Agenda Item 6Executive Board MeetingMemo No 26/1228 November 2012

Health and Safety Update

Purpose

1.To update the EB on the development of the FC’s Health and Safety Strategy following the Senior Management Team meeting on the 26th September and to seek the EB’s response to the scope of the strategy and the Health and Safety Advisory Group’s initial conclusions.

Background

  1. In May 2012 the EB had considered a paper on Health and Safety and agreed a number of actions that would be taken to provide more effective leadership on Health and Safety, see Appendix 1.
  1. The EB also indicated that they wished to establish a strong safety culture across the FC and to this end Dr Tim Marsh, an expert in behavioural safety, was invited to the senior staff group meeting in September. His presentation provided an engaging and clear insight into Safety Leadership and Safety Culture. Tim Marsh subsequently proposed a 5 point plan that the FC could develop and use to improve behavioural safety.
  1. Following the September meeting, the Director General wrote to the Health and Safety Advisory Group to ask them to determine how the FCshould take this forward, both within the FC and in our work with the wider forest industry through the Forest Industry Safety Accord.
  1. The group met on the 2nd November to consider how this could inform and shape the development of a Health and Safety Strategy for the FC. So far this work has been aligned to FISA and consequently has focussed on at work health and safety in the Forestry Commission. The group has reached a number of initial conclusions.

Initial Conclusions

  1. The group has come to the following initial conclusions and would like to share these with the EB in order to seek EB agreement to these and thereby influence the development of the strategy:

a)Leadership and its impact on Safety Culture must be the over-arching theme within the H&S Strategy.

b)The action plan supporting the strategy must identify and acknowledge the important enabling roles required to deliver the strategy e.g. leadership roles and responsibilities, H&S cultural awareness, H&S technical training, communications and evaluation.

c)The consultants Ryder Marsh should be engaged in a targeted way to:

  1. advise the FC on the development of the 5 point plan
  2. assist in the development of training courses
  3. provide assurance to the Executive Board about progress.

However, the group recognised that it was important to ensure that the culture change is led by FC leaders and key managers and not by consultants.

d)It would be very beneficial if Ryder Marsh were to advise and support the FISA through the Leadership Group and the Behavioural Change working group. This has beensuggested by Brian Mahony and Simon Hodge who sit on the FISA Leadership Group. Tim Marsh is being invited to make a presentation at its next meeting in January.

e)The FC’s H&S Strategy needs to relate to the FC’s People Strategy and to the ForestIndustry Safety Accord. However, the strategy needs to be brief and engaging. Key areas for action should be set out in an accompanying Action Plan.

f)A clear vision will help to engage FC staff. In addition to adopting the FISA motto / strap line of Think Safe, Stay Safe, the group concluded that a vision statement would help staff to understand the objective and the following is proposed for the EB to consider:

“Everyone working with the Forestry Commission does so safely
and returns home without suffering injury or experiencing ill health
as a result of their work.”

g)The FC’s Health and Safety Strategy needs to recognise the range of activities across the FC and the trend towards greater devolution but to balance this with a need for a clear unified corporate approach. Therefore, the strategy should provide a common Safety Culture and commitment to Safety Leadership as well as a commitmentto contribute to and work to industry standards and corporate guidance. The Action Plan will then identify the key areas for action but will not be comprehensive or detailed. Countries and Forest Research will need to use this as a framework within which to develop more specific actions tailored to their particular risks and context.

Scope of Strategy / Action Plan

  1. In line with the Forest Industry Safety Accord, the group has focussed on At Work Health and Safety issues and only included the wider management of public safety where it isassociated with forest operations. The EB is asked to confirm that it is content for the strategy to continue its focus on At Work Health and Safety or whether it wishes the strategy to be broader and include:
  • the wider Health and Wellbeing of employees, (i.e non occupational health)
  • the wider issue of public safety associated with FC managed land, e.g. recreation.

Next Steps

  1. The Health and Safety Advisory Group will be meeting again on the 7th December. If the scope of the strategy remains around at Work Health and Safety, the aim is to finalise the content of the strategy at that meeting and completethe draft strategy before the end of December for the Executive Board to consider in January. A wider scope may add to that timescale.
  1. The EB will be given the opportunity to discuss the draft H&S Strategy and associated action plan at their next meeting. Included in this discussion will be how EB members can demonstrate their commitment to leading its implementation.
Resource Implications
  1. There are no additional resources required for the preparation of the strategy, it will form part of participants ongoing work. However, the implementation of the strategy and action plan will require a commitment of resource over a sustained period, particularly in terms of FC staff time. While there will undoubtedly be costs in some areas, there will also be some low cost measures that will result in improvements. Over time, some savings are likely to arise as was found in the construction industry where improvements in safety went hand in hand with improvements in efficiency.
Risk
  1. The emergence of the Forest Industry Safety Accord presents an opportunity for FC to work as part of an industry-wide collaborative effort to improve H&S performance. However, the following risks and controls exist in terms of the FC’s management of Health and Safety.

Risk Component / Potential Consequences / Controls
Failure to provide strong H&S leadership and to establish a strong H&S culture and instead -continue to rely overly on process and systems. / No actual improvement in H&S performance despite investments in procedures and guidance. / Leaders and managers to lead the development of a strong H&S culture through effective engagement with staff to ensure that we all Think Safe, Stay Safe
FC engages in a piecemeal way with FISA. / Differing standards and potential enforcement / prosecution for accidents. / Senior FE representation on FISA Leadership Group and broad participation in Working Groups. Key Actions effectively communicated across FC and embedded in FC H&S Action Plan.
Failure to recognise the H&S implications of Strategic decisions. / Increase in adverse impacts on staff and contractors. Scope to retrospectively address H&S issues is constrained by decisions made or resources available. / Board level training. Embedding H&S into Board papers and decisions. Including BusinessPlanning
Failure to anticipate hazards that are not of our making but which carry significant H&S risks. / Injuries or death from catastrophic events / Planning for the unexpected, contingency planning.
Lack of monitoring / Lack of clarity about whether performance is improving or why. / Clear indicators and meaningful performance measures used to indicate performance and highlight problems and success. Continued audits and follow up.

Communication

  1. The work of theHealth and Safety Advisory Group and the establishment of a Health and Safety Strategy and Action Plan will require a significantly upgraded and effective Communications Plan. To this end we have included expert representation from the Communications team on the Health and Safety Advisory Group.
Recommendations
  1. The EBare asked to:
  • consider and agree the initial conclusions outlined in paragraph5;
  • confirm the scope of the strategy outlined in paragraph 6 and 7;
  • consider any further input needed to enable the H&S Advisory Group to complete the development of the draft H&S strategy.

Peter GarsonEmily Ramsay

Head of Estates Management/Head of Safety, Health & Environment

November 2012

Appendix 1

FC Health and Safety

EB members agreed that the recent accidents and fatalities that had occurred on the FC estate were both shocking and unacceptable. To that end, they accepted all of the recommendations for senior managers to improve the FC’s safety culture as follows:

  • EB members would lead by example and support improvements in management of health and safety by:

including health and safety in the decision making process;

including health and safety at the start of all projects;

asking questions about health and safety as part of the business plan process.

  • EB members would demonstrate that health and safety matters when out on site by:

wearing correct personal protective equipment – asking about it before arriving on site;

asking about the risk assessment and site safety rules for visits;

adhering to the site safety rules – making it clear that they should not be broken;

asking questions about health and safety, such as – Is the personal protective equipment comfortable? Does the lone working system work in practice? What are the emergency procedures for this site if there is an accident?

  • EB members would strengthen the health and safety culture in the FC by:

includinghealth and safetyas a regular agenda item at EBs and Country Management Boards. SH&E to provide a quarterly report;

including health and safety in the job specifications and induction of senior staff;

identifing senior managers who should get IOSH training;

setting up a Safety Committee in each Country and asking for an annual progress report in order to strengthen TUS/management health and safety joint working.

Actions: EB members