted, as no real information
These can be presented and correlated, can be gleaned from it, so you question
displaying each category in order, and what is being captured and why in the
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can start to build some powerful views from previous events and experience,
of the data, combining the AI-generated enabling the team to be proactive, and
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serious incidents.
For example, if locations are recorded,
we can display heat maps of events
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event type, root cause or topic. We can
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train the AI to become predictive by
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actions taken and outcomes. www.cometanalysis.com
This all sounds great, however, the
insights that can be derived can only an product
ever be as good as the underlying data
provided. Once a QHSE professional
has seen what’s possible, they will be
13/12/2022 11:10

I
f there’s a word OSH professionals
are likely to be hearing more of, it’s
resilience. ‘It’s still relatively new in
an occupational context,’ says Lynda
Folan, doctor of organisational
psychology and author of Leader
Resilience. ‘But as organisations have
recognised the difficulties navigating
a volatile, uncertain, complex and
ambiguous world, there has been a
massive focus on resilience.’
Broadly defined as the ability to cope
with, and not be deflected by, change,
resilience appears easy to define but,
as with many emerging specialisms,
the details are more nuanced.
‘At an organisational level, it’s much
more about the maintenance of the
“system” functioning, regardless of
what destabilisations there are,’ argues
David Denyer, professor of leadership
and organisational change at Cranfield
University. ‘This is important to
understand from an OSH perspective,
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY
because there is a difference between
resilience and risk-based thinking.
Resilience is less understanding risk
THE BRILLIANCE
OF RESILIENCE
More and more organisations are talking about building it.
But what does being resilient mean, and what role can OSH
professionals play? Peter Crush investigates.
ILLUSTRATION: S HUTTERSTOCK
65-66 Resilience_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 65
better, more ascertaining whether your
system is resilient regardless of the
things that can impact it.’
He adds: ‘Safety management is a
sub-component of it. In uncertain
times, organisations have a tendency to
batten down and control risk; resilience
is being aware of this, but having an
adaptive capability.’
Systems shocks
Knowing this difference matters,
experts argue, because there is a more
HR-focused interest in resilience,
which looks at individuals. So a
confusing narrative is forming which
says organisational resilience is the
sum of having lots of resilient people.
‘We need to be careful to say that
organisational resilience must be
about the organisation – its ability to
“flex” to the needs of the moment,’
says Kate Field, global head of health,
THE B USI NESS ST RAT EGY
safety and wellbeing at BSI, the
business standards and improvement
company. ‘Individual resilience has
been used the wrong way – as an
inoculation against work-related
stress, rather than changing working
conditions. The more accurate way to
think about organisational resilience
is almost like it’s a dynamic risk
assessment around processes and how
they need to adapt.’
There needs to be a priority placed
around psychological wellbeing but
the emphasis should be, argues David,
on developing new skills, ‘being both
compliant, but also an innovator’.
He adds: ‘That’s why it cuts through
to being a leadership challenge. Think
of it as being able to provide options.
When people and organisations are
under stress, it’s because they have run
out of options. Resilience isn’t about
stopping bad things from happening,
but more about finding out what the
other options are. To this extent,
having resilient people can support an
organisation’s own resilience efforts.’
IOSH MAGAZINE 65
13/12/2022 10:23
THE B USI NESS ST RAT EGY
So how should OSH professionals
support and build resilience? ‘I think
where people are being set up for failure
– that’s where identifying training needs
and structures becomes important,’
argues Shona Hirons, global resilience
coach and founder of Mindset in
Motion. ‘The key is trickling the concept
throughout the leadership team, and
fostering more empathetic leadership
– which enables people to speak up.’
Lynda says: ‘We must build resilience
into all aspects of the organisation’s
functioning. Individual resilience
is enhanced when people have the
capacity to constructively process
their experiences and have rewired
their brains for optimism.’
Tools and training
At critical data, communications and
network provider Arqiva, Sally Ford
CMIOSH, director of resilience and
risk, helps people do this. Her job sits in
operations and her role helps ‘people,
processes and physical assets adapt and
be successful’. ‘From an OSH point of
view our emphasis is giving people the
tools and training to be able to react
better, but also improve the design of
work, so people can “fail” safely,’ she says.
Sally suggests OSH professionals are
well positioned to champion resilience.
‘The skill-set required is then expanding
Resilience in numbers
1%-5% 44%
Impact of resilience
– or lack of it – on
global GDP growth,
according to the World
Economic Forum.
66 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
65-66 Resilience_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 66
on this,’ she adds. ‘You can also improve
resilience by identifying things that could
impact success before they happen; that
is, classic risk analysis.’
According to Nick Wilson, former GB
Health and Safety Executive inspector
and director of health and safety services
at WorkNest, the key is remembering
resilience is not about seeking perfection.
‘Yes, you can aspire to it,’ he says, ‘but
resilience is about understanding why
things happen and not pointing fingers.’
Proving an organisation is resilient can
be tricky. ‘Measurement is critical,’ says
Lynda. ‘We have seen the development
of resilience diagnostics specifically for
the organisational context. There are
also individual diagnostics that allow
people to self-report, as well as team and
organisational resilience measures.’
But, says Nick: ‘We also need to
remember that measuring things not
happening is not an indication that we are
resilient. It’s how you cope when things do
happen that’s the key difference here.’
Those who understand resilience
will create better, safer, shock-resistant
organisations. Nick concludes: ‘It’s the
organisation’s responsibility to point
people in a common direction. This is the
sum of how people behave and react.’
To view references for this article, see
ioshmagazine.com/corporate-resilience
71%
Reduction in workers’ How much lower
depression symptoms burnout scores are
that can be achieved for employees who
with resilience training, are highly resilient
according to studies. and agile.
TO P T I P S
How to be
resilient
Gavin Scarr Hall, director of health
and safety at professional services
firm Peninsula, oŬers his advice:
Focus on what is in your control It is
1 easy to feel overwhelmed by events
both in and out of the workplace,
but sometimes it is best to focus
on the things that you can control.
Small victories are still victories and
celebrating them will boost your
mood and increase your sense of
what is possible.
Stay calm in a crisis Maintaining
2 composure can help you make
logical decisions. A roomful of
calm heads can turn a chaotic
mess into ordered actions that
achieve a solution.
Be proactive Problems do not
3 resolve themselves. Resilient people
pick up on little issues and deal with
them before they gain momentum.
4
Develop a support network
Working with like-minded colleagues
boosts confidence and offers
an outlet for stress that works
both ways.
Refl ect and learn We all make
5 mistakes at work. It is how we learn
from them and take those lessons
into the next situation that builds
real resilience.
13/12/2022 10:23
 We can’t wait to see you!

February April May

Safety, Health & The Health & Safety &
Wellbeing Live Safety Event Health Expo
14 – 15 February 25 – 27 April 16 – 18 May
Manchester Central NEC, Birmingham ExCeL, London

Industry shows are a great opportunity for the OSH community to come
together to share ideas and best practice. We’re excited about bringing a
varied programme of educational and innovative content to the following
events:

• ILO’s OSH as a fundamental human right

• Socially sustainable safety and health
• Standards and ethics in OSH
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and the
OSH profession
• Future of the OSH careers and planning
your OSH career

To find out more about our events and

BS1960.2/061222/IM

to register for your free place visit

iosh.com/events or scan the QR code.

p67.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 67 13/12/2022 11:11

 EVIDENCE
E X P LO R E T H E L AT E S T R E S E A R C H
TOPIC: Artificial intelligence
TITLE: Advanced robotics and
automation: implications for
occupational safety and health
PUBLISHED BY: EU-OSHA
SUMMARY: The automation of
physical tasks through robots,
cobots [collaborative robots]
and artificial intelligence (AI) is
impacting workplaces across
many sectors. This report
describes the different types of
tasks performed by advanced
robotics and explores the
opportunities, challenges and
risks in terms of psychosocial,
physical and organisational
effects on workers and
workplaces. The report also
explores safety standards and
highlights the importance of
accurate risk assessment and
end-user training.
READ REPORT AT:
bit.ly/eu-osha-robotics
TOPIC: Shared workspaces
TITLE: ‘It’s like, instant respect’:
Coworking spaces as identity
anchoring environments in the
new economy
PUBLISHED BY: New
Technology, Work and
Employment
SUMMARY: This study explores
how coworking spaces enable
individuals to shape their
professional identities, while
providing other important
attributes of work to help them
68 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
68 Research roundup_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 68
From the
papers
We round up some of the latest
research and reports relevant
to OSH professionals.
feel embodied and grounded.
Drawing from interviews and
surveys of members of a large
coworking chain across the US,
the study finds that coworking
spaces serve as identity
anchoring environments.
READ REPORT AT:
bit.ly/NTWE-coworking
TOPIC: Moral injury
TITLE: Developing an
understanding of moral injury
in business settings
PUBLISHED BY: Affinity Health
at Work
SUMMARY: Typically, moral
injury research has been
conducted in military settings
and more recently healthcare.
This research answers calls for
evidence to understand the
extent of the problem in other
occupations. While the report
doesn’t establish specific
causal pathways to moral
injury, the recommendations
for individual, group, leader
and organisational responses
to mitigate for moral injury
are important and provide
useful guidance.
READ REPORT AT:
bit.ly/affinity-moral-injury
TOPIC: Health and wellbeing
TITLE: Health and wellbeing
at work report 2022
PUBLISHED BY: CIPD
SUMMARY: The survey was
conducted online and sent
to people professionals and
senior HR leaders in the UK.
In total, 804 organisations
responded, covering more than
4.3 million employees. There is
slightly less focus on wellbeing
in 2022 than in 2021. Also
noteworthy is that ‘less than two-
fifths (38%) of respondents agree
that managers are confident
to have sensitive discussions
and signpost people to expert
sources of help when needed;
even fewer (29%) believe they
are confident and competent to
spot the early warning signs of
mental ill health.’
READ REPORT AT:
bit.ly/cipd-wellbeing-survey
TOPIC: MSDs
TITLE: Recipe for prevention
of MSDs: learnings from
biomechanical responses in team
lifting and sudden load drops
PUBLISHED BY: University of
Waterloo, Canada
SUMMARY: The study looked at
a four-person lift and the changes
in force when one person drops
the load. It found, during a drop,
excess load moves to adjacent
lifters. Non-droppers may be
seriously injured. This should be
considered in multi-person lifts
and alternatives sought, such as
mechanical handling.
READ REPORT AT:
bit.ly/uwaterloo-msd-prevention
Discover the competencies
ILLUSTRATION: IKON IMAGE S
for each paper at
ioshmagazine.com/jan-research
13/12/2022 10:25
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 Managing Sustainably

How do you get the

best from your people?

In an increasingly volatile, uncertain and chaotic

business landscape, smart businesses are investing in
their people.

A report by the International Social Security Association

(ISSA) estimated that every euro invested in occupational
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Invest in them and they’ll invest in you, for more

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p70.IOSH_JanFeb23.indd 70 13/12/2022 11:13


Research:
in depth
ILLUST RAT ION: IKON IMAGE S
We take a close look at two recent
research papers and explore how their
findings can inform OSH practice.
71-73 Deeper dive_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 71
THE EV I D ENC E D EEP D IV E
TITLE
Workers’ activity
profiles associated
with predicted 10-
year cardiovascular
disease risk
PUBLICATION
Journal of the American Heart Association
BACKGROUND/AIMS
There is a need to explore common activity
patterns undertaken by workers and the
association between these activity profiles
and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This
study set out to explore the number and
type of distinct profiles of activity patterns
among workers and the association
between these profiles, and predict 10-year
risk for a first atherosclerotic CVD event.
METHODS AND FINDINGS
Distinct activity patterns from a cross-
section of workers’ accelerometer data
were sampled from Canadian Health
Measures Survey participants (five
cycles, 2007-17) and identified using
hierarchical cluster analysis techniques.
Six distinct activity profiles were identified
from 8909 workers. Compared with
the ‘lowest activity’ profile, individuals
in the ‘highest activity’ and ‘moderate
evening activity’ profiles were at 42%
lower risk and 33% lower risk of predicted
10-year atherosclerotic CVD risk of
>10%, respectively. ‘Moderate activity’
and ‘fluctuations of moderate activity’
profiles were also associated with lower
risk estimates, whereas the ‘high daytime
activity’ profile was not statistically
different to the reference profile.
SIX PROFILES
The six activity profiles of workers were:
1. Steady movers (3219 workers). This
group has moderate activity levels
throughout the day, followed by light
activity during the evening. They report
IOSH MAGAZINE 71
13/12/2022 10:26
THE EV I D ENC E RESEA RC H
low levels of physical activity for
recreation. Compared with sedentaries,
they have a 14% lower risk of heart
disease over 10 years.
2. The sedentaries (2808 workers).
This group engages in low or light
activity during at-work and off-work
hours. They report low levels of
recreational physical activity.
3. Dynamic movers (1194 workers).
This group alternates between
light activity and moderate activity
throughout the day. They are
the second most active group for
recreational activities. Compared with
sedentaries, the group has a 27% lower
risk of heart disease over 10 years.
4. Physical workers (713 workers).
This group engages in vigorous physical
activity during most daytime hours.
This group’s risk of heart disease
does not differ from sedentaries
in a statistically significant way.
5. The night shifters (225 workers).
This group stays moderately active
from midday through to midnight.
Its risk of heart disease is 33% lower
than that of sedentaries.
6. Exercisers (750 workers). This group
spends parts of the work day doing
light or moderate activity, but also
engages in vigorous physical activity at
the start of the day, around noon, and
again in the late afternoon and early
evening. This group has the highest
level of recreational physical activity.
It has a 42% lower risk of heart disease
compared with sedentaries.
CONCLUSIONS
Workers accumulating physical
activity throughout the day and
during recreational hours were
found to have optimal CVD risk
profiles. Workers accumulating
physical activity only during daytime
work hours were not associated
with reduced CVD risk. Findings
can inform alternative strategies to
conferring the cardiovascular benefits
72 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
71-73 Deeper dive_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 72
of physical activity among workers.
Large prospective studies are needed to
confirm these findings.
RESEARCHER’S TAKEAWAY
‘We typically think a sedentary lifestyle
is a risk factor for heart disease and that
we should be more active throughout
the day to lower our risk. Our research
suggests the health effects of activity are
different depending on the context in
which it is accumulated. Workers who
are very active or moderately active
mostly during their daytime work hours
might not be any different to sedentary
people in terms of their future heart
disease risk. This might be because
work-related activity is either too low
to improve fitness, or too physically
strenuous and with little opportunity
to rest. Strategies promoting physical
activity only during work hours may
be less effective than those promoting
physical activity outside work hours.’
Aviroop Biswas, lead author
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE –
IOSH’S TAKE
When we think of sedentary work,
we immediately think of the health
implications around tasks and job roles
where there is a lack of movement,
such as sitting, reclining or standing.
This research not only brings to light
new types of sedentary work, but also
emphasises the health impact these
types of sedentary work can have.
The paper gives OSH professionals an
opportunity to consider tasks that could
have health implications for workers
which might not have been considered.
One example of this is workers who
are conducting physically strenuous
tasks with little rest – this could be
manual handling tasks – and looking at
this not only from an MSD perspective
but also having the knowledge to
appreciate these tasks could have
cardiovascular implications if they are
not managed effectively.
TITLE
Workplace
bullying of
immigrants
working in
Sweden
PUBLICATION
The International Journal of
Human Resource Management
BACKGROUND/AIMS
Immigration to Sweden has
increased steadily in recent decades.
Although there are a few studies that
use a representative sample to study
ethnicity and ill treatment at work,
they do not have a specific focus on
bullying. To the authors’ knowledge,
this is the first study with a
nationally representative sample
of the workforce to investigate
ethnic minorities and exposure
to workplace bullying using a
comprehensive measure of the
phenomenon. The aim of this study
was to investigate the risks of being
bullied at work based on country of
birth, and compared with natives.
METHOD AND FINDINGS
The authors used a representative
sample of the Swedish workforce
collected in the autumn of 2017
(n=1856). The results showed a more
than doubled risk of being bullied
for the foreign-born.
Coming from a culturally
dissimilar country, the risk of
becoming a victim of bullying was
almost fourfold. The increased risk
was only for person-related bullying,
indicating a risk of being excluded
13/12/2022 14:44

from the social work environment.
There was a greater risk associated
with self-labelling as bullied than
with the behavioural experience
method. Self-labelling could possibly
be construed as a mix of exposure
to bullying behaviours and being
discriminated against, making it a
less suitable method when studying
bullying for minorities.
CONCLUSIONS
Being born in another country
has consequences for how one is
treated at work, and the perception
of mistreatment is not the result of
a general dissatisfaction with one’s
work situation. The results indicate
the foreign-born are being excluded
and are not let in, in the same
way as natives, in the social work
ILLUSTRATION: IKON IMAG ES
environment. The risks of workplace
bullying are only present when it
comes to person-related negative acts,
such as social isolation and personal
71-73 Deeper dive_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 73
attacks – indicating a predatory origin
of the bullying behaviours. The results
show the importance of addressing
these issues at work, as it severely
affects each individual exposed to the
negative treatment, but also probably
the organisation as a whole and the
work group in which the negative
treatment is occurring.
RESEARCHER’S TAKEAWAY
‘Workplace bullying is a detrimental
global problem. This Swedish study
investigates what happens when the
world comes to you; that is, whether
people with another origin than the
majority have a higher bullying risk.
The study is unusual as it uses a
nationally representative sample and
a comprehensive behavioural measure
of bullying.
‘From a social identity perspective,
foreign-born workers may be in a weak
position in the labour market, being
a salient outgroup easy to single out.
FROM A SOCIAL
IDENTITY PERSPECTIVE,
FOREIGN-BORN
WORKERS MAY BE
IN A WEAK POSITION
Another finding was that there was
only a higher risk for person-related
bullying (such as social exclusion), in
contrast to work-related bullying (such
as excessive work-related critique).
There were no differences regarding
how natives and foreign-born perceived
their general working conditions.’
Stefan Blomberg, co-author
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE –
IOSH’S TAKE
The ideas underpinning the research
– particularly the notion of ‘in-groups’
and ‘out-groups’ – are pertinent to
discussions around bullying. They
offer a useful frame for discussing
the way bullying and discriminatory
behaviours/cultures emerge. In other
words, where there is a strongly formed
‘in-group’, difference from norms
can quickly be perceived as a threat.
This might be particularly relevant to
certain industries.
One of the recommendations
is to focus on the development of
organisational cultures, so that in-
groups are a broader church based on
‘who we are’ as an organisation, rather
than ‘who we are’ as a working group.
Overall, this research is interesting
and it works from an equality, diversity
and inclusion perspective in the
workplace. It links back to the ‘Culture’
tab (under ‘Technical’) in IOSH’s
competency framework too.
IOSH MAGAZINE 73
13/12/2022 10:26
THE LAST WORD P ROOF P OSIT IV E
Cream of
THE CROP
Farmer Brian Rees has been named a Farm
Safety Hero for his work in driving up safety
standards. We find out the secrets of his success.
WORDS SALLY HA LES
B
rian Rees can trace his passion
for promoting farm safety back
to the start of his career. ‘Since
my time in Young Farmers Clubs
in the 1970s and 80s, and later
the National Farmers’ Union
and the Country Land and Business
Association, I have always tried to
convince the leaders of our industry of
the need to improve health and safety in
agriculture,’ he says.
The farmer – who runs his
own training business,
works as a consultant
and mentor, and has
his own farm in Powys,
UK – has been named
a Farm Safety Hero by
charity Yellow Wellies.
Key to driving up
safety standards is getting
workers and employers on the
same page, he says. ‘Our industry
is no different to any other – unless
you have the employers and decision-
makers on board, other health and
safety activities in the workforce can be
far less effective.’
Getting hands-on and being able to
talk farmer-to-farmer has also proved
important, Brian adds. ‘One of my main
activities has been skills and health and
safety training. This involves going into
IOSH magazine would like to extend its warm thanks to the volunteers who took part in
the Talking Shop feature in previous issues for their support and insight.
74 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
74 Proof positive_Jan-Feb 2023_IOSH.indd 74
the workplace and delivering hands-on
training involving lift trucks, tractors,
safe use of pesticides and general site
safety, again getting the managers and
supervisors involved as much as possible.’
In 2001, he joined an Agriculture Safety
and Health Awareness Day team of 12 who
toured rural England, Wales and Scotland.
Up to 300 farmers at a time would receive
practical advice and guidance on how
to make their farms safer. ‘Some
winters we had more than 8000
farmers,’ Brian says. ‘A huge
advantage of these events
was all the instructors
were from farming
backgrounds, so we were
talking farmer-to-farmer.’
Brian has also been
awarded the Lantra Wales
Lifetime Achievement Award,
as well as being a past chair of the
Wales Farm Safety Partnership and was
a member of the IOSH Rural Industries
Group for six years. The farmer has also
worked on fatal accident investigations
and acted as an expert witness for the GB
Health and Safety Executive.
Have you or your organisation made
positive strides on OSH that you’d like
to shout about? Let us know and it could
feature here on our new positive news page.
Email: editorial@ioshmagazine.com
Mental health
in check
Paul Hendry CMIOSH tells us why the
professional services firm, Jacobs,
was driven to organise the world’s
biggest mental health check-in.
More than 20,000 people around the
world checked in online to use a free
tool to help them understand their
state of mind and offer strategies for
mental health development during a
campaign for World Mental Health Day
on 10 October.
While the event became the biggest
ever of its kind, the real goal for
Jacobs, which organised the event,
was to ‘break down barriers that
hinder honest conversation about
mental health and encourage an open
culture of support,’ says Paul Hendry
CMIOSH, Jacobs’ vice-president of
health, safety and environment.
‘By completing a check-in, people
will ideally be better equipped to
understand how they are coping,
assess the early indicators of
associated mental health challenges,
start positive and active conversations,
and get support much earlier.’
Making mental health and wellbeing
a priority is at the core of Jacobs’
One Million Lives campaign, of which
the check-in formed a part. Senior
leadership involvement is proving
crucial in the success of the scheme.
‘Our chair and CEO Steve Demetriou
is a trained positive mental health
champion, along with all our executive
leadership team. Once the top
executive talks about it, it makes it
easier for everyone else.’
13/12/2022 10:27
 25-27 April 2023, NEC Birmingham UK

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