During the past few months the safety profession in the UK has been challenged to adopt a “common sense approach” to the management of health and safety. Lord Young’s report “Common Sense, Common Safety” focussed mainly in his view on “non hazardous” businesses and occupations such as offices and shops. The interpretation of administrative and point of sale occupations as being “non hazardous” is myopic and fails to grasp the effects of stress on individual well being – the much neglected health side of the health and safety equation. The report sadly has created a perception that safety has spawned its own unique form of bureaucracy which is stifling economic growth and productivity.
Philosophically common sense is defined as “the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way”. This attempt to encapsulate our understanding of this catch all phrase leaves the concept of what is “reasonable and safe” open to interpretation which raises the following key issue:
The understanding of what is “reasonable and safe” is not homogenous within any society.
The inability of ”reasonable” people to unanimously agree on what is safe or even right makes law and best practice a requirement to ensure the safety of individuals civil society. The challenge of the health and safety profession is to expound the uncommon nature of safety by focusing on the need for a careful understanding and management of risk in traditional high risk occupations and sectors such as oil & gas but also in new “green“ jobs such as recycling, an ageing workforce and the rise in obesity giving due regard to the impact of stress on the working, family and social lives of individuals in “non hazardous” occupations. It is this holistic view that practitioners must adopt if the profession is to help its stakeholders make the connection between a healthy, sustainable lifestyles and safety at work which will hopefully cynical myths of ‘elf n safety’.
To learn more about quality, safety and environmental management visit www.sustainabiliycsr.com
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