New Call For Safety Duties On Directors

Company directors have failed to respond to a series of pleas to voluntarily take health and safety seriously in the boardroom, so they should be required by law to do so. The latest call for statutory duties on directors comes as part of a new campaign from safety magazines Health and Safety at Work and Health and Safety Bulletin (HSB). The magazines are using an online petition to garner support for the campaign.

HSB editor Howard Fidderman writes: "Legislation has a persuasive and educative effect that can go unnoticed amidst a preoccupation with sanctions; it makes it clear to employers and their workforces that a government expects certain things to happen and that the matter is too important to be left to goodwill, gentle encouragement and even self-interest."

He adds "The sentencing of directors would surely help bring home within an organisation the consequences of failure. With nine in 10 injuries attributable to management failures, it makes sense that health and safety law is generally premised on the body corporate. As such, sanctions - almost invariably fines - are levelled at the organisation too."

Commenting on a series of failed voluntary initiatives, most recent the joint effort from the Institute of Directors and Health and Safety Executive, Fidderman said: "There is an incongruity that there are no explicit duties on those at the top of organisations even though there is an almost universal consensus that the key to effective management of workplace health and safety is leadership from the top. Ideally, all directors would take their health and safety responsibilities seriously. The problem is they don't and, for these individuals, guidance is never going to work."

Source: TUC Risks

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