NOTE 1.

Language Issues

  Many people from ethnic minority backgrounds have excellent spoken English skills, but there are increasing numbers whose first language is not English and for whom communication in English is a difficulty. We recognise this situation and are producing appropriate publications in different languages.

  Our policy is to effectively translate targeted messages rather than directly translate all of our guidance, and to maximise the impact by considering the most appropriate means of distribution, promotion and presentation (which is not always written). In particular we have several publications available in a range of languages that explain our core business and activities, and to communicate about domestic gas safety requirements to both landlords and house occupants.

  We have been involved in research recently, focusing on language issues, and are currently considering the recommendations that followed. In particular, the research confirmed that there are greater concentrations of ethnic minorities in certain industry sectors such as construction and agriculture.

  Currently there is no sector-specific guidance for agriculture in languages other than English (and some Welsh translations), although we have contributed to work of some other Government Departments with the Portuguese Government on providing information for workers coming to the UK.

  In construction, the "High 5" leaflet, has been translated into a number of languages. This is targeted at small contractors (who make up more than 90% of the industry) and site workers, and has been distributed via the HSE's Working Well Together (WWT) White Van Roadshow and will be made available on the WWT website.

  Plain paper translations into Turkish and Kurdish of four leaflets (After an Accident, Health and Safety law, Welfare at Work and What to expect when an Inspector calls) have been made available in London.

  Following the Morecambe Bay tragedy, HSE's Guidelines for safe working in estuaries and tidal areas, developed in conjunction with relevant agencies, will be communicated using appropriate languages and methods, once work to explore the workers' communications needs have been concluded.

  Further opportunities for translating some of our key/gateway guidance will be continue to be explored.

  Below is a list of recent HSE publications that are available in different languages.

Title	Languages
Core Health and Safety
Health and Safety Law—what you should know	Bengali, Gujerati, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish, Welsh
Your Health & Safety—a guide for workers (HSE 27)	Bengali, Gujerati, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu
Health and Safety Regulation	Welsh
Enforcement Policy Statement	Welsh
Written Schemes of Examination (INDG 178)	Polish
Pressure Systems—safety and you (INDG 261)Polish
Leaflets produced for a Turkish Workers Project
What to expect when a health & safety inspector calls (HSC 14)	Turkish
Five steps to risk assessment (INDG 183)	Turkish
First aid at work. Your questions answered (INDG 214)	Turkish
Consulting Employees on Health and Safety: a guide to the law (INDG 232)	Turkish
Welfare at Work: Guidance for employers on welfare provisions (INDG 293)	Turkish
Stating Your Business—guidance on preparing a health & safety policy document (INDG 324)	Turkish
Health & Safety Law (poster)	Turkish
HSE and You, after an accident (HSE 10)	Turkish, Romanian
Catering Information Sheets
CAIS numbers 2-13 (containing core guidance on catering)	Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujerati, Turkish, Urdu
Construction
The High 5—Five ways to reduce risk on site	Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, Urdu, Welsh
Gas Safety
Gas appliances—get them checked, keep them safe (INDG259)	Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Czech, Gujerati, Hindi, Polish, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu, Welsh
Landlords—a guide to landlords duties (INDG235)	Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Czech, Gujerati, Hindi, Polish, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu, Welsh
Manufacturing
WW2 Woodworking information sheet 2—safe stacking of sawn timber and board materials	Polish
Hearing loss at work—what you should know—AUDIO CD.	Bengali, Gujerati, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu Dyeing and finishing—HSE information sheet no. 4. Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujerati, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese
Fire safety in small textile factories (IACL 107)	Bengali, Gujerati
Health & safety in clothing factories (BCIA/GMB)	Bengali, Gujerati, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese
Under Development
An Introduction to Health and Safety (INDG259)—Bilingual format with English translation	Bengali, Cantonese, Gujerati, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu, Welsh
Your Health and Safety, a guide for workers (Revision)	Yet to be decided

NOTE 2.

Enforcement Notices for Noise, Manual Handling and DSE Regulations

  Mr Dismore quoted low HSE prosecution figures under these sets of regulations in 2002-03 and invited comment. Our witnesses said that for the full picture one also needed to see the numbers of enforcement notices issued, and offered to provide this information to the Committee.

  The number of Notices issued by HSE specifically against these Regulations for the three years from 2001-02 to 2003-04 are set out in the Tables below. The figures for the first two years are finalised. For 2003-04 they are provisional and may be subject to slight revision following a quality assurance process. The figures relate only to HSE activity, as it is not possible to collate information from local authorities at this level of detail. Their activity, though, is likely to be of the same order.

2001-02	Improvement	Deferred prohibition	Immediate prohibition	Total
Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regs 1992	18	—	—	18
Manual Handling Operations Regs 1992	208	1	32	241
Noise at Work Regs 1989	258	—	2	260
Total	484	1	34	519
2002-03	Improvement	Deferred prohibition	Immediate prohibition	Total
Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regs 1992	32	—	—	32
Manual Handling Operations Regs 1992	296	2	38	336
Noise at Work Regs 1989	397	3	5	405
Total	725	5	43	773
2003-04	Improvement	Deferred prohibition	Immediate prohibition	Total
Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regs 1992	14	—	—	14
Manual Handling Operations Regs 1992	206	—	37	243
Noise at Work Regs 1989	202	—	—	202
Total	422	—	37	459

NOTE 3.

Efficiency and Impact Improvements in Field Operations Directorate

  HSE's Field Operations Directorate (FOD) has completed two successful pilots in its London and North West Divisions to improve operational efficiency and impact. These involve visiting administrative staff working alongside inspectors in frontline roles, delivering key health and safety messages. There are now some 60-70 such administrative staff, and their work enables inspectors to spend more time targeting the dutyholders most in need of HSE's attention.

  The aims of these pilots included:

(a)  broadening the range of staff directly influencing dutyholders and others who can in turn exert influence;

(b)  reducing bureaucracy to enable those staff to spend more time on such work;

(c)  improving the efficiency of front-line activities;

(d)  broadening HSE's sphere of influence; and

(e)  improving "organisational health"—staff morale, turnover and productivity—particularly in London.

  The two pilots have produced strong evidence that some significant gains are readily available. Staff involved in both pilots did not wish to return to the previous working arrangements. In the North West Division pilot, the total numbers of days in contact with dutyholders, a vital means of HSE influence, rose with no extra staff to 2,489 from the previous level of 2,035. This is a really important productivity gain.

  A new model for FOD has been developed from the pilots, which will be introduced nationally during 2004. It involves the deployment of about 50 further operational staff at the equivalent of Executive Officer level. Their role will include being the primary source of initial contact with small firms, a major contributor to awareness events, complaint handling and resolution, working with intermediaries and enforcing Employers' Liability provisions. It will develop further as experience is gained. We envisage them taking part in investigations and enforcement, for example by gathering evidence at the scenes of incidents and from witnesses.

  In parallel, Inspectors will be freed to carry out more front-line work by measures such as preparing reports and enforcement notices immediately on-site, and by spending less time inputting data to HSE's recording systems. There will be more educational and promotional work, but also more enforcement-based campaigns. Litigation teams will be set up to administer prosecutions. Revised criteria for selection of incidents for investigation (subject to further piloting at present) will achieve what we consider the optimum balance between such reactive work and the proactive work of inspections, campaigns, events and initiatives etc.

  These developments will therefore further strengthen our front-line delivery capacity to pursue HSC's "Strategy for workplace health and safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond" by better programme and project working, working through others and applying a broader range of intervention strategies.

NOTE 4.

Current Position with Occupational Health Advisory Committee (OHAC)

  OHAC developed from the Medical Advisory Committee in 1987 in recognition of the need for change. At the time, it was the only tripartite forum for those involved in occupational health and has since provided valuable input to developments. To ensure that all its Advisory Committees remain relevant and properly adapted, the Commission requires them to be reconstituted every three years. The end of OHAC's three year term in January, prompted consideration by the Commission about the most effective means of consulting and involving stakeholders in pursuit of HSC's aim to do more to tackle new and emerging health issues.

  The Commission recognised the changing environment within which HSC/E operate. The Strategy for 2010 and beyond identifies areas where activity needs to be concentrated to achieve maximum impact and recognises that HSC/E should not try to do everything. To gain leverage on occupational health issues, an essential part of the strategy is to engage with partners to develop new ways of working. This will be taken forward through a new strategic programme, the Better Health at Work Partnership Programme.

  Formal standing committees, such as OHAC, are likely to have a limited contribution to offer in the new environment, and the input of committee members, while still valued, is likely to be more effective as part of a wider group of experts. These experts could probably contribute more productively, for instance by working in small groups on specific tasks with defined outcomes and timescales. Consequently the Commission has asked HSE to do further work on how to achieve optimum engagement of relevant stakeholders.

  HSE staff met recently with the group of former OHAC members to discuss how to take forward the occupational health support agenda and their role within this. Those present agreed to form an informal reference group to help further development and delivery of the new programme. A first meeting will concentrate on developing a mechanism to deliver an effective stakeholder network, encompassing all relevant areas of expertise. Experience in tackling some of the psychosocial health problems, such as stress-related ill health, demonstrate the need to work with other groups such as human resource managers, workers' representatives and others concerned with the promotion of a healthy workplace. Such a network would also enable those involved to share knowledge of developments throughout Great Britain and emerging ideas.

  In summary OHAC, as previously constituted, was considered not sufficiently broadly based or adaptable. Changes are driven by the need for a wider and more flexible network of partners prepared to work in new ways to meet the new occupational health agenda.

NOTE 5.

Programme taking forward Occupational Health Support schemes

  Research has shown that only 3% of people working in small firms have access to occupational health support. HSC's new Strategy recognises that tackling occupational health and safety in the workplace needs a strategic and partnership based approach. This will be delivered through HSE's Better Health at Work Partnership Programme, which prioritises working with partners in a voluntary way to improve access to occupational health support, especially for small firms.

  HSE is developing innovative partnerships, in the public and private sector, to provide occupational health, safety and rehabilitation support regionally, locally or by sector. Three pilots are planned or underway to test a model for occupational health support, developed collaboratively by HSE and stakeholders:

—  Constructing Better Health, an occupational health support pilot for the construction industry. The pilot has been shaped by an industry led Action Forum, facilitated by HSE.

—  Safe and Healthy Working, a Scotland wide occupational health support service, where HSE is working closely with NHS Scotland and contributing to the evaluation.

—  Working with Kirklees Council and a Primary Care Trust to develop and deliver an integrated occupational health, safety and rehabilitation support service to improve the health status of people with work-related ill health.

  Further details of these pilots appear below. They will be fully evaluated and enable HSE, DWP and employers to judge how much difference occupational health support makes to improving health at work and reducing sickness. We want to test out what works and why, how we can use this knowledge to develop future services to deliver what employers and workers really want and need, and the benefits of further investment to roll out support provision across the country.

Constructing Better Health

  This is an initiative to pilot an occupational health support service for the construction industry, and test it in a defined geographical area, offering employees and employers best-practice management advice to reduce exposure to key health risks. This will include free on-site risk assessments for employers and occupational health screening for workers, and a gateway to further specialist support, if required. In line with the DWP`s wider initiative on rehabilitation, the service will promote rehabilitation and early return to work of those who have suffered injury or ill health arising from their work.

  To drive the project forward HSE established an Action Forum, tasked with securing funding, identifying suitable occupational health providers and establishing governance arrangements for the project. Members include representatives from the Trade Unions, employer organisations, the Association of British Insurers, the Construction Industry Training Board and DTI.

  A key issue has been finding a sustainable mechanism for managing the pilot and securing the necessary resource. We are working closely with the B&CE (Building and Civil Engineer Benefits Scheme), a not-for-profit company providing a holidays-with-pay scheme and other benefits to construction workers to establish the governance arrangements, likely to be through a Company Limited by Guarantee with funds held by the B&CE Charitable Trust.

  Costs are estimated at £1.1 million (ex VAT). B&CE has committed staged funding of £200,000 to the pilot. HSE is making a contribution of £200k to the cost of running the pilot to match that of other funders, subject to the necessary financial controls. DWP has also offered a separate contribution of £200k towards funding the pilot, given the links with the broader rehabilitation agenda. DTI will contribute £25k. HSE has also given a commitment to arrange and pay for the evaluation.

  The pilot is expected to roll out in October 2004 and run for 18-24 months, provided sufficient funding is raised to cover costs. HSE has already put out to tender a research contract for the evaluation, which will run concurrently with the pilot. The results of the evaluation are expected in October 2006, or at the end of the pilot if earlier.

Safe and Healthy Working

  Safe and Healthy Working, launched in May 2003 and funded by the Scottish Executive at a cost of around £1 million a year until Sep 2005, gives all Scottish SME employers and their workers equal access to free and confidential advice, information and support on occupational health and safety in the workplace.

  It aims to improve the health, well-being and company productivity of SMEs by helping employers and employees to identify and tackle workplace issues including stress, back pain, disability, working with dangerous substances and the particular hazards of lone working. HSE sits on the project board and is funding the evaluation.

  Safe and Healthy Working includes:

—  A freephone advice line providing confidential advice and guidance to employers, employees and individuals at the time of call. This aspect of the service was developed from the pilot occupational health and safety telephone helpline in Lanarkshire, which was funded by HSE.

—  Professional advisers, based within NHS Boards, who, if requested, can visit the workplace to carry out an assessment and provide a report on the occupational health and safety needs of an organisation.

—  An interactive website (www.safeandhealthyworking.com) that not only provides in-depth information and signposting to other relevant organisations (including HSE) and services, but also has a facility for organisations to input queries and questions to the advisors and receive a response via e-mail or telephone.The evaluation has run concurrently with the pilot. The final evaluation report is expected in August 2004. Initial results to December 2003 show that there have been over 1,300 interactive calls, over 17,000 visits to the website, and almost 400 workplace visits. Initial findings suggest that action taken as a result of advice has resulted in improved awareness and compliance on health and safety.

Better Health at Work Partnership: OH Support Pilot—Kirklees

  This is the development of a Kirklees-wide initiative to provide an integrated occupational health support service:

—  to improve the health status of people with work-related ill health and the work status of people with ill health;

—  to do so in a way that supports SMEs to thrive and achieve their potential.

  The Partnership consists of the Kirklees Business Partnership, Kirklees Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, Huddersfield South Primary Care Trust (PCT), Central Huddersfield PCT, North Kirklees PCT, Jobcentre Plus and HSE.

  The pilot is likely to start in Autumn 2004 and is expected to run for two or three years. Funding is being sought under Neighbourhood Renewal, Local Public Service Agreement Second Generation (LPSA 2G) and WSA Challenge Fund.

  HSE is committed to funding the evaluation of the pilot, which will run concurrently with the pilot.

NOTE 6.

Priorities for Using Additional Resources

  Resources for HSC/E are, of course, a matter for Ministers in DWP in the light of their overall priorities, but in the context of the question posed by the Committee, the following is what HSC/E would want to do if additional resources were available.

  We would want to use those resources to enhance the prospects of achieving our targets for improvements in workplace health and safety in Great Britain. Our three priorities would be:

  (a)   Improving Access to Occupational Health Support, particularly for small firms. See Note 5 for more detail. At present we could not cost a national system. We hope to run pilots which would inter alia give us a basis for estimating full costs.

  For the pilots, additional spend of about £25 million over three years would enable us to:

—  use innovative partnerships, in the public and private sector, to provide occupational health, safety and rehabilitation support (OHSRS) regionally, locally or by sector. We would envisage up to five pilots with a core of common features, co-ordinated marketing (clearly distinct from HSE) and an independent evaluation;

—  identify from the pilots what worked best in changing behaviour. They would also inform the financial modelling of a sustainable scheme with national coverage; and

—  in conjunction with DWP and employers judge how much difference OHSRS made to improving health at work and reducing sickness absence, and evaluate the benefits of further investment to roll out support provision across the country.

  Alternatively, an increase in funding of between £5-10 million over three years would enable us to run a scheme similar to the Worker Safety Adviser Challenge Fund, encouraging stakeholders to bid for funds to run regional or local pilots and establish the benefits of running an occupational health and safety support system.

  With an even smaller funding increase, some pilots could still be organised, and provide an evidence base for setting out the best way to deliver improvements in occupational health and safety support.

  (b)   Investing in more publicity, communications and health and safety campaigning. We would like to move from reactive tactical communications to more strategic campaigns. The evidence is that this is more effective in delivering outcomes, but costs more. An example of the sort of approach we would like to adopt more generally was a campaign on firework safety targeted on young people which led to a significant drop in accidents.

  Our benchmarking suggests that HSE's current communications investment is below comparable organisations. An additional £15 million over three years would enable us to do more. For example, we would complement operational activity by raising levels of awareness of hazards and highlighting sources of advice. We would also want to publicise prosecutions as part of our efforts to amplify the effects of operations.

  (c)   Increasing operational activity, so that we do more proactive work with individual enterprises, at local or national level. For example £7 million over three years would enable us to develop the role of junior operational staff and also free up time for inspectors to do that work which makes best use of their skills. Additional operational resources would be deployed to secure further outcomes from our priority programmes.

  Health and safety improvements could also be supported by additional resources for others. Government has a key role to play, for example as employer, procurer and the maker of policies. Additional resourcing for Government could make a substantial contribution to the delivery of health and safety outcomes and thereby improve the delivery of public services, as a significant proportion of the total number of days lost from work-related ill-health are in government.

  We are in any event pursuing a vigorous efficiency programme looking at both support and front line work. The aim is to direct resources to priorities and get as much impact as possible from our funds. One of our aims is to increase operational time. We hope that this programme will release enough funding to enable us to pursue some of the ideas set out above, albeit to a limited extent. Extra funds would increase the prospects for delivery. We would still want to ensure that we used these funds as efficiently as possible.

Bill Callaghan

26 May 2004