As a working teenager in the 1980’s, Health & Safety in the workplace was rarely mentioned.  Working in the ‘low risk’ environment of a travel agency, there were far more important things on my mind. Where was Ouagadougou? Where was the carbon paper? Where was the fire extinguisher so I could prop the door open….

Health and Safety was something other people did.  I was vaguely aware that the men who drilled holes in the road (sometimes) wore ear defenders and the guys on the building site (sometimes) wore hard hats, but that was about it. Computers in UK travel agencies weren’t introduced until the late 80s, so there was no need to worry about DSE workstations and risk assessments. ‘I’ wasn’t going to get injured at work because ‘it didn’t apply to me’.  And anyway, ‘health and safety was boring’.

So, what was the problem and what was the all the fuss about?

To find out, let’s have a quick history lesson on UK Health & Safety. Back in the Industrial Revolution (about 300 years ago), children as young as five were forced to work long, hard hours in factories.  The conditions for children (and adults) were often appalling. Realising  this, in the early 1800s, Parliament introduced the first Factory Act, with the aim of protecting child labourers in factories. The Act evolved but it still wasn’t enough.

Pre-1974, legislation was fragmented and employers (and employees) struggled to understand their responsibilities.  Workplace accidents continued to happen with little thought as to how they could have been prevented or indeed, from happening again.  Triggered by several major disasters and huge public outcry, Parliament again stepped in. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 came into force, followed several months later by the establishment of the HSE.  Employers sat up and took notice.  The Act required them to prepare and keep an up-to-date written statements of their general policy regarding the health and safety of their employees.

Fast forward to the 1990s and health & Safety was slowly but surely making its way into my life.  I listened in horror one September morning as a colleague returned from ‘taking some time out’ to tell us that her husband had died at work after falling into the cooling tower of a chemical plant.  He had not been provided with sufficient, properly working PPE for the job (harnessing and a platform).

My career took a different direction, and throughout the noughties, Health & Safety became a more visible and important part of my working life.

But it wasn’t until I became involved in the wood and timber industry that Health & Safety started to make sense.  It was suddenly more than just ‘bureaucratic policies written by zealots’.  When you work with sharp cutters and spinning blades, you soon realise that if you don’t follow certain policies and procedures, you will lose a finger, an arm or your life. A colleague once joked (as he lifted a disfigured hand) that when he was younger, you couldn’t call yourself a proper woodworker if you still had all your fingers. I think it’s fair to say that the opposite is true today.

There are risks to health and safety at work that we all face, regardless of whether we are working from height, in a confined space, at a manufacturing plant, a building site or sitting in an office.  Who hasn’t suffered from a sore back or eye strain because of a poor workstation?  Or been overwhelmed with stress because of a heavy workload and tight deadlines?

So why do so many people consider Health & Safety such a waste of time?  We’ve all been there – rolling the eyes, huffing and resenting the very words ‘Health & Safety’.

There are many reasons.  ‘It’s just this once, so I won’t bother’.  It’s dangerous mindset and one that a high school janitor a few years ago bitterly regretted.  He lost an eye because he wasn’t wearing safety goggles. Worse still, he had to walk down the crowded corridors with blood gushing from his eye, trying to make out that nothing was wrong.   Another example being the young woman who got scalped because she didn’t tie her hair back and it got caught in the machinery. Nobody wakes up thinking they are going to get seriously harmed at work, but statistics don’t lie.  According to the HSE, an estimated 680,000 people sustained a non-fatal injury last year.  In addition, 124 workers were killed in work-related accidents.

You may believe that complex policies seem more like a dictatorial suppressant than a vital component of business designed to prevent injury or death.  But a relevant, well implemented, up to date and streamlined policy framework can prevent accidents, boost productivity and avoid potential legal action. 

Media reports of bizarre ‘bans’ and ‘health and safety gone mad’ don’t help either.  A school in Bristol infamously banned a blind girl from using her walking cane, citing safety concerns for other students. And our very own Health & Safety Executive (HSE) was reported to have once banned employees from moving their own chairs to prevent injury.  The list is endless.  It’s no wonder some people don’t take health and safety seriously.

Many of you reading this may work in an office.  Perhaps in a multistorey building.  I wonder how many of you find fire and evacuation drills an unnecessary distraction. For those of you do, spare a thought for Rick Rescorla. British American Rick was the head of security for Morgan Stanley in the World Trade Centre, who saved the lives of over 2,700 employees in the Twin Towers attack on 11^th September 2001.  After the 1993 (World Trade Centre) bombings, he anticipated further attacks and insisted upon regular evacuation drills.  The staff thought he was obsessive and found the drills annoying.  Little did they realise that 8 years later, his dedication to health and safety would save their lives. When the first plane hit the North Tower, Rick initiated a full evacuation of Morgan Stanley’s employees.  Because the drills had been instilled into the staff, he was able to calmly direct them down the crowded stairwells to safety.  I bet the employees of Morgan Stanley never thought it would happen to them.  But thank goodness for Rick Rescorla who took health and safety seriously.

And back to the present day. Now, more than ever, employers are being pro-active regarding health and safety.  Policies are there to embrace commitment to a safe workplace, outlining responsibilities and ultimately protecting everyone from harm.  Cultures are changing. Everyone understands their role in maintaining a safe and secure environment.  There are other factors at play too.  Commercially, robust policies and procedures don’t just provide a safer working environment, they help to ensure legal compliance, reduce costs and boost productivity.  Risk assessments are done so that an organisation can identify areas of concern and address them before accidents happen.  We have come a long way since the Industrial Revolution.

And that can only be a good thing.