Responsibility for safety can't be contracted out says IOSH

Professionals from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s (IOSH) Public Services Group advised those who work with contractors that while work is contracted out, responsibility for safety cannot be, at the Institution’s 38th National Safety Symposium.

The guidance comes as savings within education, central and local government and healthcare continue, and work is contracted out in a bid make reduce costs.

Steve Sumner, chair of the IOSH Public Services Group, said:”Over the past year they’ve been a number of court cases where health and safety breaches of contractors have resulted in fines for public service organisations. Today’s event was not only about providing professionals with the tools to ensure this doesn’t happen, but to ensure they are prepared for future challenges in the sector.”

In March this year Carrickfergus Borough Council in Northern Ireland was fined for health and safety breaches after it contacted contracted Patrick Buckler, trading as Water Management Services Ltd, to assess the risks associated with its water systems at the Carrickfergus Amphitheatre. Mr Buckler had no specific training in legionellosis, or health and safety and when the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out a routine visit to the site in November 2011, they found the risk assessment for the water system was insufficient and further assessment revealed the threat of legionella was high.

Mr Sumner commented: “Health and safety criteria must be embedded in the procurement process. It’s essential to ensure that contracts are delivered in a way that does not jeopardise the health and safety of workers, service users and members of the public. Once standards have been set and agreed then contracts must be monitored to ensure that the health and safety standards are met. Failure to do so could result in injury – which not only ruins lives but can be very costly, both in terms of fines and compensation payments.”

Today, experts from the sector discussed how to improve safety and prevent accidents, injury and ill-health in education, local government and healthcare, at a time when purse-strings are continually being drawn and further savings are imminent.

Steve Sumner said: “Staffing and resource savings within the public sector are ongoing. It’s vital that employers ensure that savings aren’t putting workers’, service users’ and clients’ lives at risk.

“Health and safety performance in the public sector is generally good, but this never makes headlines. Today’s event was about making sure we never see the headlines and that health and safety remains paramount – to keep people, alive, safe and well – as they should be.”

Over 130 professionals from across the UK gathered at the IOSH Symposium which took place at the Nottingham Belfry Hotel. They heard talks from Jane Willis, director of cross cutting interventions at the HSE and Dr Christa Sedlatscheck, director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

Further information:
www.iosh.co.uk