Involving your workforce in health and safety

Involving your workforce in health and safety Guidance for all workplaces

Health and Safety Executive This guide is mainly aimed at medium to large employers. It will help them in their Involving your workforce legal duty to consult and involve their employees on health and safety matters. in health and safety Small businesses may find the guidance helpful, particularly the case studies. Guidance for all workplaces Employees, their health and safety representatives and trade unions may also find the guide useful.

The guide concentrates on examples of how to comply with the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (as amended), and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 (as amended). A complementary guide, containing both sets of regulations, and a leaflet are also available.

The guide is designed to clearly distinguish different types of information so you can find the parts that are relevant for you. References to the regulations are HSG263 (First edition colour-coded. with amendments) Published 2015

HSE Books Page 1 of 44

© Crown copyright 2008

First published 2008 First edition with amendments 2015

ISBN 978 0 7176 6227 2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Applications for reproduction should be made in writing to: The Office of Public Sector Information, Information Policy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU or e-mail: licensing@opsi.gov.uk

This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive. Following the guidance is not compulsory, unless specifically stated, and you are free to take other action. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Health and safety inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this guidance.

Foreword 4

How to use this guide 5

Overview 6

Introduction 7

Get started: Prepare 8 Why talk to your employees about health and safety? 8 What does the law say? 9 How do you gain commitment to involving your workforce? 15

Get organised: Plan 18 What affects how you involve your workforce? 18 What should you be consulting your workforce about? 19 When should you consult? 22 Training arrangements for health and safety representatives 23 Checklist for planning workforce involvement and consultation 24

Get it done: Consult and involve 25 What are your duties when consulting health and safety representatives? 25 What are the best ways to involve your employees? 27 Investigation and inspection 30 Health and safety committees: Setting them up and making them work 32

Get it right: Keep improving 39 Monitor performance 39 Review progress 40 Review checklist 40 When things become challenging 42

References and further reading 43

Further information 44

Foreword Chair of HSE The world of work is continually changing, and poses new challenges in preventing and reducing accidents and ill health in the workplace. What remain constant are the essential principles of effective health and safety management, particularly good workforce involvement and strong and active leadership from the top.

Evidence shows that businesses with good workforce involvement in health and safety perform better in health and safety measures, and also tend to have better productivity and higher levels of workforce motivation. Like strong leadership, employee engagement is essential because everyone, from the most senior managers to individual employees, has a part to play in building a strong health and safety culture.

This guide on workforce involvement and consultation draws upon the established legislation, and by reflecting the range of workforce structures and arrangements which exist in workplaces today, captures the core of good workforce involvement.

It is built on the principles of trust, respect, co-operation and joint problem solving between employers and employees. These principles are vital because to reap the real benefits there has to be more than consultation; there has to be genuine employee participation in the decision-making process.

Judith Hackitt

Chair of the Arbitration and Conciliation Service (Acas) When you read or hear about what makes an effective workplace the same ideas crop up again and again: engagement; involvement; trust; co-operation. All these ideas are based upon the same principle – employers and employees make better decisions together.

Acas has been working with businesses of all kinds and from all sectors for over thirty years. Our experience tells us that employee involvement really does make a difference – whether you are discussing job design, performance management, disciplinary procedures or health and safety. Research has shown that having an element of control over the way you do your job makes you feel more committed to an organisation. This commitment often makes an organisation more productive and successful.

Acas has published a guide Health, work and wellbeing (see www.acas.org.uk). We have identified six key indicators of a healthy workplace. One of these indicators describes an organisation where ‘employees feel valued and involved’.

I am sure that this practical guide from HSE will help to promote workplaces that are safe and healthy on every level. By actively consulting and involving employees, co-operative working based on trust and openness can become a reality for the majority of workplaces in the UK.

Ed Sweeney

How to use this guide This guide gives you advice on how to consult and involve your employees and their representatives on health and safety matters at work. It complements the Legal series publication L146 Consulting workers on health and safety. Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (as amended) and Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 (as amended). Approved Codes of Practice and guidance.1

The guide is primarily aimed at medium to large employers. It will help them in their duty to consult and involve their employees on health and safety matters. It is advisable to include contracted, agency and temporary workers as well as direct employees in your consultation arrangements. Small businesses may find the good practice advice helpful, particularly the case studies. A free leaflet is also available from HSE which covers what employers need to know: Consulting employees on health and safety: A brief guide to the law (INDG232(rev1))2 and there is also advice on HSE’s website at: www.hse.gov.uk/involvement.

Employees, their health and safety representatives and trade unions may also find the guide useful as they are the people you will need to involve in the process, but it is your legal duty as the employer to consult them on health and safety issues which affect them.

This guide concentrates on how to comply with the above regulations and should apply to the majority of workplaces. However, the Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations 1989 apply to offshore workplaces.3 There are also specific requirements to consult your employees or their health and safety representatives in other health and safety legislation which applies to specific industries.1 Where it is more appropriate and relevant, you should refer to industry-specific guidance for your workplace.

Key to material

The guide is designed to clearly distinguish different types of information so you can find the parts which are relevant to you. For example:

n references to the regulations are colour-coded (see the key below) and more information about who they apply to and the relationship between them is in paragraphs 14–18; n practical advice and case studies feature throughout the guide and are highlighted; n checklists are used as reminders.

For workplaces where the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 apply.

For workplaces where the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 apply.

For workplaces where both the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 apply.

Overview Consultation on health and safety is simply a two-way process between you and your employees where you:

n talk to each other about issues; n listen to their concerns and raise your concerns; n seek and share views and information; n discuss issues in good time; and n consider what employees say before you make decisions.

The guidance will take you through the process of how to consult your workforce, from getting started, to getting it right. We recognise you will be at different stages along the process, for example your starting point may be ‘Get it right’ rather than ‘Get started’.

Introduction 1 Health and safety at work is about securing the health, safety and welfare of people at work by reducing risks, and protecting them and others from harm or illness arising out of work activities by taking the right precautions. As an employer or manager, it is your legal duty to manage health and safety sensibly in your business, and involving your employees is at the very heart of this.

2 Current legislation1 provides a framework of requirements for employee involvement in health and safety. You are required, under these regulations and other health and safety regulations, to give employees information, instruction and training, and engage in consultation with them about matters affecting their health and safety. Communication and consultation are the most basic forms of employee involvement in health and safety management. It is crucial that you get them right, not only because the law requires this but because they form the foundation for fully engaging your workforce to achieve the type of changes in behaviour in managers and employees that will lead to safer and healthier workplaces.

3 However, building on what is required by law enables you to create a genuine partnership between you and your employees and/or their representatives to manage health and safety risks. It creates a culture of collaboration where concerns, ideas and solutions are freely shared and acted upon, and where the whole workforce is engaged in promoting a healthy and safe environment. This means there is greater potential for improvements to health and safety for your business. In most cases effective consultation systems will generate levels of involvement that improve performance and raise standards.

4 Consultation and workforce involvement is not something you should be daunted by or discouraged about. It does not have to be lengthy and bureaucratic. If you have a small business, consultation can be an informal process of talking to your employees regularly and considering their views when you take decisions about health and safety. It can sometimes be more effective to have a simple process rather than something overly complicated. However, it is equally important that you do make time to talk and think together about issues more formally where this is necessary.

5 Consultation and involvement do not remove the right of employers and managers to manage. You must still make the final decision, but talking to your employees is an important part of successfully managing health and safety.

Get started: Prepare 6 This section is about preparing to involve your workforce. It explains:

n why you should talk to your employees about health and safety; n what the law says and how it applies to your workplace; and n how to gain commitment from the business and your workforce.

Why talk to your employees about health and safety?

The facts* * HSE Fit3 (Fit for 7 Accident rates are lower where employees genuinely feel they do have a say in Work, Fit for Life, Fit for health and safety matters than in workplaces where employees do not get involved. Tomorrow) employer and employee surveys 8 Employee involvement in health and safety management relates to a more 2005/06 (provisional positive health and safety climate – 77% of employees felt encouraged to results) and Nichols T, raise concerns in a good health and safety climate compared to 20% who felt Walters D and Tasiran encouraged to do so in a poor health and safety climate. In poor health and safety AC (2007) Journal of climates, accident rates are highest among workplaces where employees do not Industrial Relations feel they can have a say. 49: 211-225. 9 Stronger employee involvement means better control of common workplace risks such as slips and trips – very effective in 76% of cases where employees felt they were always consulted but only very effective in 40% of cases if they thought they were rarely, or never, consulted.

10 Employers can learn about the risks through consultation – the risk of stress and slips and trips occur practically everywhere, but awareness of them is higher where there is employee involvement (62%) compared to where there is no involvement (28%).

11 Research has also shown that workplaces with health and safety committees where some members are selected by unions have significantly lower rates of work- related injury than those found in workplaces with no co-operative health and safety management.

12 Aside from your legal duty to consult, workplaces where employees are involved in taking decisions about health and safety are safer and healthier. Your employees influence health and safety through their own actions. They are often the best people to understand the risks in their workplace. Talking, listening and co-operating with each other can help:

n identify joint solutions to problems; n develop a positive health and safety culture where risks are managed sensibly; n reduce accidents and ill health, plus their related costs to your business; n bring about improvements in overall efficiency, quality and productivity; n meet customer demands and maintain credibility; and n comply with legal requirements.

13 A workforce that feels valued and involved in decision-making plays a big part in a high-performing workplace. Empowering your workforce, giving them the right skills, and getting them involved in making decisions shows them that you take their health, safety and wellbeing seriously. They not only raise concerns but offer solutions too. There can be an impact far beyond health and safety management if the workforce is not engaged on health and safety issues which affect them.

What does the law say?

14 The law sets out how you must consult your employees in different situations and the different choices you have to make. There are two sets of general regulations about your duty to consult your workforce about health and safety:

n the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (as amended);1 n the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 (as amended).1

Figure 1 The law on consulting employees about health and safety in your workplace

Workforce

Employees in trade unions Employees who are not Employees in recognised that are not recognised trade union members trade unions by employers

Has a recognised trade Have representatives union agreed to represent YES been or are they about these employees? to be appointed?

NO NO YES

Consult according to Health Consult according to Safety and Safety (Consultation with Representatives and Safety Employees) Regulations 1996 Committees Regulations 1977

In some workplaces you may have to consult under both sets of regulations (see paragraphs 34–36)

Key to colour-coded material

References to the regulations are colour-coded to help you find the parts that are most relevant to you:

For workplaces where the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 apply.

For workplaces where the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 apply.

For workplaces where both the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 apply.

15 The flowchart (Figure 1) shows the relationship between the two sets of regulations and how they apply to you and your workforce. The regulations are designed to enable you and your employees to co-operate effectively in developing, maintaining and promoting measures that ensure health and safety at work, and to check the effectiveness of such measures. In some workplaces, for example where some employees are members of recognised trade unions and others are not, you may have to consult according to both sets of regulations. See paragraphs 34-36 for more information about this.

16 These regulations will apply to most workplaces, but do not apply to offshore installations, which are covered by separate guidance – see A guide to the Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations 1989 (L110)3 from HSE Books and the leaflet Play your part! (INDG421).4 For examples of industry-specific regulations with requirements to consult your workforce, see Consulting workers on health and safety.1

17 The presence of a union health and safety representative does not prevent managers from communicating directly with the workforce as a whole. Managers remain responsible for managing health and safety in the workplace and should consult the workforce as necessary.

18 Where you already have existing consultation arrangements that satisfy health and safety law, there is no requirement to change them. However, you may want to review your arrangements to make sure that they are the right ones for your organisation now.

19 If there are any disagreements between you and your employees about the interpretation of these regulations, they should, to begin with, be addressed through the normal machinery for resolving employment relations disputes. In certain circumstances, it may be helpful to involve the Arbitration and Conciliation Service (Acas); see the ‘Sources of advice’ section at the back of the book for contact details. However, health and safety inspectors (from HSE and local authorities) can enforce for failure to comply with legal duties on procedural matters. They will decide what action to take in line with HSE’s Enforcement policy statement (see www.hse.gov.uk/enforce).5

Case study: Babcock Marine Devonport Royal Dockyard committed to changing their health and safety culture using a number of initiatives to get the whole workforce involved in managing health and safety issues, ranging from working at height to radiation.

The challenge In an industry with an established culture, the real challenge was making a commitment to develop a health and safety culture where the workforce is engaged and involved.

How has the health and safety culture been changed? In 2006 a Safety Culture Team was formed and this included an industrial health and safety representative on secondment from production. The trade union guidance group, involving proactive members from each union, looked at groundroot safety, personal protective equipment (PPE),