Raising standards in SMEs
August 1st 2008

John Lester, workplace safety general manager at the

Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents

(RoSPA) examines how Small and Medium

Enterprises can improve health and safety performance

through training

Training can equip company directors, managers,

supervisors, team leaders and health and safety

professionals and representatives with the knowledge and

skills they need to undertake their roles competently,

including the effective leadership of health and safety, the

carrying out of risk assessments and the interpretation of

specific regulations.

Skills training, such as in manual handling techniques or

driver development, is also important if workers are to do a

job safely and to the best of their ability.

When addressing any aspect of health and safety

management, it is important to bear in mind that small and

medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not simply smaller

versions of large companies: they face distinct challenges.

Higher accident rates

Smaller firms tend to have higher accident rates and the

effects of injuries and ill health can be particularly acute.

Accidents can interrupt business continuity, and the

prolonged absence of a key member of staff can result in

significant lost time, orders and output and damage to

worker morale.

The financial cost of complying with health and safety

regulations is also different in small and large firms. A

recent report by the Better Regulation Executive (BRE)

found that, on a per employee basis, SMEs may be

spending nearly six times more than larger firms on risk

assessment.

Some SMEs may also find it difficult to access specialist

help on health and safety, including training, due to time

and financial constraints.

Efforts to raise health and safety standards in smaller

businesses should be built around these very specific

challenges and should not be overly burdensome in terms

of time or financial costs.

More flexible approaches to training could be beneficial

in this respect.

Training delivered by software-based and online products

could work well for SMEs, especially when issues on which a

need for external help have been identified.

Many providers of occupational health and safety courses

also offer "in-company" training at times and locations,

and using real-life scenarios, that suit the client.

Another potential solution is training some employees to

become trainers in their own right, which provides firms

with a permanent in-house resource, or seeking external

accreditation from an organisation such as RoSPA for a

course developed internally.

Before deciding which kind of training to choose, it is

important to conduct a needs analysis to identify the

issues that are truly important and the skills gaps that

need to be filled. This will ensure that scarce resources are

targeted appropriately. Involving staff and their

representatives in this process is crucial and external help

can be sought if necessary. The outputs of risk assessments

and lessons learned from accident and incident

investigations may also flag up training needs.

When specific needs have been identified and prioritised,

it is time to look at how they can be met. Training delivery

methods, quality, value-for-money and effectiveness are all

important considerations. A vast pool of useful information

can be found on the internet and in the specialist health

and safety press, about free resources from the Health and

Safety Executive and other government agencies and paidfor

services. Contacting other businesses who have used

particular training methods can also be useful.

Issue in focus

Improving the health and safety help available to SMEs is a

key issue of the moment. RoSPA's National Committee on

Occupational Safety and Health, for example, is currently

looking into the pre-qualification schemes used to assess

firms' health and safety credentials when they are

tendering for work and, particularly, into whether there can

be mutual recognition between such schemes – see

www.rospa.com/occupationalsafety/sme/.

And, the overriding message from the BRE's report,

which stated that small businesses could save up to £300

million a year with better advice and support on health

and safety, is that there are opportunities for cutting

unnecessary bureaucracy while maintaining a focus on

practical management to ensure safe and healthy working.

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