How to secure an effective health and safety programme at work

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 established self regulation, albeit within specific substantive statutory requirements laid out in previous legislation, as the basis for further developments in company policies and practices designed to improve standards of health and safety at work. Drawing on eight case studies of sites in chemical and related industries, this paper focusses on the management role in achieving effective self regulation. Self regulation is discussed in terms of the development of strategies to control the particular hazards which characterise any selected work site. When such hazards are unacceptable, positive interventions need to be made, either in anticipation of hazard realisation or in reaction to the harm or loss which has actually occurred. Three main options for anticipative control are discussed: elimination, containment and mitigation. The combination selected is shown to reflect specific legal requirements and judgements about the nature of the hazard, the probability of realisation, likely consequences, possible solutions and availability of resources. The effects of the political organisational context on these judgements are considered. Concepts of control are central to this framework of self regulation and are considered in terms of both technical and motivational control. Technical controls are directed towards the identification and control of specific hazards and involve four stages: the identification of the need for control measures, the determination and prescription of control standards and processes which are going to be applied, their implementation, maintenance and adaptation. Motivational controls have a more diffuse purpose and are concerned with the development and maintenance of general safety awareness and commitment to technical controls. Three principal elements of motivational control are discussed: the general objectives, culture and atmosphere of the organisation, definitions of responsibility and authority, and mechanisms of accountability and performance measurement. The paper concludes with an account of three companies which displayed an increasing emphasis on the importance of establishing accountability for health and safety.