EHJ March 2003, pages 84-86 More than 70 local authorities are piloting a Health and Safety Commission topic-based inspection scheme that targets the main causes of accidents and ill health. Nick Warburton reports

The role of local authority health and safety enforcement came under some scrutiny last year when Alan Craft, environmental health manager at Basingstoke and Deane BC, said that many health and safety managers continued to direct resources towards “general inspections” against numerical performance indicators, “with no consideration for the effectiveness of this approach” (EHJ, November 2002, page 325).

Citing the Health and Safety Executive/Local Authority Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA) strategic plan 2001-2004, which reflects the Health and Safety Commission’s (HSC) desire that local authority enforcement should support the revitalising health and safety strategy, he argues that a more effective approach is required. “If local authority health and safety enforcement staff are going to ‘make a difference’ and contribute to reducing the toll of workplace accidents and ill health in this country, efforts need to be focused on what works.” That means directing resources towards work activities that cause most accidents and ill health, targeting premises that are high risk, and inspecting in a way that maximises results.

Since June last year, a number of local authorities have been piloting an approach introduced by the HSC which focuses on the five main causes of accidents and occupational ill health: workplace transport accidents, falls from heights, musculoskeletal disorders, slips and trips, and stress. The idea is that if inspectors can significantly improve compliance with safety guidelines for these topic areas, then the number of injuries, cases of ill health and lost days at work will be significantly reduced.

The HSC has prepared and customised for local authority use, a topic-based inspection pack, which includes enforcement guidance as well as inspection report forms with supporting risk control indicator statements. The information is available to all local authorities regardless of whether they have volunteered to take part in the pilot scheme and is available from the HELA website.1

As local authorities will be aware, the main driver for reducing accidents and ill health is a set of challenging targets defined in the revitalising health and safety strategy statement, published in June 2000.2 The strategy’s aim is for all stakeholders to work together to:

• reduce the number of working days lost per 100,000 workers from work-related injury and ill health by 30 per cent by 2010;
• reduce the incidence rate of fatal and major injury incidents by 10 per cent by 2010;
• reduce the incidence rate of cases of work-related ill health by 20 per cent by 2010; and
• achieve half the improvements under each target by 2004.

The success of the 10-year revitalising strategy will rely entirely on the commitment of the various stakeholders in the health and safety system, of which local authorities are lead players. The HSC has identified five hazard areas where major improvements are needed:

• Workplace transport accidents: These account for about 70 fatalities a year, and more than 1,000 major injuries and around 5,000 minor injuries, which result in people being off work for more than three days.
• Falls from height: Causes 80 fatalities and around 5,600 major injuries per year.
• Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD): In a year, this affects around 1.2 million people in Great Britain and accounts for nearly 60 per cent of all individuals reporting work-related ill health, an estimated 180,000 new cases of WRMSD per year. In terms of working days, it has been estimated that around 9.9 million are lost in a year due to WRMSD.
• Slips are trips: This is the largest source of injuries in the local authority enforced sector, accounting for 42 per cent of major injuries to employees.
• Stress-related illness: Stress accounts for about 20 per cent of reported cases of occupational ill health (or approximately 500,000 cases). In addition, it has been estimated that there are about 92,000 new cases each year. The impact on the economy is staggering: with 6.5 million working days lost, the cost is about £3.7 to £3.8bn (based on 1995/1996 prices).

The significance of the pilot scheme in contributing to the revitalising targets lies in its approach. During inspections, local authorities use the risk control indicator statements provided in the inspection packs to assess the level of compliance in the five hazard areas.

Ranging on a scale of 1 (full compliance) to 4 (limited or no compliance), the officer marks the business’ level of compliance on the report form and feeds the information back to HELA’s training website, enabling the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to build up a national picture showing how different sectors are doing. More importantly, according to Sheila Braff, area manager for environmental services at Wandsworth LBC, the scoring system will show (over a number of years) whether this type of intervention is having the desired effect.

The HSE is confident that it will and is encouraging more local authorities to take part in the topic-based inspections so that it can “refine and adapt the approach and supporting materials to make them more suited to local authorities’ needs, and to identify any training requirements in advance of a roll-out to all local authorities in 2004.” 3

One of the authorities already on board is Kirklees Metropolitan Council, which was commended by HELA last year for its work in improving awareness of slips and trips in the catering sector (EHN 1, 10 January 2003, page 9). According to Andrew Sheard, environmental health manager, the topic-based inspections compliment the council’s own local Public Service Agreement (PSA), which set an ambitious target for reducing the number of reported accidents (slips, trips, falls and WRMSD) by 17 per cent by April 2005.

Prior to the pilot scheme, the council’s approach to risk assessment was based around the type of business carried out on a premise. The council however, recognised that a cultural change was needed and decided that in future, risk assessment should be based instead on the way work is employed on site (eg whether there is a high level of lifting activity).

When the council adopted the new approach in June 2002, it set a starting benchmark for the PSA at 691 reported cases. According to Mr Sheard, Kirklees aims to cut this figure to 606 by March 2004 and reach 573 by March 2005 when the PSA ends. The council’s action plan will include the following:

• focus inspection activity on slips, trips and falls, especially in sectors with known high incidence rates, eg catering;
• carry out targeted mail shots to high incidence sectors and offer help to small/medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with risk assessments, hazard spotting and training;
• target off-site workers such as window cleaners to reduce the incident rate of falls from height;
• pilot the HSE/Health and Safety Laboratory Pedestrian Slipping Expert system to evaluate its role in assisting enforcement/advice;
• implement a manual handling campaign and offer training in handling techniques to higher risk businesses; and
• raise awareness of the risks of working at height in the warehousing sector.

By using a combination of education and enforcement tools, the council is confident that the PSA will have a significant impact on reported accidents. As Mr Sheard acknowledges, “It’s good to have something you can focus on, put the resources in and make a major impact on reducing accidents.”

At last year’s HELA conference, Bill Callaghan, chair of the HSC issued a warning to council leaders and chief executives: “With trends in injuries and ill health and the resources and outputs of local authorities continuing to go in opposite directions, urgent action is now needed to reverse these trends.”4 Hopefully, by targeting the main causes of accidents and ill health, local authorities will be able to contribute significantly to the revitalising targets and make a real difference in improving safety in the workplace. Only time will tell.

References

1. http://www.trainingco-ord.org/
2. http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/restormel/environmentalhealth/Revitalisingnotes.htm
3. Health and Safety Executive newsletter, issue 1, February 2003, page 9. Visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/pdfs/launews027.pdf
4. Health and Safety Bulletin, Final 2002, page 3.

To find out more about volunteering for the topic-based inspections, contact Moira Buchan at the HSE at: moira.buchan@hse.gsi.gov.uk