Health and safety professionals often get a hard time, but all too frequently a fatal accident occurs that reminds you why we are here, or rather, why we should be here. Such was the case this morning when I read about the tragic death of a worker trapped in an oven at the Piranha canoe factory in Runcorn (read more here). This appears shockingly similar to the tragic death of two workers in 1998 at Fresha Bakeries who had entered a bread oven before it had cooled to a safe level. The subsequent investigation and prosecution ...

Last christmas at Leeds Met we struck on a winning theme with our 'Surviving Christmas' campaign. The campaign took in a wide range of wellbeing subjects including healthy eating, hangover cures, money worries, strained relationships and coping with grief. As a result the traffic generated through our wellbeing website increased significantly, teaching us for a campaign to be engaging and successful it need to be quite irreverent and appeal to as wider group as possible. The one criticism we did get was that Christmas is as much a time for celebration as it is for survival, and that our campaign was a little one-sided. ...

Every now and then, whilst i'm wandering around the internet, I come across something that I find genuinely fascinating and often quite thought provoking. On this occasion I set out to settle an argument with a friend that we are living longer. Enter 'UK life expectancy' into Google and you are guided to Google's own wizard that enables you to compare life expectancy in nations across the planet. A hour later and I had discovered a number of interesting facts about life expectancy. Firstly, as I knew already, we are getting older - Britains live on average about 9 ...

As a university our mission is to share knowledge, both within the organisation with our staff and students, and externally with other employers and the wider community. Our wellbeing programme is a good example of this. Developed primarily for our own needs, it has generated sufficient interest externally that a number of other employers have bought into it, and we have been fortunate to win a number of national awards. Now the programme is firmly established we have turned to social marketing to spread the word and increase awareness and participation amongst its target audiences both internally and externally. I have ...

My analysis of the findings of the European Agency's ESENER report on new and emerging risks (see here) highlighted that the role of the law is a major driver for UK employers to manage occupational health and safety. So it's not surprising that employers also say that the law is an important factor in the management of psychosocial risks in the workplace, such as stress, bullying, harassment and violence. Whilst UK employers identify that the law is less of a driver for addressing psychosocial risks than it is for occupational health and safety in general (71% compared with 95%) it ...

As I blogged last week, the European Agency for Occupational Safety and Health at Work's recent report into new and emerging health safety risks makes interesting reading. One particular area of its findings gives a fascinating insight into what drives employers to take action on health and safety matters, and conversely what barriers and obstacles they face. As far as the UK is concerned it shows that legal requirements are the foremost driver to take action. Since the Roben's report and subsequent creation of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974, the UK has had a clear legal ...

Earlier this year the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work published its survey of enterprises on new and emerging risks (ESENER). This is an extensive survey of employer and employee engagement in health and safety at work covering all 27 member states plus Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and Croatia. I was privileged to be asked to chair the UK launch of the report in London yesterday to a audience of policymakers, academics and practitioners, and representatives of employers, employee and specialist interest groups. The report is built on the results of 36,000 interviews with employers and safety representatives across Europe, ...

I blogged yesterday about the UK government's white paper setting out its vision for the future strategy for public health in England. Closer reading of the paper reveals a range of statistics that show the scale of the problem facing politicians, policymakers and healthcare professionals in putting this strategy into action. Here is a selection; smoking alone claims 80,000 lives per year, compared with road deaths (c3,000) and workplace accidents (c150) there are 35,000 excess deaths in winter, preventable by warmer housing and seasonal flu vaccinations the NHS spends £2.7 billion treating smoking related illness, but less than £150 million on smoking cessation 1 ...

The publication of a white paper this week on the future for public health provides the first opportunity to see how the government's plans for the NHS and the so-called Big Society might impact on the health of the nation. At first glance there is plenty to welcome about the aspirations set out in the paper. How much of it will survive and be shaped by consultation and then implemented is yet to be seen. The white paper's main thrust in pushing responsibility for public health strategy out to local authorities will, in theory at least, mean that local issues can ...