Examples of effective workforce involvement in heath and safety in the chemical industry

Latter day approaches to health and safety argue that it is critical to gain ownership of the health and safety arrangements amongst line management and staff, to secure acceptance and hence compliance with such arrangements.
Co-operation is one of the key elements in organising for Health and Safety Management, HS (G) 65. Participation has the role of ensuring health and safety becomes “everybody’s business” and the guide expresses the view that participation is essential for risk control to be effective.
Against this background the HSE and Chemical Industries Forum aim to identify the key features of effective workforce involvement and develop a series of case studies drawn from the chemical industry. Accordingly this study’s objectives are to:
• Identify the key features of effective workforce involvement in health and safety in the chemical industry in Great Britain.
• Illustrate these features with a set of case studies involving a range of premises, processes and hazards.
The stages in carrying out this study were: definition of site selection criteria; identification, screening and selection of sites; surveying the sites; and compiling and interpreting findings.