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| Select
Committee Report - Achieving Compliance |
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| 129. |
In written evidence, HSC/E told us that
‘there is strong evidence to support
the continuation of a balanced mix of advice
(persuasion), enforcement and business incentives.
Enforcement is an effective way of securing
compliance. It creates an incentive for
self-compliance and a fear of adverse business
impacts, such as reputational damage in
all sectors and sizes of organisations…There
is some evidence that advice and information
are less effective in the absence of the
possibility of enforcement.’ |
| 130.
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The appropriate balance of these activities
emerged as an important question in the
evidence to the inquiry. According to the
National Audit Office, out of a net expenditure
of £202 million in 2002/03, HSE spent
£111 million on securing compliance
with the law and a further £26 million
on improving knowledge of and understanding
of health and safety issues through the
provision of information and advice. |
| 131. |
A discussion paper presented to an HSE
board meeting on 3 September 2003, proposed
putting more emphasis on the ‘educate
and influence’ aspects of their work.’
It is said that this will mean using a
smaller proportion of the total front
line resource for inspection and enforcement.
This reflects a belief that ‘altering
the balance in this way will help [HSE]
to climb off the current plateau in safety
performance and to tackle the increases
in ill health.’ However, it is acknowledged
that at present the evaluation of the
effectiveness of different approaches
and techniques is not sufficiently well
developed to allow it to be more than
a belief. The Centre for Corporate Accountability
(CCA), on the other hand, argued that
the ‘HSE’s new evolving policy
on enforcement – to move away from
inspection, investigation and formal enforcement
– contradicts overwhelming international
and HSE evidence that it is inspection,
investigation and formal enforcement that
works best.’
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| 132.
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A literature review was conducted for HSC/E
by way of building an evidence base for
the current strategy. This found that enforcement
was an effective means of securing compliance,
creating an incentive for self-compliance
and a fear of adverse business impacts such
as reputational damage in all sectors and
sizes of organisations. The leadership role
provided by HSE and local authorities was
an important element in prompting major
firms to manage health and safety. The literature
review also found some evidence that advice
and information is less effective in the
absence of the possibility of enforcement. |
| 133.
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Awareness
raising, incentives and enforcement are
important, mutually supportive and reinforcing
aspects of HSE’s work. Awareness raising
is particularly important for small and
medium enterprises (who may have lower levels
of awareness) and is a pre-requisite for
compliance. However, as the study points
out, awareness does not, in itself, necessarily
lead to action in the absence of regulatory
or other motives. Furthermore, education,
advice and information activities were found
to have most impact on those who were already
receptive or proactive on health and safety
and was less effective with ‘reluctant’
compliers. Face-to-face contact, in the
form of seminars and direct contact by inspectors,
is the most effective way of getting the
message across. |
| 134.
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The literature review commented that the
‘many organisations are not motivated
by the business benefits to improve health
and safety’. The Ambulance Service
Association told the Committee that making
the business case is difficult ‘when
the objective evidence and data to support
them are not readily available.’ Difficulties
arise ‘through the conflict of immediate
demands on resources for operational services
against investment in longer term control
measures where the benefits are difficult
to measure and may not be seen for some
time, even years.’ However, it was
‘hoped that with the continuing integration
of risk management systems and use of risk
registers in the development of organisational
strategies and business plans, that these
priorities will come to the fore.’ |
| 135.
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In evidence to the inquiry, employers
expressed varying views on the importance
of the enforcement function. The NHS Confederation
told us it played an important role in
ensuring health and safety was prioritised:
“Health
and safety legislation is best understood
by the professionals in the field. However,
arguably, this understanding dilutes
as one moves up through the managerial
hierarchy. Regrettably, health and safety
is still seen by some as a potentially
expensive nuisance in balancing a range
of conflicting resource demands…..There
is no doubt that the use of improvement
notices by the HSE is a powerful method
of forcing an internal review of priorities
and raising health & safety up the
NHS Board agenda.”
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| 136.
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The Ambulance Service Association reported
positive results from a comprehensive round
of inspections undertaken by HSE over a
period of some six years. A committee had
also been set up to lead a programme of
improvement. It was felt that HSE representation
on that committee had been of great benefit
both in terms of helping ambulance services
meet the requirements of health and safety
legislation and in improving HSE’s
understanding of, and inspection processes
for, ambulance services. |
| 137.
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The
Construction Confederation argued that more
inspectors were needed to enable HSE to
devote more time to sites where there is
most risk of accidents happening. The importance
of enforcement action in the construction
sector was highlighted, in the Committee’s
view, by the outcomes of inspection ‘blitzes’
carried out by HSE. These blitzes involved
concentrating inspection effort by bringing
resources together in one place at one time,
to focus on one theme. Despite the fact
that employers were notified of visits in
advance, significant levels of non-compliance
with health and safety legislation were
revealed. For example, a blitz was carried
out in May 2002 in Scotland and the North
of England looking at falls from height,
workplace transport and welfare. 444 sites
were visited, 259 notices issued and there
were 10 possible prosecutions. |
| 138.
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EEF,
the manufacturers’ organisation, said
it was unclear whether there was a correlation
between increased enforcement and improved
health and safety performance. It also considered
that increased enforcement action in recent
years may have had a negative impact on
the way employers view inspectors. |
| 139.
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In
oral evidence, the Minister confirmed
the Government’s view was that the
emphasis on advice and information, rather
than inspection and enforcement, needed
to increase:
“I
think the Health and Safety Executive
would share the view that it is engaging
industry and business in safety, getting
them to recognise the importance of
safety, that brings them a greater degree
of success than straight enforcement
of a set of regulations. It is about
winning hearts and minds, it is about
persuading people of the importance
of safety.”
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| 140 |
In
its memorandum to the Inquiry, HSC/E argued
that work being done by the National Audit
Office (NAO) might ‘provide an insight
into the HSE’s wider regulatory approach
and achievements.’ In the event, the
NAO report concluded that HSE needed more
evidence on the effectiveness of its various
interventions and recommended a programme
of evaluation. The Committee wrote to Mr
Bill Callaghan, Chair of the HSC, asking
on what basis they had decided that occupational
health communications should be a higher
priority for extra resources than inspection.
In response, Mr Callaghan said that they
believed there was sufficient evidence to
carry forward pilots in these areas, although
‘we accept it is not hard or unequivocal.’
A number of points were made regarding the
work on communication. For example, the
‘Good Health is Good Business’
campaign and safety and awareness days had
been found to have some positive effects.
The Food Standards Agency’s campaign
to promote action on healthy food and diet
was considered to have triggered the kind
of national debate and awareness likely
to foster changes in behaviour. |
| 141.
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An
either/or choice as to whether to emphasise
guidance or enforcement in policies for
achieving compliance is too simplistic a
decision to make about what works best and
quite clearly, they both have their place.
Equally, it is important that innovative
approaches to achieving better compliance
and, in the words of the HSC, ‘winning
hearts and minds’, are developed. The
real challenge would seem to be to find
ways to achieve this, without developing
one strategy at the expense of reducing
the role of the other. |
| 142.
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The
evidence supports the view that it is inspection,
backed by enforcement, that is most effective
in motivating duty holders to comply with
their responsibilities under health and
safety law. We therefore recommend that
the HSE should not proceed with the proposal
to shift resources from inspection and enforcement
to fund an increase in education, information
and advice. |
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