When talking about health and safety: the world shouted safety and whispered health
Speaking with PoliticsHome, Chief Executive of the British Safety Council shares the organisations simple vision: no-one should be injured or made ill at work.
In 1981, James Tye, the founder of the British Safety Council, led elephants to the Houses of Parliament. Why? To champion health and safety, of course.
He used the elephants to remind politicians of people killed at work, hammering home the point with an animal that never forgets. Although this infamous stunt created waves at the time, it is not all the charismatic and often controversial founder is remembered for. After the Queen was, as she frequently did, photographed riding a horse without a helmet, Mr Tye rang her up and told her off. He was also responsible for one of the most complained about campaigns of all time: a picture of the Pope wearing a hard hat with the strapline ‘The Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt always wear a condom’.
James Tye flouted authority for good reason – he was passionate about health and safety. It made him a highly effective campaigner: he was instrumental in getting seat belts introduced into cars in the UK and was involved in the creation of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974.
Although Mr Tye passed away in 1996, the British Safety Council has continued his work.
“We have a very simple vision,” said Mike Robinson. “It's that no-one should be injured or made ill at work. We seek to deliver that in different ways.
“There should be a moral expectation that every worker has the fundamental right to return home both healthy and safe at the end of the working day. However, there is no such thing as being 100% safe.
“Disproportionate health and safety is bad for business. If you wanted to be completely safe, you wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning.
“Getting health and safety right is about finding a balance between necessary and desirable activities, and the risk of incident, injury or illness. At work, that means finding the point, that facilitates and supports business, whilst still sending everyone home safe and well. Good health and safety management supports efficient business operations and leaders and managers have a key role to play in this.
“Britain has made significant improvements in the last few decades in getting that balance right. Some 60 years ago, over 5,000 people were killed in safety accidents across the UK. Last year, that number was just 144. Although the British Safety Council would like to get that number down to zero, health is becoming an increasingly important priority for us.
“When talking about health and safety, the world shouted safety and whispered health. The impact of not managing health became evident over the last 10-15 years. Today, well over half of days lost to ill health are related to musculoskeletal disorders and mental health issues.
“Health conditions are, by definition, much more difficult to manage. It is our view that rules and legislation will only ever drive basic compliance. The only way we are going to make significant progress in relation to health issues is to move beyond the need to comply with regulations to a position where we’re inspiring people to deliver continuous improvements. When you do this, it has the potential to bring significant benefits, not just financially, but also in terms of efficiency and employee engagement.
“I believe that politicians can do more in relation to health and safety. We aim to work more closely with MPs to help them deal with the complexities of modern health and safety and make a positive difference to the communities they represent.”
National statistics shows how far health and safety has come since James Tye founded the British Safety Council in 1957. Would he be pleased with what the organisation does and stands for today?
“I think, he'd be amazed to see how far the Council has come and how much influence we have, both in the UK and internationally. Although he'd probably think the world is a bit of a risk adverse place these days.”
Would the British Safety Council still take an elephant to Parliament to prove a point it is making?
“The world has moved on. Modern technology and social media have provided us with more efficient ways of getting our message across than some of the tactics he resorted to. Let’s just say, it’s a very different era now and we probably would not need to.”
The safety charity and membership organisation celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
