British Safety Council unveils details of Annual Conference

The theme of this year’s conference - taking place on 5th October 2016, is 'Health and work in a changing world'. In the last few years, effective management of risks to people’s health and wellbeing at work has been climbing up the business agenda. But understanding what this means to your business, and even to the extent of where to start, is a conversation many directors, managers and advisors are still having.

This year’s Annual Conference will be held at one of London’s leading venues, The King’s Fund. The confirmed keynote speaker is Professor Dame Carol Black DBE, FRCP, FMedSci, the principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, an expert adviser on health and work and also Chair of the Nuffield Trust.

Mike Robinson, chief executive of the British Safety Council, said, “A clear challenge facing us as an industry is around that of ‘health’. We know that ‘safety’ has dominated the conversation for decades, and we are all now looking at what it means in terms of health, given that we speak of ‘health and safety’. Is it occupational health, is it health and wellbeing? The question remains how do we encourage health - what opportunities are there to learn lessons from the safety culture to help build a health culture? We also know that mental health is a particular facet of this and we have so much to do in terms of addressing just this aspect of health in a more coherent way.” 

In the last few years, health has been climbing up the agenda both within public awareness as well as within business. But understanding what this means to a business, and even to the extent of where to start, is a conversation many directors, managers and advisors are still having.

The conference is designed to provide an opportunity to gain insight from policy makers and thought leaders as well as hear about good practice and experience built up from leading organisations. The British Safety Council says it will unpack how ‘health’ integrates within safety, HR and environmental management and how it will build value as well as resilience into your business.

Agenda (Subject to change)

Guest chair: Steve Hails, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Director, Thames Tideway Tunnel

09:00 Registration opens

09:45 Welcome and opening remarks: Mike Robinson, chief executive, British Safety Council

09:55 Introduction and logistics for the day: Steve Hails, health, safety and wellbeing director, Thames Tideway Tunnel

10:00 The government agenda on health and work: TBC

10:15 Why does health matter? The business case for managing health: Professor Dame Carol Black DBE, FRCP, FMedSci, principal of Newnham College, Cambridge

10:30 Ageing workforce - what does this mean for productivity?: TBC

10:50 Tea/coffee break and networking

11:15 Case study: Sharing what good health and wellbeing management can look like: Kirsty Summerby, health and safety director, Unipart

11:30 Case study: Valuing your workforce regardless of health ability: Dr Nasser Siabi OBE, CEO, Microlink

12:15 Shared responsibility - managing health together: Kizzy Augustin, senior associate, Pinsent Masons

12:45 Q&A with speakers

13:00 Lunch

13:45 Guest speaker: TBC

14:15 Addressing 'health' through behavioural change programme - sharing insight and good practice: TBC, JOMC

14:45 Panel discussion - "Identifying the challenges and implementing the strategies - how to go about tackling health at work": Dennis Curran, chairman, Barhale; Hugh Robertson, senior policy officer for Health and Safety, TUC; Lawrence Waterman, director of health and safety, Battersea Power Station Development; Professor Stephen Bevan, head of HR Research Development, Institute of Employment Studies

15:50 Closing remarks: Mike Robinson, chief executive, British Safety Council

16:00 Close

Who should attend?

• Employers
• Directors and senior managers
• Academics and researchers
• Health and safety managers and practitioners
• Health practitioners
• HR practitioners
• Journalists
• Lawyers
• Regulators
• Risk managers
• Trade associations
• Trade unions and safety representatives

The event is an opportunity to gain CPD credits for IOSH and IIRSM CPD schemes.

Register your interest.

For more information, visit www.britsafe.org/conference