FTSE 100 companies slip up on health and safety – says new report

Facilities

ISSN: 0263-2772

Article publication date: 1 July 2001

114

Keywords

Citation

(2001), "FTSE 100 companies slip up on health and safety – says new report", Facilities, Vol. 19 No. 7/8. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2001.06919gab.004

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited


FTSE 100 companies slip up on health and safety – says new report

FTSE 100 companies slip up on health and safety – says new report

Keywords: Health and safety, Work-related injury

Many of the UK's top companies are failing their employees and the public in their reluctance to openly discuss their health and safety programmes – according to major new research by business information specialist GEE Publishing, in association with dedicated health and safety Web site, safety-now.co.uk

Health and safety is not a competitive issue in business and a lack of transparency prevails despite the aftermath of several high profile health and safety incidents, including the Southall train crash and the Paddington rail disaster. It is also despite the Government's Revitalising Health & Safety Initiative, published in June 2000. This proposes, among other things, to make health and safety a boardroom issue to ensure that all companies include health and safety information in their annual report.

Researched during April and May 2000, the report, Health & Safety Management in FTSE 100 Companies, examines the health and safety practices of the UK's top 100 companies – awarding each a star rating for overall management and performance in health and safety.

The report uncovers a stark lack of commitment to discussing health and safety issues among many firms, most notably those in the retail sector (executive summary available on safety-now.co.uk).

Whereas firms in high risk sectors, such as mining, utilities, industrial and chemical manufacturing and transport industries, in general, were happy to participate in this study and recognise the benefit of sharing this information, not one of the FTSE 100 retail companies was willing to disclose any health and safety information for the report.

This is despite their constant contact with the general public and the fact that employees in the retail sector are four times as likely to sustain a major injury at work as an office-based employee – and that as many members of the general public receive injuries as staff. In 1998, 1,858 members were badly injured on retail premises.

The most common causes of major injuries to employees in the retail sector were:

  • slips, trips and falls;

  • being struck by a moving or falling object;

  • striking a stationary object;

  • being struck by a vehicle.

For low risk sectors such as the financial, media and IT software companies, only the financial sector demonstrated well-established systems and an openness to discuss their commitment to health and safety, with 3i ranking top. However, even in this sector only four companies name a main board member as the person ultimately responsible for heath and safety.

According to the report the single biggest issue affecting the low risk sectors is the use of display screen equipment and the associated risks of repetitive strain injuries and upper limb disorders. Only the financial sector demonstrated active management of this risk – where it is acknowledged as a major issue and is the focus of a significant amount of training.

Karen Pearson, author of the report, comments: "There is a general lack of benchmarking data available relating to health and safety performance, largely due to the lack of published information. A considerable number of companies were unable to provide information for this report, as they have no process for centrally co-ordinating health and safety information or procedures. Others simply declined to comment.

"In view of several high profile incidents that have brought health and safety to the public eye, one might expect a greater commitment to making corporate health and safety information readily available to encourage benchmarking, and to improve standards."

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