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January 14, 2015

Looking After Yourself

Reading Chair of the HSE, Judith Hackitt’s, recent piece entitled “It’s all about people” made for an interesting and thought provoking 10 minutes. Whilst the subject matter was not what I was expecting, the points raised were certainly very well made and something to be proud of. But why does she and others continually need to justify and defend the executive, even after 40 years of saving lives and preventing injuries?

What I was expecting was a piece about a person's responsibilities for their own safety when I saw the title, as this is something I had been thinking about over the Christmas break. Having recently come back into the industry after close on 25 years of working in another area, walking on to a site was an eye opening experience. Gone were the mud baths of a work area, filthy canteens and toilets, and work practices of a highly dubious nature. In their place, working conditions that offer employees better places to work in a safer environment.

There is one negative, however. I do think that to a degree we have lost the personal protection approach where as individuals we have a responsibility to look after ourselves. Rather now, there seems to be a certain amount of “we should be looked after by someone else” attitude around. Whilst certainly true to an extent, we should never forget that workplace safety is a team effort, from both employers and employees. It is important to keep stressing the personal side through training to achieve the correct balance.

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