Occupational hazards - December 2020

I'VE HEARD it said that everything bad in life is eventually a blessing. Well, I’m not so sure but I do believe that good things can come out of bad. A third of the Queen’s birthday honours published last month, for example, went to previously unsung heroes of the Covid-19 pandemic, promoting so many real-life acts of kindness and compassion.

There was the guy who put his weekly pub quiz online and raised more than £750,000 for health charities and a London homelessness project that saved him when he was a street sleeper a decade ago. He received an MBE, as did the Glasgow restauranteur who provided well over 100,000 free meals for hospital workers, vulnerable and isolated people, as well as children missing their free school meals during lockdown.

Sadly, with more than 1 million people having died from Covid-19 as I write, and over 36 million contracting the disease, this pandemic has brought tragedy on a global scale. It has also done serious damage to our economy, destroying the hopes and dreams of businesses and of individuals and families.

But I believe this coronavirus has actually brought occupational safety and health an unprecedented opportunity. Our sector, and all those who work in it, have the chance to offer the world nothing less than a way out of the pandemic. That’s quite a claim, yet I’d suggest the prize could be even greater. That’s because, if we get it right, we have an opportunity to put prevention and safety and health front and centre of the world economy, until long after Covid-19 has lost its grip on us. 

While top scientists continue to disagree on how best to combat coronavirus, a clear space exists where the value of best practice in risk management, strong regulation and open, consistent communication and engagement can be clearly demonstrated: the workplace. Get it right here and we can get it right in our wider society; the workplace can become a showcase for not only how to manage the virus but also how we look after each other going forward, caring for the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all of us.

As OSH professionals, Covid-19 has thrown us a challenge: can the workplace show the world how to look after people? But how can we ensure the pandemic becomes a seminal moment in how we care for each other and build better lives? The stage is set to show how a safe and heathy workplace can prove a beacon in a world darkened by this deadly virus. 

Living with Covid has largely been a difficult and disturbing experience, indeed, a dark one for many and there’s surely a strong desire to learn from it, to use it as a catalyst for a safer, healthier life and a less troubled, more supportive society. The OSH community must tap into this yearning for an old, yet new ‘normal’ to address the fact that, each year, 2.78 million people continue to die in the global workplace, that there are 340 million occupational accidents and 160 million global cases of work-related illness. 

If there’s a phoenix to rise from the flames of this raging pandemic, something to lead us to a Covid-free and harm-protected life, it could well be that stronger safety and health in the workplace will help us find it.

It so happens that a global movement that believes all accidents, diseases and harm at work are preventable announced a new training package, last month, to make workplaces worldwide safer and healthier. It also happens that my organisation, IOSH, the world’s leading chartered professional body for people responsible for safety and health in the workplace, has teamed up with the International Social Security Association (ISSA) to deliver this training under the Vision Zero banner. 

Vision Zero is a transformational approach to prevention that integrates the three dimensions of safety, health and wellbeing at all levels of work. Launched in September 2017 by the ISSA, the programme quickly gathered support from governments and businesses around the world. Now a breakthrough training package is offering Vision Zero training providers across the globe a chance to be part of an international drive to prevent people being killed, injured or becoming unwell as a result of their work.

The training will empower each training provider to become a ‘Vision Zero Hero’, giving them the tools they need to deliver health and safety training to those committed to embedding a vision of zero harm in their workplace. 

Out of Covid, let’s hope Vision Zero can prove a blessing… for all our sakes.

Alan Stevens is head of strategic engagement at IOSH. For more information, visit www.iosh.com