Dummies can equal clarity

It took a long time but Wiley has published a Dummies guide on Health and Safety At Work. The lack of an occupational health and safety (OHS) book in this series has always been a mystery particularly when the Dummies” market seems to be, primarily, small- to medium-sized businesses.  This edition is written for the UK market but the vast majority of the book is applicable to any jurisdiction that is based on the original UK OHS laws. But is it any good?

SafetyAtWorkBlog dipped into several chapters of the book to see if it was on the right path.

This article is not going to discuss the Dummies format which has evolved over many years with textboxes, icons, tips etc. and with which most people are familiar or, if not, go to a local book shop and dawdle in the Dummies aisle.

As mentioned above this Dummies book matches the business sector who most often asks for help in OHS and usually from a minimal level of knowledge or, even worse, been tainted by the “elf ‘n’ safety” of the English tabloid media.  The book’s first line immediately establishes a rapport with the reader by saying:

“Health and safety is a surprisingly interesting topic”.

This acknowledges that OHS is rarely the core consideration of any business and implies that the authors have been equally surprised. The first page provides useful information intended to grab the attention of a potential buyer and reassure the business reader of the fundamentals of safety management.  These include

• “Risk Assessment is a core tool for health and safety…
• Safety management systems are much easier to set up that to maintain, review and improve,….
• Using consultants can be an efficient and effective use of resources…
• No two safety experts will ever agree on the detail….” (pages 1 & 2)

The first formal chapter of the book tackles the tabloid hype which was a must for the UK readership as the hype has been so pervasive over the last decade.  The authors, David Towlson, Vicki Swaine and Terry Robson, state that most of the “elf ‘n’ safety” reports are not about safety and OHS is often used as a smokescreen “to hide a decision that has already been made for other reasons.” (page 8)  They also state that, as the Health and Safety Executive has said,

“one of the reasons cited for disproportionate interpretations of safety requirements is a fear of being sued”. (page 9)

However this is highly unlikely and the fear is partly a result of the seemingly increasing presence of the no-win, no-fee lawyers, a reality occurring in Australia as much as in the UK.

In discussing the Lofstedt Review, the authors write about ‘disproportionateness” of risk assessments.  Risk assessments were intended for significant risks, a point made by WorkSafe Victoria some years ago which dropped the assessment requirement for established risks for which suitable controls had already been identified.  It is useful to note the following when companies recommend a safe work method statement for everything:

“Unnecessarily complex risk assessments create a disproportionate administrative burden.  This greatly undermines the cause of safety and encourages the view that health and safety gets in the way, tying up valuable resources in efforts that don’t benefit the business.” (page 10)

(So we create our own red tape??!)

Every so often the authors slip in paragraph that makes you wish you’d written it.  The following is a terrific summary of the current state of OHS that also hints at the fear of OHS that many business people have:

“Modern health and safety isn’t some strange, mystical art.  In fact, you can argue that it isn’t really a subject in its own right at all.  Instead it’s a collection of topics brought together with a safety emphasis; that is, to avoid injury or ill-health. In a wider sense, health and safety is also a key aspect of business risk management.” (page 11)

If we accept this position, we should restructure tertiary OHS courses to be fully multi-disciplinary.  Basic OHS training can address the legislative requirements but advanced courses should be structured around health and safety management rather than being dominated by theory.

The authors spend a couple of pages addressing the safety vs profit argument by using simple examples of how a small action can create large direct and indirect costs and how unpreparedness for such events can threaten business success.  What is missing, at least from this section, is how OHS can increase productivity and profitability.

In fact there is little attention to productivity in the book, just as there is only brief mention of culture – 2 paragraphs on page 360.  The latter is an excellent move because the academic argy-bargy over safety culture does not help a small- to medium-sized business manage the type of safety issues they face daily.  It would have been good to see some discussion on the organisational and worker benefits (productivity) of showing that safety is being managed well.

The chapter on developing an OHS policy is notable for the extra information included.  The authors discuss the need building a risk profile of the business which leads, although it is not mentioned, to the establishment and management of a safety risk register.  Safety Risks should be acknowledged in enterprise risk registers but it is much easier to administer if there is a safety module or slightly separated OHS risks.

Significantly, and this is indicative of the book as a whole, the policy chapter ends with the subheading:

“Making sure the resources are available”.

Too many companies establish safety processes but do not commit to an appropriate level of resources – people, time and technology – to maintain and upgrade those processes.  So the commitment to safety can be shown to have existed at some point but this is severely undercut if the safety management system is not maintained.  The authors wisely advise for a balanced approach:

“The middle path uses the available budget to adequately resource a prioritised health and safety programme wisely.  If you have confidence in the rest of the policy setting and planning programme, your decisions for action will be well thought out and warrant financial backing without the need for justification from a precise cost-benefit analysis.” (page 45)

This paragraph needs careful reading to understand the decisions that are required elsewhere in the business to strengthen  the safety management approach.  Many would also quake at the lack of a cost-benefit analysis but if the business is structured appropriately to encourage trust, this lack should not be a surprise and substantial costs could be saved.

There are a fair few references to UK safety and regulatory resources (particularly in the chapter about moving to a recognised safety management system) but it would not be difficult to find equivalents in different jurisdictions.  In fact it would not be difficult to produce local versions of this Dummies guide by simply replacing these references.  It would be good if Wiley considered this, if they are not already working on it.

For OHS professionals this book can be a refreshing experience and may even fill some knowledge gaps, particularly in how to talk about OHS simply and to maintain focus on safety management rather than safety theory. It would be a good addition to the OHS bookcase.

Kevin Jones