Directors' health and safety guide - your thoughts?

The guide has been produced by the Institute of Directors (IoD) at the request of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC). The IoD wants to hear what people - particularly directors themselves - think about the draft guidance.

The HSC itself issued advice for directors in 2001, however following a re-examination of the issue last year the Commission decided that new guidance was needed in order to get the health and safety message over at board level.

When it comes to health and safety policy, the new IoD guide recommends that the chairman of the board or chief executive "set the direction" for effective management.

Although it suggest that all board members should be seen to be taking a lead in communicating health and safety duties and benefits throughout organisations, the guide says that the nomination of one board member as a "champion" of health and safety could be considered "good practice".

Having a procurement standard for goods, equipment and services can help prevent the introduction of expensive health and safety hazards, according to the guide. It also recommends that the health and safety arrangements of partners, key suppliers and contractors be assessed.

Setting up a separate risk management or health and safety committee as a subset of the board, chaired by a senior executive, can also help to deliver better health and safety.

Consultation deadline

Other "good practice" ideas included health and safety performance being recorded in organisations' annual reports to investors and stakeholders and board members making "shop floor visits" to gather information for any formal review.

Providing health and safety training to some or all of the board could also promote greater "understanding and knowledge of the key issues", said the guide.

The IoD is hoping to have a final version of the guidance ready by this autumn, and has therefore given a cut off date of 22 June for its consultation on the draft version.

The draft document can be downloaded from the IoD's website - along with a questionnaire for completion - link provided above/right.

Although employers are of course subject to stringent regulations covering health and safety, the legal responsibilities of company directors in the UK have been described as "weak".

There have been several back-bench attempts to introduce more stringent laws on directors' health and safety duties in recent years, but these have all fallen foul to a lack of Parliamentary time.

Towards the end of 2005 Government asked the HSC to evaluate the effectiveness of current measures, both legislative and non-legislative, on directors' responsibilities. The process is ongoing.