Talk of health and safety in countries with powerful neoliberal interests has been dominated recently by notions of red tape, of a burden on business. This way of framing debate has consistently pushed into the background reductions in death and serious injury achieved by legislation and its enforcement, by innovation and by organisations and their managements engaging with workforces to improve working conditions

The British Safety Council has announced the winners of its 2018 International Safety Awards, which recognise and celebrate organisations from around the world which have shown a real dedication to keeping their workers and workplaces healthy and safe during the 2017 calendar year.

On the Equality and Human Rights Commission's 10th birthday its Chair, David Isaac, sits down with PoliticsHome to discuss Brexit, budgets, and what the Commission hopes to achieve in the next decade. 

If someone came to you and told you that they would like to engage in an activity that involved sliding down a long, steep, undulating ice slope with tight bends, while sat on a metal tray with skate blades attached to the bottom, reaching speeds of over 80mph, what would you say?

The collapse of the construction and services giant Carillion was extensively covered in the news at the start of the year. For most commentators, Carillion’s liquidation was about how a superficially successful company could accrue such large debts or dwelt on the politics of how the government kept awarding Carillion contracts to deliver public services when it had already issued a profit warning.

The British Safety Council has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education of the United Arab Emirates which is planning to update the national curriculum including health, safety and environmental management information. 

The blackened shell of Grenfell Tower has become a familiar image in the months since a catastrophic fire swept through the residential tower block in west London during the early hours of 14 June 2017, killing 71 people and destroying the homes and lives of hundreds more. This shocking image is a stark reminder of the ongoing impact of the disaster and the need to ensure that lessons are learned and applied to mitigate the likelihood of recurrence.

The world of work is rapidly changing. People are living and working for longer; many tasks are being automated; modern communication technologies are dissolving the work/home divide and can place 24/7 demands on people’s attention. Similarly, new materials like nanotechnology — including tiny airborne waste products that can damage our health — can present new risks. All these developments, together with the increased number of ‘flexible’ contracts, can reduce the clarity about the ownership of risks.

British Safety Council offers training to help with mental health conversations.

So much has happened in the UK and across the world over the last 12 months, and as the holiday season draws closer there is a great deal of uncertainty. The implications of Brexit are still far from clear as negotiations proceed. The Trump presidency is creating tensions across the world, there is political and social unrest in a number of regions and many others are threatened by terrorist attacks, conflict and natural disasters.

“If your time to you is worth saving, then you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times are a changing,” is a lyric by Bob Dylan and a pretty good summary of a tumultuous year. A year that has seen attention-grabbing events come and go with breath taking speed; a pace of change that we are also seeing in the world of work – a point made by contributors to our Future Risk video. And the response to this change, the lyric alludes, must be to keep paddling; particularly true as we are in the business of keeping people healthy and safe.

British Safety Council opens an office in Mumbai, with NIST Institute as its strategic partner.

Ahead of Committee stage of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has produced the first in a series of briefings. 

British Safety Council releases free learning tools and calls upon businesses to run basic health and safety workshops for their local communities.

The British Safety Council recently launched their new manifesto: Combatting risk in the digital age, at an event in the House of Commons.

British Safety Council launches its new manifesto at a parliamentary reception.

The UK has gone “some way backwards” on attitudes towards health and safety since the landmark introduction of regulations and protections at work in the 1970s, a Labour MP has said.

Today, the British Safety Council will be holding a reception in Parliament to launch its new Manifesto, which will set the tone for the future of the organisation. In 1982, Andy Slaughter worked as press officer for the British Safety Council under its charismatic and often controversial founder James Tye, when the charity was constantly in the headlines with good or bad news. 

GMB, which has members across every sector of the British economy, said today’s official workplace death figures hide tens of thousands of related deaths. 

As we are now in full Festival season, the All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group launches the CO Safety at Festivals campaign, highlighting the widespread risk of carbon monoxide poisoning at festivals to politicians and the government.

The UK Government has been urged to scrap its approach to deregulation of health and safety legislation in the light of the Grenfell Tower blaze.

A united Britain is a force to be reckoned with and yet it often takes a tragedy to prompt us to unite and engage with each, reflects Louise Ward, Communications and Policy Director at the British Safety Council.

One in three working families in Britain are just one pay cheque away from losing their home. As well as influencing mental wellbeing, such personal concerns are very likely to impact on attention and concentration, contributing to accidents in the workplace, says Louise Ward, Director of Policy and Communications at the British Safety Council.

By the end of March 2019, the UK will no longer be part of the European Union, that much is clear. Beyond that, much remains little more than speculation, says Laura Cameron, advising on health and safety implications of Brexit in Safety Management.