CEO's desk - December 21

Writing my piece for the end of the year edition of HSM I find myself, perhaps naturally, reflecting on 2021 and the year just gone. Is it just me, or has the year gone by in a flash? Suddenly we seem to be at the end of it. 

In addition to the velocity of time passing, it feels as though one cannot somehow take 2020 and 2021 as two separate years, they appear to have melded into each other, with issues overlapping from the pandemic chaos and Regulatory changes following our departure from the EU. In many ways it seems to be an ongoing series of inextricably linked pieces in a confusing jigsaw puzzle

The first CEO desk column I wrote in 2021 highlighted the Trade and Cooperation Agreement dealing with the UK’s future relationship with the EU. In that piece we outlined what needed to happen with mandatory product certification to the new UKCA regime required by January 1st 2022. The last piece I wrote for the October edition of HSM heralded that in fact the Government recognising the impossibility of the timeframe given to industry to comply, had added a further year to the CE standstill period meaning the final date(??) for compliance would be 1 of January 2023. Common sense from Westminster I can hear you say, but common sense that materialised only after a great deal of lobbying and persuasion.

I am optimistic and believe that the Safety and PPE industry will be ready in time for the new deadline, but work is required and there is no room for complacency. Other industries may struggle more than us. I know that in Construction Products there are a shortage of Approved Bodies able to give the necessary decisions, with that market having relied on European bodies for a long time. So in this CE/UKCA arena we have continued on the treadmill, started by PPE “easement” rules, of continually publishing market guidance following new rules dripping out from the Government.

One consequence of Brexit that became a new challenge was requests from BSIF members on how to deal with the changes in customs rates, duties, tariffs and product nationality now that we were out. While hopefully always current on standards questions, the import and export queries were not ones that were within the existing core competencies of the staff. Faced with this situation the BSIF team took training from a specialist agency, and created a course on import and export essentials. The findings from doing the course led us to believe that with some extra input and redesign, with a bias using PPE to illustrate the rules, we could create and offer the membership a useful training module. I am pleased to say that as of now we have put approximately 100 BSIF delegates through the course. It doesn’t instantly create experts but delivers useful knowledge and de-mystifies a complex area. I can only recommend this to you.

2021 saw industry gradually emerge from lockdowns in a step process. But face to face engagement with the market remained curtailed and the habit of virtual meetings and webinars persisted. Building on the experience of the PPE crisis, in April the date the Safety and Health Event at the NEC had been due to take place, BSIF held a very successful webinar designed to promote the vital need to select good PPE and its positive role in good safety and health. This very successful conference was followed by the BSIF and HSM Awards, again virtual and themselves held over from the previous year due to the pandemic. Having waited a full year to conclude the 2020 awards our 2021 awards were then judged and announced on-line in October 21, once again in partnership with the HSM and Western Business Media.

BSIF’s partnership with HSM and Western Business Media is extremely important to us. It facilitates a range of media and communication opportunities, from print to digital allowing us to reach those that need us. This partnership has, I am thrilled to tell you, been recognised along with the Guide to the British Safety Industry as “Commercial Partnership of the Year” by the PPA at the Independent Publishing Awards. 

In September a further step on the return to normality saw the running of the Safety and Health Event at the NEC, itself postponed from April 2020. Congratulations to the Nineteen Group, BSIF’s exhibition partners, for running such a successful event safely.

Mercifully the amount dreadful illegitimate PPE that flooded the market at the height of the pandemic has declined but there is still poor product being placed on the market by questionable suppliers. The Registered Safety Supplier Scheme, now with more resource, has never been more relevant. The scheme itself cannot do it all on its own, and the authorities must enforce their own Regulations. Action by the authorities and enforcement is vital for safety and a fair market. If there was another example of sameness needed it was the lack of interest and commitment by the Market Surveillance Authorities to act. Same old same old I’m afraid. 

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) own the strategy and responsibility for policy, but whether it is lack of resource or ambition the willingness to act is not there, even when presented with all the necessary evidence. 

I know that OPSS have prioritised investigation of on-line sales and are researching AI and digital tools to help the effort. This feels like a long term initiative and something that no doubt can be pointed to as action when challenged, but with obvious examples of non-compliant product continually presented to them by BSIF and our members they only need to act! This would have the effect of punishing illegal traders and persuading others to desist. Not taking enforcement action, and not carrying out their statutory responsibility is completely unacceptable. This must change. 

Re-reading some of the text above it does illustrate the mist surrounding the chronology of the last 2 years where our routines and timelines have been truncated and contracted. We sit here at the end of 2021 looking forward to a new year and hope that some of the crucial issues we have faced over the last two years will be addressed and we can go on building a Safety Industry that will lead the world.