The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSE NI) and the Institute of Directors Northern Ireland Division (IoD) have joined forces this month to launch new guidance on "Leading Health and Safety at Work." This has been written by Directors for Directors, who have taken the initiative in drawing up their own practical, common sense health and safety guidelines. These will remind Directors across organisations of all sizes that it is their responsibility to lead on health and safety and establish policies and practices that make it an integral part of their culture and values.
Chairman of the HSE NI Professor Peter McKie welcomed the guidance, "It is visible felt leadership from the top of an organisation which truly makes for an effective health and safety culture which in turn delivers good health and safety performance and much more. I am still confounded by the number of people who see health and safety as a barrier to doing things, as experience and evidence shows that the reverse is true. The challenge before us is changing behaviour."
Echoing these comments, the Chairman of the IoD said, "Experience has shown that behaviour in a company changes when the example is set by those at the top. This new guidance will help business leaders to integrate health and safety into their business decisions rather than, as too often is the case, simply pay lip service."
