ISO STANDARD NEEDS MANAGER BUY-IN

Speaking at Health and Safety Scotland 2018, Julian Taylor, Product Specialist at SHE Software suggested that managers will check sales numbers and product figures but only consults health and safety data once a month. 

“We should be giving them dynamic, daily information,” he said. “It encourages more frequent conversations and in line with 45001, it encourages leadership.”

He referencing the new ISO45001 safety management system launched in March, which has an emphasis on leadership and employee engagement, Taylor said that while the new standard has “nothing surprising or ground breaking about it but can ultimately improve safety culture.” 

The standard has emphasis on staff engagement. “We talk about safety as a management activity, but teams can feel excluded as very often we simply asking them to fill out pieces of paper,” Taylor urged

He suggested that safety needs to be promoted as an important part of the organisation, however this business priority has no real relevance to the people down the chain. “If we say safety is a business priority; how important does it make it to the person on the building site? It just makes it a box to tick,” he said.

Warming to the theme of outdated paper approaches, Taylor suggested that technology should be embraced, with professionals utilising smart phones to engage employees.

He concluded by saying that the standard is good but needs the right integration. “It brings the first global standard around occupational health and safety, and it’s most definitely Brought around a maintained focus around safety and compliance. I’ve seen the phrase game changing used. It will only be game changing if is implemented into organisations in the right way, while leaders and teams are engaged and importantly, the other parts of the jigsaw are in place.