New tool to help monitor health and safety

EEF, the manufacturers' organisation is to launch a health and safety tool for board directors. Almost half of all respondents to EEF's latest health and safety survey said they would welcome help on setting and monitoring key performance indicators. The new health and safety scorecard will help company boards manage health and safety in a pragmatic way.

The scorecard is being made freely available to all EEF member companies in a pilot scheme launched in March. If this proves successful it will be made available to all companies later this year.

Steve Pointer, head of Health and Safety Policy at EEF said: “The tool is loosely based upon the structure of a balanced scorecard. It helps boards set and monitor meaningful targets without the need for them to get into the minutiae. Having identified the key performance indicators, the scorecard shows how to use these to measure and monitor improvements in health and safety performance.”

• The EEF has been urging government and the HSE to resist pressures for new legal duties on company directors, following a survey which shows a substantial increase in the number of directors taking a leading role in their companies' health & safety management. A decision by HSE Board is due shortly.