HSE Chief To Take Questions At RoSPA Safety And Health Forum

RoSPA’s Safety and Health Forum 2011, taking place today, will open with a keynote question and answer session with Geoffrey Podger, the chief executive of the Health and Safety Executive.

Tom Mullarkey, chief executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, will put questions to Mr Podger about the shift in regulatory emphasis surrounding accident and ill health prevention in the workplace and concerns related to this, including:

With the ending of the HSE Infoline and much of the HSE’s awareness-raising work, how much help is the HSE prepared to give the voluntary sector to fill the advice gap that has been left, particularly for smaller firms?
Why has the HSE’s message that “good health and safety is good for business” become less prominent in recent months?
Will fee-for-intervention work and will the HSE be prepared to modify the policy in light of experience?
Members of the audience at the event in Birmingham will have the opportunity to put forward questions for inclusion in the session and RoSPA is also inviting people to submit questions in advance via Twitter – @RoSPAEvents – or on RoSPA’s Facebook page. The @RoSPAEvents Twitter page will be updated regularly during the Q&A, which will run from 10.05-10.45am.

Today’s forum, taking place at the Hills Court Conference Centre, will feature a range of nationally-recognised speakers who will address the theme: Safety Changes – obstacle or opportunity. One of the highlights will be a panel discussion on the topic of the daily challenges facing health and safety managers, featuring: Roger Bibbings, occupational safety adviser, RoSPA; Richard Claydon, global health and safety director, Cemex; Susan Murray, national health and safety official, Unite; and Shayne Tyler, operations manager, Manor Fresh. Details of all the speakers and their presentation topics can be found at www.rospa.com/events/healthandsafetyforum/.

Tom Mullarkey said: “This year’s RoSPA Safety and Health Forum comes at a crucial time in terms of the shift in regulatory emphasis at a national level. In recent months, in addition to supporting the need for a crack-down on flagrant wrong-doers and the eradication of unnecessary red tape, RoSPA has also stressed the importance of ensuring that firms, particularly smaller firms, can access good health and safety advice. After all, the vast majority of employers are well meaning and simply need good advice and information about how to protect their workers, and also their business, from costly accidents and ill health. I am looking forward to putting questions about the hot topics of the day to Geoffrey Podger and I am sure the question and answer session will be a lively one.”

The RoSPA Safety and Health Forum 2011 is supported by the HSE and Safety Groups UK