Government cautioned on new Directors Duties

Manufacturers are urging government to resist pressure for new legal duties on directors after a new survey concluded that, despite the recession, company boards are taking a more hands-on approach and spending more time on health and safety.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Board is under pressure to recommend a new duty on directors at their meeting later this month. However the survey of nearly 400 companies, conducted by EEF the manufacturers' organisation, revealed there has been a major increase in board engagement in managing health and safety risks over the last three years. According to EEF their survey proves the proposed new laws are unnecessary and maybe counter productive.

“Leadership of health and safety is extremely important. Our survey confirms that there has been a sea change in director involvement - active leadership is now very definitely the norm, not the exception.” said Steve Pointer, head of health & safety policy at EEF.

“Recent legal changes, insurance considerations and a campaign by HSE and other organisations have all played a part in that improvement. With the effect of those legal changes still feeding through the system it makes no sense to introduce a new law now. We urge HSE to stick with the current approach and are keen to continue lending our active support.”

Steve Pointer fears that further statutory duties would simply lead to a 'box ticking' mentality aimed at protecting board members instead of protecting employees. The survey shows that promotion, encouragement and support, coupled with robust enforcement of the existing duty on directors, is more likely to bring further improvements. EEF has developed a tool to help directors which they aim to launch later this month

The survey further revealed that confidence in the regulators has dropped, albeit from a high baseline; this could be a result of the recession, but EEF believes HSE must look closely at this to ensure it does not become a trend.

The greatest area of concern amongst employers continues to be unnecessary bureaucracy and there is a very noticeable increase in concern about the effect of requirements on small companies.

Steve Pointer commented “In recent years HSE has made significant efforts to reduce regulatory burdens. Our survey shows that further work is needed to reduce burdens from existing legislation and to resist new legislation, most of which now emanates from EU directives.”

Key findings of survey:

• 81% of boards discuss health and safety as a regular item, compared with 58% in 2006.

• 73% of boards set and monitor targets for health and safety, compared to 53% in 2006

• 91% identify the health and safety responsibilities of senior managers in their health and safety policy, compared to 77% in 2006.

• 80% of companies are spending more time on health and safety than they were in 2006.

The most common requests for further advice and support were: help with benchmarking performance (54%), help with setting and monitoring meaningful targets (45%), health and safety training for senior managers (41%)