Branch
Report:
16th November 2005
Worker
Participation and Behavioural Safety
Colin Nottage, National Health
and Safety Manager for Hanson Aggregates gave a presentation on Worker
Participation and Behavioural Safety to 29 members on the 16th
November at the Heronstone Hotel. Colin opened with the statistic that in
the UK quarrying industry the number of reportable accidents has reduced
by 68% over the last 5 years, and it is figures like this which are making
the industry much more respectable with regard to reportable accidents.
Hanson aggregates has had a
63% reduction in the number of lost time injuries over the last four years
and is on course for a further reduction in the number of reportable
injuries in 2005. Colin attributed the fall in the number of lost time
injuries and reportable accidents to the four stage approach to health and
safety which Hanson now uses. Stage one is ‘Safety Matters’, which is
not an initiative but a new way of thinking about health and safety. It
is driven by the site management but relies heavily on the commitment from
the company and the employees. All site staff and area management sign up
to the commitment to reduce accidents and promote health and safety in the
work place. With this there is a mangers guarantee that there will be a
‘fair blame’ culture on site, where they guarantee that if any health and
safety defect or near misses are reported, that the individual will not be
blamed or penalised. The employees then also make a commitment to active
co-operation and support for site management. The second step in the
process is ‘Take One’, which is where all employees are asked to think
before they do a task. The accident triangle will reduce to no fatal
accidents, fewer major injuries, fewer near misses and less intervention
due to less unsafe acts and behaviour simply by people ‘taking one’. Step
three is using task auditing. This is the shift in culture from a
dependant (management driven) or independent (employee driven) culture, to
a interdependent culture which is team driven, where everyone looks out
for everyone else. Recent examination into the causes of accidents has
shown that 96% are caused by people and or unsafe acts. As a result of
this, there is a need for visible felt leadership. This is achieved by
all levels of management undertaking site audits where they actually speak
to the employees and understand the tasks that they are undertaking. This
is the vital part of the audits as it is the workforce who know where the
problems are and it gives them a chance to express their opinions. The
final stage in the approach is employee education and the assessing of
competency through the NVQ process. 50% of all Hanson employees achieved
an NVQ by 2004 and the target is 100% by 2010.
Combined with the four stage
approach Hanson also actively encourages site safety representatives and
the use of site safety committees. There is company or union appointed
safety representative on every site, who are trained to carry out a number
of vital roles, all without any legal duties and which are carried out
within working hours. They provide an ideal way of communicating safety
information and the safety message to the workforce and management.
Colin provided a very detailed
presentation on the way Hanson is addressing the issue of behavioural
safety and worker participation and he left us with this final statement
to consider, ‘Vision without action is merely a daydream. However, action
without vision can be a nightmare. We must have vision followed by
action working in partnership with our employees, our regulators, our
unions and our contractors to succeed in reducing the number of accidents
in our workplace’.
