Networks news December 2019

Networks news

December 2019

For IOSH volunteers

by IOSH volunteers

Jumping for joy

P3

Leading by volunteering P6 Charting the way ahead P9

Welcome I’m really pleased to have been asked to contribute to this edition of Networks news.

It’s given me an opportunity to address the issue of what it means to be a volunteer for IOSH, and the potential value that it can give to the Institution.

These pages offer us an excellent insight into the variety of voluntary effort that our members give, whether it’s an individual charitable act to support the IOSH Benevolent Fund (p3) or the teamwork of the branch and group committees who ensure that our networks function and give voice to the membership (pp4–5).

We also get a glimpse of the future of the profession (p9), as envisaged by people early in their OSH career – our volunteers will certainly have a role in making any plans become a reality.

And we see the educational outreach work that one of our branches is doing to engender interest in the profession

in schools (p8). In all our work, we understand that we can gain most by acting inclusively, by tapping into the everyone’s potential contribution, which is why an article on women organising to overcome cultural barriers to their professional participation (p12) is at once both instructive and inspiring.

This edition is packed with great examples of the work of our members, and reminds us of the truly great things we do. Let’s use these as to spur us on in all our efforts – paid and voluntary.

II Andrew Sharman President IOSH

Get in touch: newsletter@iosh.com

Dates for thE DIARY - VISIT US AT INTERSEC ON STAND

H29, 19–21 JANUARY 2020, DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE - FIND OUT WHERE WE’LL BE

EXHIBITING SOON: WWW.IOSH.COM/IOSHATEXHIBITIONS - FIND 2020 COURSE DATES FOR

OUR CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES: WWW.IOSH.COM/CPDCOURSES - NEXT YEAR IT IS IOSH’S 75TH

ANNIVERSARY, AND WE WILL BE ARRANGING VARIOUS EVENTS DURING 2020 TO MARK THIS OCCASION, SO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS

Focus on...

The Sector Groups team After an internal review earlier this year, responsibility for Sector Groups moved to IOSH’s Advice and Practice (A&P) team, whose mission is to be the central source of thought leadership which feeds all of IOSH’s occupational safety and health information needs. This move has huge potential for the Groups to influence IOSH’s strategic direction, provide benefit to its membership and contribute to the enhancement of the profession.

To help us identify how to utilise this potential, we embarked on a series of consultation exercises. Many of you contributed to these, at the Chairs Day in June and more recently at the

02 Networks news

Networks Conference. This process will end for Sector Groups in December when committees give their feedback on the conference workshop results.

From January to April 2020 the focus shifts to considering what actions we will take. We would like to thank you all for your input so far.

During this consultation it was widely noted that our three Relationship Managers (RMs), who work with our Groups volunteers, hold the key to supporting our Groups with their activities.

There have been several personnel changes recently, but we are lucky to have a team of RMs with a wealth of

knowledge and experience. They are looking forward enthusiastically to working with the Sector Groups to implement those future plans, whatever they turn out to be.

Relationship Managers Julie Littlejohns, Alison Nicolson and Tina Lee

My jump for joy

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. once said “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase”. Doing a tandem Skydive needed no stairs, just a whole heap of faith, writes IOSH Council member Anne Isaacs.

My objective was not only to raise funds for the IOSH Benevolent Fund but also to raise its profile. I was heartbroken when I realised that many members were not aware of the Fund.

They could have benefited from some support had they known that the Fund offers practical assistance to members who are experiencing hardship.

If you’ve been an IOSH member for at least three years, or are a former member, the fund will be able to help you, your families and your dependants during times of crisis and hardship by offering: - practical help during long periods of illness - aids for temporary or permanent disability - help during unemployment, including education or training fees.

A great example is when a member was out of work and was struggling to apply and get work as they did not have a computer. They applied to the Fund for a laptop which enabled them to send out more applications and

Anne

eventually secure a full-time job.

When I told people that I was going to jump out of a plane for charity, the first question was “are you mad?” This challenge was on my bucket list in any case – but I thought since I was prepared to risk everything and jump out of a perfectly functioning plane, then why not do it for great causes?

For me, as well as the Benevolent Fund, these also included the Sickle Cell Society and Lupus UK. The jump crew were a little worried about me – they said that I was too calm. I was focused and just wanted to enjoy the experience. I have to say it was an exhilarating six minutes, starting with 30 seconds’ free fall (which seemed a lot longer) – a fantastic rush that I would recommend to everyone.

Then floating and spinning down through the clouds was heavenly. The team at Go Skydive were excellent.

They paid extreme attention to safety – we watched as they meticulously folded the parachutes (which was really reassuring). Then they took us through the training, making sure we followed the steps and understood where our hands and feet should be.

We all should remember life is a risk.

Some people did not make it to today – so while I am here I will do what I can, even if it means sailing a little closer to the sun. If someone else’s day will be made brighter – then I am happy.

I would urge all our members to consider contributing to the Fund – together we can help each other.

Who knows? One day you too may require assistance.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind donations, it really meant a lot.

For more information about how you can apply (in strictest confidence) for assistance from the IOSH Benevolent Fund or make a donation, follow this link: www.iosh.com/my-iosh/ benevolent-fund/

Anne presents a cheque to Nick CornwellSmith, Chair of the IOSH Benevolent Fund

Networks news 03

Imagination and effort The entries for IOSH’s Excellence Awards this year clearly demonstrated that our networks have continued to do excellent work in engaging our membership in achieving the goals for each of the three pillars of the WORK 2022 strategy.

Entries from our branches in Oman, Qatar, the Caribbean and Singapore, as well as from Sri Lanka (a network that is applying for branch status) signalled that our members are innovating around the world. Six industry sector Groups submitted entries, showing how well our subject specialists are organising. There were 21 entries and the winners for each of the three WORK 2022 categories were presented with their awards at the Networks Conference by IOSH President Andrew Sharman.

Enhance South East Branch’s mentoring scheme aimed to set up a group of trained mentors to support members’ progression through the membership grades. After the branch committee received a feasibility study, members immediately signed up. One-to-one meetings were quickly organised between members and mentors.

A structured mentoring plan was developed, with a list of approved mentors and a training programme for (prospective) mentors.

So far 59 members have registered to receive mentoring support. Three new professionals have joined the branch because of the scheme, and 14 members have improved their membership status. More than 40 others have reported that the scheme has helped them either to complete their IPD or comply with their CPD requirements.

South East Branch Chair Julian Mills with the award for Enhance

04 Networks news

Collaborate South Wales Branch ran an impressive event on preventing injury and ill-health, co-organised with four other safety bodies who together with IOSH form the South Wales Safety Groups Alliance. Two members from each organisation formed the conference co-ordinating committee and each was assigned a responsibility, from venue, to exhibition, bookings, sponsorship, programme, speakers and conference literature packs.

Set at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, the event attracted over 200 delegates and an exhibition with 36 stands.

Speakers included the Chair of the HSE, Martin Temple. Ninety-six per cent of respondents to the evaluation survey gave the conference a “good” or “excellent” rating.

It was an exemplary case of several organisations working together for the greater good.

Dylan Thompson (Communications Coordinator), David Murphy (Committee member) and Tudor Williams (Chair) with South Wales Branch’s award for Collaborate

Influence A small committee from the Caribbean Branch organised the first safety and health conference in the Caribbean for over 10 years. The committee invited distinguished OSH leaders to speak. One session recognised the contributions made and challenges faced by women OSH practitioners.

Registrations were closed early, with attendance 40 per cent higher than initially estimated.

The event enabled the branch to strengthen relationships with key stakeholders such as the Trinidad and Tobago OSH Agency, the US OSH Agency, the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute and the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards.

Following invitations to participate in a stakeholder review of proposed OSH regulations in Trinidad and Tobago, the branch played a role in their development.

Shazam Edoo (Vice-Chair) and Alina Dhanoolal (Executive Committee member) with the Caribbean Branch’s award for Influence

9 Themes and topics Some of the entries could have featured under more than one of the WORK 2022 pillars, showing the interconnection between the overall objectives of enhance, collaborate and influence. It was, however, possible to identify different clusters of types of activity or initiatives, although here again the boundaries between these were not hard and fast.

Improving inclusion Oman Branch organised a first-ever meeting in the desert, in response to oil and gas sector workers’ difficulty in travelling to meetings due to distance and long shift patterns North Wales Branch got Managing Safely translated into Welsh, giving Welsh speakers the option of being taught in their own language.

Opening lines of communication Aviation and Aerospace Group created a LinkedIn page to extend its influence in a complex environment. The number of followers has grown exponentially.

Qatar Branch created a LinkedIn page and now has over 4,000 followers.

Singapore Branch extended its influence (members in 34 countries) with a monthly programme of events and a new LinkedIn site. It has been invited to speak at and give advice to several organisations.

Professional development Workplace Safety and Health Association (Sri Lanka) produced a training prospectus to develop health, safety and environmental competencies.

IOSH Scotland’s one-day conference

to update members on health developments attracted nearly 90 delegates from all five Scottish branches.

Staffordshire Branch produced a video of a mock peer review to help members learn about the process, with 2,400 views on the IOSH YouTube channel at the time of submission.

South Wales Branch helped members to progress through the membership grades with a programme of professional development, including an all-day drop-in event.

Working with other networks Rural Industries Group and Chiltern Branch co-organised a training event on managing noise and vibration.

Ninety-eight members attended.

East Anglia Branch, Financial Services Group, Fire Risk Management Group and Food and Drink Industries Group co-organised an event, attended by 116 delegates, offering learning opportunities to professionals.

Making alliances and influencing Singapore Branch undertook a yearlong programme to build strategic regional partnerships with the Ministry of Manpower, the Workplace Safety and Health Council and others.

The Food and Drink Industries Group’s Food and Drink Manufacturing Awards relied on collaborative work with trade associations, trade unions involved in the Food and Drink Manufacturing Forum and IOSH branches.

Rural Industries Group organised two events in conjunction with other bodies as part of an ongoing project to influence farmers’ safety behaviour.

Developing resources Singapore Branch has been developing a digital tool (to be rolled out in phases) to provide a discussion forum and a repository for curated OSH content.

Theatre Advisory Group produced guidance for the entertainment industry on machine safety. The LinkedIn post announcing the launch was viewed 11,000 times in the first week, with views from Russia and Uganda.

Fire Risk Management Group developed seminars to strengthen the competencies of safety and health professionals dealing with worker complacency when a fire alarm is activated.

Environmental and Waste Management Group launched a training programme in 2015 on waste collection health and safety management, aimed at local authorities. This training was developed in consultation with several non-OSH bodies.

Much to celebrate The energy with which branches and groups went about their work was impressive and the dedication of committee members was noteworthy.

What’s absolutely clear is that all this enterprise required teamwork and collective responsibility, meeting and organising in the margins of time between work and domestic commitments. The range of ideas and initiatives showed what a little imagination – and plenty of effort – can achieve.

There is much to celebrate, and congratulations to everyone who entered.

Networks news 05

Paying it forward through volunteering Whether, like me, you have been an IOSH member for a number of years, or have joined comparatively recently, we had something very much in common when we made that decision to join the Institution. We all had the idea that we wanted to be part of something that would help us to be better at doing the work which, in our careers and our life-choices, we’d already identified as being important. Together, we have a collective will to improve the working world, ensure business is safer, healthier and more efficient, and make life better for everyone.

I’ve watched IOSH grow immensely – in the number of members, in the geographical distribution of branches and in the range of industrial sectors in which we have representation. We have also strengthened our connections with other organisations, with business and with governmental bodies.

Increasingly we are doing this globally, as our influence extends through our campaigning, research and policy work.

It’s an organisation of which I am proud to be President.

At the heart of all this growth, of course, is our network of branches and groups. So I’d like to express my personal thanks to you, the committee members, without whom the branches and groups could not operate. Not only do you initiate and coordinate lots of vital engagement work, strengthening and improving networks in regions and sectors, but as volunteers you also add experience and expertise, alerts to 06 Networks news

current or emerging challenges, and new thinking to improve the work you do.

Contributing all of this, you also give voice and representation to the membership, and create a presence for the Institution in your localities and fields of work. You are the lifeblood of our professional body and charity.

The quality of volunteering It’s all voluntary effort. You and I know that meetings, briefings and updates don’t ‘just’ happen, but are the result of dedicating huge amounts of time, energy, care and thought.

There’s a key difference, isn’t there, between doing something that we get paid for and doing something for free?

On the one hand, there’s an exchange – of labour power for a wage or a salary, in old political economy-speak.

On the other hand, the nature of the transaction is less tangible. Here, what’s given is qualitatively different, precisely because it is given freely.

With volunteering, there is a passion, a conviction and a determination to do something well, not because there will be a financial pay-off but because of a less obvious reward. It may be measured in the pleasure we receive, the sense of achievement or the feeling that our contribution has made a difference.

Yes, we may get something out of it for ourselves which is of utility or value too – a chance to enhance our skillset or gain valuable experience, for example – but this is one among many powerful

motivations for us to volunteer our time.

If we truly believe that we – you, me and IOSH – can shape the future of work together, then it’s perfectly natural for us to want to involve others as well.

It makes absolute sense that we want to energise our fellow professionals to do more – to enhance their own knowledge, skills and practice, to work with others and to extend our networks of influence as far as we can.

Sounds familiar, right?

WORK 2022 and volunteering Let’s recall that four years ago the IOSH Board consulted widely with members, businesses and other key stakeholders to develop and launch WORK 2022.

It’s already paying off. We’re halfway through delivering the objectives, guided by the three pillars: enhance, collaborate and influence.

The strategy directs IOSH’s work across everything it does to deliver more to members and work better with businesses, governments, fellow professional bodies and NGOs. As highly experienced, respected professionals and (for many of you) as Chartered Members of IOSH, you have a natural power to encourage others and influence positive behaviours in those around you.

It’s abundantly clear from the foregoing, I hope, that I appreciate and respect the voluntary effort that goes into IOSH, but I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that I’m not yet sure that every volunteer is always

delivering real tangible value for our members.

Before you jump up in outrage, though, please hear me out. I know not everyone can give as much time as others, and I’m not about to stipulate a number of hours per month for volunteers or anything remotely like that. Saying that, I do think that every volunteer needs to be active. There’s so much know-how, skill and experience that can be shared – such a valuable resource that isn’t always adequately tapped.

Supporting the Institution I have a challenge for us all: under the “Influence” pillar of the WORK 2022 strategy, let’s all strive to support our professional body and its ongoing work to meet our charitable aims.

Take pride in and share our values, promote what IOSH does through your own professional networks, and encourage others to engage with IOSH, join us, learn and train with us and develop in their careers.

I want us to champion IOSH’s drive to support people and organisations in developing OSH practitioners to become professionals with the cultural, behavioural and leadership skills that add even more to their organisations and value chains.

We need to think about the inputs needed for great workplace health and safety, looking at those elements that shape cultures and drive behaviours.

What we do is never simply about preventing accidents, but rather creating safety through improved teamwork, enhanced understanding, increased morale and engagement and better leadership. When we focus on getting the inputs right, the right outputs will follow.

The same is true of what we all invest in our membership body.

At the most recent IOSH Council meeting I issued a call-to-arms to your elected Councillors, asking them to ‘earn their seats’. I strongly believe that Council members must fully represent the membership – and that means speaking with and listening to members

on a regular basis. It means getting involved at Branch and Group level, sharing outputs from Council meetings, and being present to answer questions from Branches and Groups.

So I urge you to make contact with a member of Council, invite them to speak at your meetings, listen to your points of view and answer your questions. You can find details of all Council members here: www.iosh. com/more/our-gov-structure/council.

For my part, I will make strenuous efforts to meet as many of you as possible over the next 12 months.

Of course I won’t be able to visit every Branch and Group, but IOSH has a fantastic Presidential Team that can also join you – a very capable President-Elect in Jimmy Quinn, and a team of six excellent Vice Presidents: Tim Eldridge, Kayode Fowode, David Gold, Louise Hosking, Jon Hughes and Stuart Hughes. If you’d like one of us to come and speak at your meeting, just drop Sunita Patel at The Grange a note (sunita.patel@iosh.com) – she’ll work things out for you.

Since becoming President I’ve written to Branch and Group Chairs, offering them my support. I’ve been inundated with positive responses thanking me for reaching out, and sharing what they are doing to raise their game and earn their seats. On LinkedIn each week I’m reflecting on something in my life as IOSH President. One of these posts received 23,000 views in a single day. I’m challenging cosy assumptions about our profession and inviting contributions that look at things in a different way. There’s a lot of rich thinking going on.

At the beginning of this article, I pointed to the shared perspective we all had when we made our individual choices to join IOSH. For me, that perspective remains stronger than ever – the desire to make a difference, working with others as part of a greater whole. I’m sure that that motivation still has resonance with us all.

Andrew Sharman President, IOSH

About Andrew Andrew is Managing Partner of RMS, a global consultancy specialising in organisational safety culture and leadership. Before forming RMS, Andrew spent almost 20 years in safety and health leadership roles for several international blue-chip companies, gaining experience of more than 120 countries.

A Chartered Fellow of IOSH, Andrew is also a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management (of which he is also Chairman of the Board); a Fellow of the Institute of Directors; and a Member of the Health and Safety Lawyers’ Association. He served as Trustee and Vice-Chairman of the Board of IOSH (2008–2014), Vice-President (2016–2018), and previously held roles as Branch Secretary, Vice-Chair and Chair of IOSH’s Edinburgh Branch.

Andrew has a Doctorate in Leadership and Culture Transformation. He is Professor of Leadership and Safety Culture at the European Centre for Executive Development on the INSEAD campus in Paris, France and also teaches at CalTech (California, USA), IMD (Switzerland) and at the University of Zurich (Switzerland).

The author of several books on safety behaviour, culture, leadership and wellbeing, Andrew consults and speaks regularly on these topics at professional conferences.

Andrew loves adventure sports, including paragliding, sea kayaking and swimming with sharks.

ANDrew

Networks news 07

Reaching out to young people Identifying a need to support younger people in the community and to promote our profession, IOSH’s North East of Scotland Branch created an action plan to support WORK 2022. Branch Chair Andy McNair reports.

We launched our educational engagement programme, which included various elements. These involved, for example, engaging with younger people in the community; collaborating with local schools, educational bodies, local authorities and other organisations such as Developing Younger Workforce (DYW); and influencing the next generation of future health and safety professionals, to promote health and safety as a first career choice.

Our committee formed a sub-group which was led by Yvonne Gilfillan.

Yvonne was the perfect choice, with her extensive experience of working in the education sector and her numerous contacts with schools and educational bodies. Supporting the group were Andy McNair, Roderick Laird, Steph Davidson and Kevin Hendry.

In setting out our aims and objectives, we discussed a variety of ways to engage best with young people for maximum benefit. In the end, we decided the best way would simply be to share our own personal stories in life and how we ended up as occupational safety and health professionals.

Superheroes!

Each one of us has a different story to tell, working in a variety of industries, including education, agriculture, asbestos, oil and gas, catering and hospitality, construction, civil engineering and major utility infrastructure. Our journeys have been different, but have led us to one common question: why we do what 08 Networks news

we do? The answer is simple: to keep people safe and healthy and reduce the number of accidents and incidents – and not just in the workplace. We are all full-time, real-life superheroes, without the capes!

Our class discussions are based around “a day in the life of an OSH professional”. As with any discussion, we knew it would be beneficial to apply some practical group exercises. These involved hazard-spotting and thinking about the importance of developing risk assessments, with medals and trophies offered to the winning teams.

We have delivered these talks throughout many schools in our region, and to youngsters of all ages, from junior school upwards, with extremely positive feedback, and we have continued to do so, year-on-year.

On occasions we have been asked to return to the same schools, as well as being invited to attend “world of work week” and careers fairs to promote our profession and raise awareness of our Chartered membership organisation, IOSH. Let’s make OSH a firstchoice career As OSH professionals, we all need to continue supporting the next generation of OSH leaders, raising awareness of the opportunities available in some great industries. If you ask any OSH professional how

they started off their careers, a common theme emerges.

We all have a story of other things we were doing before deciding to venture into the world of occupational safety and health. Why is this? Why shouldn’t health and safety be considered a first career choice?

IOSH recognises the benefits of encouraging and supporting young people. IOSH’s student membership category and the Future Leaders Community have been launched – see page 9 in this edition of Networks news.

We’ve been invited to work more closely with the IOSH team to develop our strategy further, with a view to rolling out an educational engagement pilot course throughout the region.

I would encourage more branches to get involved within their communities and start speaking with young people to promote and encourage them into the world of occupational safety and health.

If you would like more information and support on the work we are doing locally, then please feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to offer our support.

Andy

IOSH Future Leaders Conference Charting the way ahead On Tuesday 05 November IOSH officially launched its Future Leaders venture in the form of the very first IOSH Future Leaders Conference held at the Birmingham NEC which was arranged and led by the IOSH Future Leaders Community Steering Group.

Philip

Philip Lancashire was at the event.

The conference covered a range of topics, including: - individual practitioners’ journeys within the occupational safety and health profession - the benefits of a workplace mentor as a safety and health professional - the use and increase of robots in the workplace and the effects on our role - personal leadership of the self to become a future leader within the profession.

For safety and health professionals who are 35 years old or under, or who have been in the profession for less than five years or are Student members of IOSH, the IOSH Future Leaders Conference was an opportunity to meet and learn from each other. The 120+ participants were able to share knowledge, expertise and best practice from within the profession and different business sectors.

focus for Future Leaders to continue to address and support.

The clue’s in the name The Community needs to continue to ensure that it has the required skills and knowledge, through training and professional development, to meet the challenges of the future. Professionals need to continuously enhance their skills and knowledge to ensure that they are prepared for the everchanging world of occupational safety and health. There is so much the Community can learn from the wider IOSH membership and we need to take full advantage of this to ensure that, as Future Leaders, we can continue the work of IOSH for years to come.

Addressing the issues The Future Leaders Community allows us, as professionals early An engrossed audience in our careers, to discuss the issues within the health and safety profession The Community must focus on that affect us specifically and how we, as Future Leaders, need to collaboration with all departments across the businesses and industries address these issues, both personally and professionally, as individual in which they work to ensure that occupational safety and health is practitioners and as the wider either embedded as, or remains, a IOSH group. foundational pillar within any business The world of occupational safety and health is constantly changing with structure. Occupational safety and health affects us all and only through new areas of focus becoming more working together with others, both prevalent every year. The current and within and outside of the profession continued focus on mental health and the industries in which we within the workplace is still a key

work, can health and safety be used effectively to save lives and positively impact any business’s standing and performance in the business world.

The Community should continue to promote occupational safety and health positively to help lift the façade that the industry only focuses on what businesses, staff and employees cannot do and show how, with the correct controls in place, that anything is possible. The aim remains to bring staff and employees on board through strong education and involvement in occupational health and safety and not through dictatorship.

Champions of occupational safety and health Those involved in the Future Leaders Community aim to lead the profession into the next chapter, focusing on continuous improvement in an influential and collaborative way by being champions of occupational safety and health.

Looking at those who attended the Future Leaders Conference and their passion, drive and ambition to be better technicians, advisors, practitioners and managers shows that the profession is in safe hands and will continue to grow and improve for years to come.

Networks news 09

Delegate packs unpacked IOSH’s Events Team enjoys working with the Networks in producing more

Louise

than 35 relevant, quality and affordable CPD learning and networking opportunities each year in the form of ‘live’ events. We’re always looking for ways to improve the pre-event planning and on-the-day delivery, writes IOSH Events Manager Louise Appleby.

Recently our attention has focused on ways to make our events more environment-friendly by reducing the amount of printing, paper and plastics used. So after discussing with colleagues in IOSH’s Professional Services Directorate, and with the support of the Food and Drink Industries Group, we took the bold decision to stop providing printed delegate packs at all IOSH events.

We thought that we would trial it and see how people would respond.

Instead of receiving a printed information pack on the day, delegates would be able to see and download the final programme, speaker biographies and other useful information online a few days prior to an event. We thought that conference-goers would understand why this decision should be welcomed, but until we put it into practice we wouldn’t know 10 Networks news

whether this in-principle agreement would actually work.

We developed a new online pre-event page and trialled it at the Food and Drink Industries Group’s annual conference this October. We were pleased with the reception it got.

Committee member Pamela Brown was delighted to support the change, saying “it’s great that the Group are leading the way by not printing out delegate packs at this year’s annual conference, most of which would end up in the bin anyway”.

Reservations dispelled Before the event, there were understandably some reservations about how the membership would react. These were soon dispelled.

Craig Foyle, Past President and member of the Group’s conference organising committee, said “when I first heard we were not providing delegates’ packs I must admit I was concerned how it would be received by the delegates. From a personal perspective I think it was a great idea as I only printed out the documents that were relevant for me. Feedback I received from delegates was equally positive too.”

Sustainability and savings Apart from helping the environment and promoting sustainability, one of IOSH’s six priority areas, we’ve calculated that this change will save IOSH an average of £3,750 a year,

reduce our plastic footprint by about 21kg a year and our carbon footprint by 0.43 metric tonnes of CO² a year.

This may not sound a lot, but as our Director of Finance keeps reminding us, “every little helps”.

Walking the talk I’d have to admit we were all a little nervous about what delegates would think but everyone’s been very supportive and we’ve received a number of positive comments. One delegate said that “the electronic delegate pack enabled easy phone referral without carrying paper around and easily referred to at any location within the conference facility” with another adding that “this year’s keynote presentations were ‘walking the talk’, and it was great to see IOSH ‘walking the talk’ sustainability-wise by doing away with delegate packs.

Didn’t cause any problems for anyone as far as I could see, but will help protect the environment and, more importantly, demonstrated visible leadership – which our profession advocates so strongly. Good call.”

So, all in all, a great team effort and an excellent outcome. We’re sufficiently encouraged by this response to be able to announce that from now on there will be no printed delegate packs for our events, and we hope that this will set the tone for more improvements in the future.

Improving safety and health in the food and drink industries The annual Food and Drink Industry Awards were presented in October. Now running for 10 years, the

AB Azucarera Iberia

Doug

awards are established as a major contribution in promoting health

Allied Bakeries Ireland

and safety excellence in the food and drink industry Doug Russell, Chair of the Awards Panel, introduces the three top entries.

The Awards have enabled the Food and Drink Industries Group to influence the development of the work of the Health and Safety Executive-led Food and Drink Manufacturing Forum (FDMF) – a tripartite group dedicated to raising health and safety standards in the industry. The HSE has been keen to promote the awards and to use the examples of winners and runners-up as case studies of good practice. The Awards scheme has also depended on close collaboration with trade associations and the trade unions involved in the FDMF. The winning entry: AB Azucarera Iberia After years of improving health and safety performance, the company experienced a “stagnation” in its culture and results. It had been using traditional leading indicators – reacting to failure and measuring the absence of safety. The company addressed this by involving employees in a new culture of “measuring the presence of safety” – a positive capacity to make things right.

Stephen Williams, Head of Business Improvement at AB Sugar (which owns AB Azucarera), said: ‘Only by detecting and correcting risk situations, working with safe procedures in our day-to-day operations (permits to work, lock-out procedures etc) and by adopting them as part of our daily habits and safe behaviours, will we be able to reach our objective and even more importantly make sure that it is maintained.’

Since then the number of accidents across the company’s manufacturing sites has reduced from 159 in 2014–15 to 77 in 2018–19. Three of its five production centres completed a year (and in one instance two years) without a lost-time accident in 2017.

Participation in the company’s safety culture survey rose from 471 to 749, while the annual number of notifications about risks increased by 54 per cent: a sure sign of employee engagement.

Allied Bakeries Ireland Allied Bakeries Ireland also felt it needed a campaign to refresh, renew and drive engagement in health and safety standards. Its behavioural audit programme had indicated poor practices.

The company created a small team of ‘Safety Champions’ – volunteers from the manufacturing and logistics departments. After receiving their risk assessment training, they were challenged to find tasks that were not covered by an existing assessment, assess the risks and implement measures to reduce them.

The team managed to eliminate or reduce to an acceptable level the risk from six hazards that the operational teams were living with or working around, some of which had the potential for very serious harm.

Now another Allied Bakeries centre has adopted the programme, using the same model.

James Finlay Ltd

James Finlay Ltd For the second year running, the tea and coffee supplier picked up an award, with its ‘Health is Wealth’ campaign going from strength to strength.

The organisation recognised that health risks were not being addressed in the same way as safety performance.

It used health and safety committees, local engagement teams and bespoke workshops to get feedback on improving health and wellbeing.

Six key areas were identified for improvement: physical activity, physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, medical interventions, employee support and community involvement.

Extra activities included physical exercise, including running groups, communication around healthy eating and nutrition and briefings about mental wellbeing.

Running the Awards has created an annual focus for the industry which has increased the profile of the Group, and of the health and safety profession more widely.

We believe that the stories of companies grappling successfully with health and safety challenges should be shared widely.

We hope that these Awards will encourage other organisations to up their game too.

Networks news 11

Women in safety The UAE branch held its first women-only event in August, as part of a drive to encourage more women to become actively involved. Clara Demilew, a member of the UAE Branch Committee and HSEQ Specialist for oil and shipping company Monjasa, helped to organise the event and also presented to delegates.

She reports on this significant development.

Women account for only five per cent of the UAE Branch membership of nearly 1,700. We made a strategic decision to host an event solely for female OSH professionals in the region to create a comfortable environment to uncover the challenges and barriers preventing them from being visible in the region, the profession and the branch, so that we could brainstorm solutions and develop an action plan.

We were overwhelmed by the positive response to the event, which was attended by 35 women. Usually there are no more than two or three women at open events.

The environment we work in We held an open discussion about the challenges women face working in occupational safety and health in the Middle East. Some of the issues included a perception that women

Clara

can’t give instructions, a reluctance to listen to women, based on an assumption that they lack knowledge, and striking a balance between family and work demands.

Other comments included the prominence of misogynist remarks, jokes and working in a hostile environment and the fact that networking opportunities appeared to be tailored for men, for example scheduling meetings at times that are difficult for women with family responsibilities.

At the event, Karthi Kanakarajan, OHS Manager for water and wastewater services provider Moalajah, looked back over her career and the challenges she has faced because of gender inequality. She said that it is crucial that companies have a strong gender equality policy, to provide a good environment for

women to advance, but added that women also require the right kind of personal attitude.

Impact The event was well received, since it was the first of its kind, and well attended. It is clear that the event had an impact, judging by the level of membership inquiries we had from women after it and feedback received directly via our social networks.

What next?

A further part of our strategy is to follow up with a workshop, where we will bring together our network – both female and male members – to discuss initiatives and practical strategies to remove the barriers in the workplace and the region and realise the organisational benefits of diversity and inclusion.

“ It was so good to meet so many women breaking stereotypes. Great event.” “ It was so great to see women with great passion towards safety.”

12 Networks news

© IOSH 2019 –PS0980/291119/SL

“ Thanks Clara for organising this. It was very educating and empowering. I’ll look forward to more of this.”