Jul 24 2005
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched its Corporate Health and Safety Performance Indicator (CHaSPI) and unveiled a third round of case studies highlighting the vital role that directors play in health and safety.
The HSE conference took place at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Launching the index at the London Chamber of Commerce conference today, Lord Hunt said: "There are still too many accidents at work and too many staff off sick. We need to convince chief executives in boardrooms across the country that managing absence and health and safety makes good business sense. This tool will help businesses to manage and track their key health and safety indicators and will enable them to compare their performance against other businesses. The easier we make it for everyone, the better the chance we have of raising standards."
CHaSPI (the Corporate Health and Safety Performance Index) is a web-based tool to assist large organisations with over 250 employees (both public and private) to:
- get a measure of the effectiveness of their internal controls over health and safety
- to benchmark their performance against - their own targets and - the performance of their peers.
It works by asking a series of questions on, for example, health and safety management, occupational health risk management and sickness absence rates. A score out of ten is then calculated. Overall results are made publicly available.
Using CHaSPI's is voluntary. The intention is that it's usefulness to organisations and their stakeholders is what will drive it forward - encouraging and helping organisations to improve their health and safety, going beyond the legal minimum.
Steve Waygood, director, investor responsibility Insight Investment, who collaborated on the development of CHaSPI said: "Insight will be making considered use of CHaSPI in our discussions with the directors of listed companies. As investors, we elect company directors to represent our interests. It is very much in our interests for these directors to maintain good occupational health and safety conditions for the workforce. Not only is this simply the right thing to do, but history has also shown that mistakes can lead to business interruptions that affect financial performance."
The nine case studies highlight the benefits that director leadership brings both to the health and safety of the employees and to the business. They are aimed not only at large organisations, but at small and medium sized enterprises (SME's) as well. The case studies, compiled by risk management consultants Greenstreet Berman Ltd, are drawn from private companies and public bodies across a range of different sectors.
Featured organisations are: Brymor Contractors Ltd, DCS Europe plc, Greencore Group, Joy Mining Machinery Ltd, London Ambulance Service, MTM Products Ltd, RW Green Limited, Sapporo Teppanyaki and TTE training. The director leadership case studies build on the Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) guidance, Directors' responsibilities for Health and Safety, published in 2001 and the business benefits case studies published by HSC/E in 2004. While HSE's evidence shows a high degree of awareness of the HSC guidance among directors it is clear that around a third of organisations do not have board level arrangements in place for directing health and safety. HSC/E undertook to build on the guidance by providing accessible and persuasive case studies that bring home the benefits of director leadership. The case studies being published supplement the director leadership case studies published by HSE in February and May 2005.
Helen Sissons, Group Technical Director of Greencore Group added, 'A clear and focused direction for health and safety, delivered by an enthusiastic team, has achieved a clear and measurable improvement in performance within the Greencore Group'.