Corporate killing laws not improving unhealthy attitudes to health and safety in British businesses

Citation

(2002), "Corporate killing laws not improving unhealthy attitudes to health and safety in British businesses", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 11 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2002.07311dab.002

Corporate killing laws not improving unhealthy attitudes to health and safety in British businesses

Corporate killing laws not improving unhealthy attitudes to health and safety in British businesses

UK businesses are woefully ill prepared for the new Corporate Killing laws due to come into force during this parliament, according to new research by one of the UK's leading business training providers.

Despite the Government's Revitalising Health and Safety initiative which aims to reduce the incidence of work-related illness and accident by up to 30 per cent by 2010, RRC Business Training's study of 100 health and safety managers in companies with an average of 2,655 staff, highlights the alarmingly low priority placed on health and safety across the UK's small to medium sized companies (SMEs).

According to the study, over a half of board directors see current health and safety legislation as just red tape and a third think it already imposes unnecessary constraints on their business. Only 63 per cent regard health and safety as "vital" while a fifth see it as a necessary evil.

A recent MORI poll of captains of industry conducted on behalf of the British Safety Council revealed that most are demonstrating an increased commitment to health and safety but it seems that this is not yet reflected in smaller organisations.

One of the suggestions put forward by the Home Secretary is that companies should have a named director responsible for health and safety, a belief backed by the British Safety Council, but in a third of the companies which took part in RRC's survey, no one at board level has ultimate responsibility for health and safety in their organisation.

The status of health and safety managers is also indicative of the lowly priority given to this area. Only 53 per cent of those questioned are senior management or above – in the telecoms and IT sector this figure drops to 33 per cent.

What is more, a quarter of those responsible for managing health and safety in UK SMEs have no recognised qualifications to equip them for their job and many are alarmingly unaware of even current basic legal requirements.

A quarter of health and safety managers are not aware of the present legal need for trained first aiders. Despite the fact that musculo-skeletal disorders are the most common type of occupational ill health in Britain, nearly a fifth do not realise that they are breaking the law by not carrying out assessments of computer workstations regularly and when new recruits arrive. Thirteen percent do not even know that, currently, company bosses could have any responsibility for the health and safety of those not in their employment. Considering this, it is no surprise that many are unaware of the implications of the new Corporate Killing legislation.

A quarter did not even realise that companies could be held accountable in criminal law when health and safety falls below reasonable standards and less than half (40 per cent) were aware of one of the main points of the new legislation – that a company can be subject to unlimited fines if convicted of corporate killing. A significant percentage were unaware that individuals could face life imprisonment for reckless killing.

Time was cited as the biggest barrier to health and safety training. Nearly half of those questioned say health and safety training is compromised because of lack of available time.

According to Gary Fallaize, MD of RRC Business Training – which has recently launched a health and safety e-learning service, featuring IOSH and NEBOSH accredited courses to make health and safety training more time and cost effective – the findings of the research pinpoint the inherent problems surrounding health and safety cultures which are endemic across UK organisations.

"There is a general suspicion of 'legislation for legislation's sake'. Even in companies that are adhering to legal requirements, there is a common belief that 'box ticking' is enough. Companies realise that they need to show they are going through the motions but do not see the need to take matters further. The cost to employers of workplace injuries and ill health is around £2.5 billion a year with 24.3 million working days lost (The Labour Force Survey 1995/96). But the Corporate Killing laws could mean these costs are just the tip of the iceberg. It has never been more important for companies to ensure that they have a good health and safety culture. The 'box ticking' culture needs to be underpinned by a proper understanding of the real benefits, in both monetary and PR terms, of sound health and safety practices and policies, and the real risks of failing to adhere to health and safety regulations."