An independent review service from the British Safety Council (BSC) that formally checks and benchmarks how well an organisation’s occupational health and safety systems and procedures are being implemented at individual sites is now available for the health and social care sectors.

The Independent Systems Review examines the effectiveness of an organisation’s health and safety arrangements at either a single site or multiple locations, comparing what is happening against the employer’s own agreed standards, policies and procedures.

Designed to help organisations ensure their health and safety management systems are effective, the service includes a report featuring recommendations for improvement, and an action planning table to guide the process. The review takes at least a half-a-day, depending on the size and nature of the site and the number of sites checked.


The first health and social care organisation to undergo the review was the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), a Glasgow-based charity that provides a variety of community-based services for people with mental health conditions.

The review looked at how well SAMH’s health and safety systems and procedures were being implemented across eight sites, including head office, a publicly accessible mental health resource centre, supported accommodation services, and outreach services and offices providing support to both homeless people and those living in their own homes.

Judith MacKinnon, director of human resources and national programmes at SAMH, said the review had resulted in some useful suggestions for improvement, such as the need to streamline health and safety checklists for contractors. “It gave us a very clear plan for action for what needs to be done and by when, and who needs to get involved.”

Commenting on the review service, David Parr, head of product development and delivery at the British Safety Council, said: “Employers need to be certain that the health and safety procedures and systems set down by central management and head office are actually being implemented at the organisation’s sites.

“Our Independent Systems Review is a cost effective way of ensuring health and safety standards are maintained on individual sites, and allows employers to benchmark performance across multiple sites, providing a baseline against which to judge overall performance on an annual or biannual basis.”