Your World of Legal Intelligence
+44 (0) 20 7284 8080

Health & Safety Guidelines For Directors Receives Lowest Interest From Hotels

Document Cited in Related
Vincent

"Health and Safety is integral to success. Board members

who do not show leadership in this area are failing in their duty

as directors and their moral duty, and are damaging their

organisation"

A quotation from "Leading Health and Safety at Work" -

guidelines written 'by directors, for directors', launched

in October 2007 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the

Institute of Directors (IoD).

The guidelines attempt to draw to the attention of directors the

importance of good health and safety practices and procedures in

the workplace. The guidance takes a common sense approach, offering

straightforward practical advice in relation to health and safety.

The short (eight-page) publication also provides a summary of legal

liabilities, a checklist of key questions for leaders, and a list

of resources and references for implementing the guidance in

practice.

On 22 December 2008, the HSE issued a press release urging

business leaders to take advantage of the guidance, as research

conducted by Databuild on behalf of the HSE indicated that only a

quarter of business leaders surveyed knew about the publication.

Databuild have now published their full report, detailing the

specific results of the survey and evaluating the guidance for

directors.

The findings indicate that of the 25% of organisations who are

aware of the guidance, only 13% had actually read it. Awareness of

the guidance was found to be lowest amongst hotels and catering

organisations - whilst 54% of directors were aware of the guidance

in the NHS sector, this figure was just 19% in the 'hotels and

catering' category. There was also found to be a great degree

of variation between activity sectors when considering whether the

guidance was actually put to use - only 7% of those in the hotels

and catering sector had taken steps to use the guidance.

A correlation was also shown between awareness of the guidance,

and awareness of recent health and safety legislation - awareness

of the guidance was over two times higher amongst those who were

also aware of recent legislation. Again, awareness of legislation

was also lowest in the hotels and catering sector, at 31%.

Generally speaking, awareness of the guidance was found to be

higher in the public sector, compared to the private and voluntary

sectors. When looking at size as a factor, awareness was found to

be highest amongst directors/board members of large organisations

(250+ employees).

The majority of those surveyed had positive...

To continue reading

Request your trial