Giving Health & Safety a seat at the management table…

24th November 2016

1. Client requirements and any new/ongoing investments necessary to meet these.
2. Learnings from 2016 and corresponding improvements required.
3. Product/service offering and the people and skills needed to fulfil this.
4. Revenue and profitability targets.
5. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to keep track of progress.

Where does the key business risk of Health & Safety fit – or is it missing?

Consider the issues raised by its omission:

1. Risk Management: Activities are not underway to deal with key risks impacting the business.  Certain risks, e.g. structural safety, can lie hidden until the cost of taking back control becomes significant.
2. Personnel: Where H&S improvement activities are retrospectively identified and introduced, they create an unviable burden of work.
3. Financial: There may be no cash available to make the required change, and H&S gets discussed on a priority basis as opposed to a business value.
4. Leadership: Regular changes in direction regarding what is important may be confusing and slow down the efficiency of transformation.

Why has Health & Safety not been included in our business planning process? It may simply be that you have never thought to do so. These planning processes have traditionally dealt solely with production and service vision – i.e. what the business has historically had value for.

However, consider the benefits of a comprehensive Health & Safety discussion at business planning time:

1. Meeting the clients demand for uninterrupted service – no unplanned downtime and disruption.
2. Utilising accurate data and insights from effective management reviews
3. Proactively acknowledging the need for Health & Safety when developing new products/services.
4. Creating a clear Road Map that incorporates Health & Safety to deliver vision and strategy.
5. Identifying the most important Health & Safety KPIs and therefore truly monitoring the progress of H&S and flushing out inadequacies.

So reflecting on your business plan for 2017 and beyond – are you equipped to incorporate H&S?  Do you know what key risk control issues need addressing? Or do you just know that you have reached a plateau in your lost time performance?

It is time to focus on H&S as a key business risk to be integrated into all aspects of operating an efficient and profitable business. It is time to have a seat reserved for Health & Safety at the management table.

If you would like to know more, please get in touch. Call +44 (0)7710 024013 or email darren@darrenbroadheadconsulting.com.  We look forward to working with you to ensure consistently high levels of safety leadership within your business.