Health & Safety Best Practice Exchange

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Health & Safety Best Practice Exchange
5 July 2007, at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, NEC Birmingham

Participants at the Exchange held in July 2007 described their experience as follows:

"An excellent event, encouraged conversation and debate with the sharing of best practice across numerous sectors from industry."
Steve Woodward, Compliance Risk Manager, Cadbury Trebor Bassett

"Opportunity to capture and focus on the benefits that can enhance business performance - through the collaborative knowledge sharing and facilitation that the day delivered."
Tony Hanley, Director, Titan Fire & Security

"I was pleased to find that the Best Practice Exchange was an excellent use of my time, and I would recommend them to all my colleagues from within the H&S industry."
Rob Cooknell, Health, Safety and Environmental Manager, VW Group

"A valuable use of my time."
Joanne Doak, Compliance Manager, Diageo Global Supply

"I believe attending this event is well worthwhile, leaving the Health and Safety Professional with a feeling of worthiness in being able to talk with his her contemporaries at a level only the professional can relate to."
Colin Beall, Deputy Chief Safety and Environment Officer, Royal Air Force

"The Best Practice Exchange is an excellent opportunity to meet other H&S professionals. It is an excellent forum for the sharing of ideas."
Christopher Sawyer, Health and Safety Co-ordinator, BMI Three Shires Hospital

"A great way to hear about the issues that other professionals are facing and the practical steps that they are taking."
Nick Anderson, Programme Development Director, TRL

"I went away with some good ideas to act on within my own company."
David Ridgway, Health and Safety Officer, Emirates

"Valuable use of my time."
Nick Wilson, Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner, Weightmans

"I didn't think I'd find the day very useful when I first saw the list of delegates, as there was no-one from my industry. However, the discussion groups were excellent, and showed that we face the same H&S challenges in all our industries. Overall, a very useful day and reassuring to know that lots of other people are facing challenges the same challenges as us to get things right."
Hazel Bourne, Operations Manager, In House

"It's good to talk …"
Claire Oakes, Health and Safety Manager, Multibuild Limited

"An excellent networking tool."
Malcolm Lilburn, Logistics & Safety Manager, W.E.Dowds (Shipping) Limited

"An excellent opportunity to develop ideas and have open discussions with fellow professionals from outside your own industry."
Peter Flynn, UK H&S Manager, Calderys UK Ltd

"To be able to hear new ideas, get renewed vigour and meet like-minded people is a very good use of your time."
Steve Tupper, UK Health and Safety Manager, LogicaCMG

"I was very pleased to attend the workshop, which I found both useful and informative. I will look forward to attending the next one!"
Tim Whelan, Managing Director, Castell Safety International Ltd

"Valuable networking and interaction at this conference."
Karen Kings, Health & Safety Manager, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust

"An excellent forum for discussing the ever increasing issues relating to Health and Safety. Enjoyed the diversity of the participants which included the RAF, private car companies, NHS, Local and Central Government - all dealing with H&S issues in very differing environments."
Jackie Turner, Health, Safety and Risk Manager, Govt Car and Despatch Agency

"This is an excellent forum to discuss H&S issues that affect our workplaces often we are struggling to see how we can deal with issues in isolation and this forum gives us the time to talk to other professionals about how they tackled the same issue and also to give them ideas if they are having problems."
David Chadwick, Health, Safety and Security Manager, Tribunals Service

The programme was as follows:

09:45- 10:20 Opening Plenary
Welcome: Jonathan Bramsdon, Acting Chief Executive, British Safety Council

The business case for championing health and safety ~ leadership and guidance to directors
Geraint Day, Head of Health and Environment, Institute of Directors
Jonathan Bramsdon, Acting Chief Executive & Marcus Whewell, Sales Director, British Safety Council

10:30 - 11:30 Choice of Sessions

Workshop: Avoiding costly slip ups - practical solutions to slips and trips
Stephen Taylor, Principal Specialist Inspector, Construction Division Technology Unit, Health & Safety Executive
*Surface roughness and contamination
*Common flooring materials and their slip resistance
*How to test for slip resistance
*HSE/HSL Slip Assessment Tool in theory and in practice

Workshop: Health & Safety Good Practice for Board Members
Geraint Day, Head of Health and Environment, Institute of Directors
* How can board directors best demonstrate a commitment to health & safety?
* Legal responsibilities and corporate governance
* Engaging and empowering staff
* Identifying and managing health & safety risks
* Procurement standards and contractor issues

Discussion Group: Implementing a Workforce Involvement Initiative
Joanne Doak, Compliance Manager, Diageo
* Ways to empower employees in health and safety
* Make-up of health & safety committees
* Ideas to improve employee co-operation
* How to involve staff in: communications, training, risk assessment, monitoring, audit and improvement ideas

Discussion Group: What can H&S professionals do to improve their image?
Jonathan Young, H&S Officer, Lee Filters
* What is the current state of our image at present
* Does the image influence safety performance and if so how?
* Root causes of our image
* What is the way forward in improving our image?

12:00 - 13:00 Choice of Sessions

Workshop: Are you ready for the workplace smoking ban?
Frankie Tierney, Partner, Herrington & Carmichael
* Premises used as a place of work and open to the public must be smoke free all the time.
* A breach could lead to a criminal conviction
* My employees know they cannot smoke on the premises but what do I do about the public?
* What do I as an employer have to do to make sure I comply with the legislation?
* My best customers are all smokers & I don't want to upset them - can I work around the rules?

Discussion Group: Learning from Accidents and Incidents
Jonathan Young, H&S Officer, Lee Filters
* Creating a culture committed to reporting and learning
* Open, team-based approaches to investigation
* Issues of training, guidance and support
* Procedures for gathering incident data
* Communicating, embedding and sharing lessons learned

Discussion Group: Integrating Safety and Risk Management
Colin Beall, Deputy Chief Safety and Environment Officer, Royal Air Force
* Is there a universal process for risk management?
* Jointly identifying the risks and hazards from business functions, activities, services/products
* Controlling risks in a unified manner to maximise success and workplace quality
* Ways to improve communication between those responsible for safety and risk management
* Enhance safety awareness by promoting a risk-informed safety culture

Discussion Group: Management of contractors
Stephen Acaster, Group Health & Safety Director, Persimmon Plc
* Assessing the risks
* Determining what information, instruction and training is needed
* Co-operation and co-ordination between all parties
* Establishing the level of management and supervision required

Discussion Group: Communicating Health and Safety Issues
Mark McLeod, Sector Manager, British Safety Council
* Using all internal communications channels
* Opportunities for staff dialogue
* Promoting the benefits of health & safety management
* Catching people doing things right!
* Support and training line managers to become 'advocates'
* Creating a Health & Safety culture

14:00 - 15:00 Choice of Sessions

Workshop: Homeworking and Health & Safety
Nick Wilson, Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner, Regulatory Services Unit, Weightmans
* Figures on homeworkers - the invisible group?
* Work life balance
* Legal responsibilities
* Common hazards
* How to managing the risk
* Accidents and case studies
* HSE interest?
* Reference material

Workshop: How to Cope with the New Work at Height Regulations
Ian Greenwood & Gloria Birchall, Falls from Height Team, Health Safety Executive
* The legislation
* Risk assessment approach to selection of safe working practices
* Hierarchy of controls
* Planned systems of work and competence of users

Discussion Group: Helping Staff Minimise and Deal with Stress
Paul Crossland, Health, Safety, Security and Environment Manager, Wellcome Trust
* Recognising stress in the workplace
* What is good practice in managing stress in the workplace
* What can be done about the causes of stress in your organisation
* Solutions think-tank

Discussion Group: Implementing a Workforce Involvement Initiative
Tim Whelan, Managing Director, Castell Safety International
* Ways to empower employees in health and safety
* Make-up of health & safety committees
* Ideas to improve employee co-operation
* How to involve staff in: communications, training, risk assessment, monitoring, audit and improvement ideas

15:20- 16:15 Choice of Sessions

Discussion Group: The Role of Occupational Health in Absence Management
Chris Sawyer, Health & Safety Co-ordinator, BMI Three Shires Hospital
* Legal issues relating to absence management
* Common causes of absenteeism
* Lessons learned from taking a preventative approach
* Tried and tested policies and procedures

Discussion Group: Minimising Occupational Road Risk
Shaun Linnett, Safety, Health, Environment & Security Communications Specialist, National Grid
* Developing a risk management approach
* Risk assessment
* Practical control measures

Discussion Group: How to stop a truck (and why would you want to?)
Nick Anderson, Programme Development Director, TRL
* Vulnerability assessments for critical infrastructure and considerations for hostile vehicle mitigation
* Modus operandii, use of consistent methodologies for assessment and building the business case for perimeter protection - appreciation of all these areas can lead to a safer site

Discussion Group: What can H&S professionals do to improve their image?
Richard Trist, National Accounts Manager, British Safety Council
* What is the current state of our image at present
* Does the image influence safety performance and if so how?
* Root causes of our image
* What is the way forward in improving our image?