These (steel toe-cap) boots were made for walking...

Today’s sermon comes from St Elfin’s epistle to the workers.  “And Lo, the Health and Safety inspector did descend from the mount with a mighty handful of tablets.  And he spake unto the workers saying: “Thou shalt not…!”  

Came the reply: “Thou shalt not what?”  And St Elfin did answer: “Thou shalt not do anything that will endanger the health of your person, some other person, or any person in the entire universe known unto God… in fact I recommend you all go home and stay in bed for the rest of the week, just in case something nasty happens…”

While we might mock H&S as just another example of ‘political correctness gone mad’ it’s worth remembering that, along with construction and farming, road transport’s past health and safety record has been nothing to write home about.

Every year in transport, logistics and warehousing there are still far too many working-at-height incidents, slips, trips and falls, reversing incidents, accidents caused by insecure loads, overturning forklifts…  You name it, truck yards and RDCs can be very dangerous places.

So recent changes in attitudes towards workplace safety should be welcomed, not scorned.  After all, it’s a fundamental right of any of us to go home to our families alive and well, everyday… isn’t it?  Yet one of the biggest conundrums in H&S remains how far should a business go to protect its workers before they end-up losing any responsibility whatsoever for their own safety?  When you’re so wrapped up in cotton-wool it’s hard to see what’s coming towards you….

The obvious analogy is with the amount of safety equipment now fitted to the average car or truck.  Has it actually made us safer drivers?  I doubt it.  What it HAS done is provide a larger safety net just in case we do something stupid.  But it’s passive, rather than active, safety – and we need to be wary of that approach in the workplace. 

If you really want to stay on top of H&S there’s no substitute to ‘walking the job’ as an old fleet engineer friend of mine used to say.  A daily 15-minute stroll around the yard or warehouse (in high-vis vest and keeping to the clearly-marked pedestrian walkways) will soon tell you if your H&S rules are being followed.

More importantly you’ll probably also see what’s getting in the way of your business making more money.  Like the shrinkwrap that’s blowing around the yard that will end-up tangled around a forklift wheel – which then becomes a major repair headache.

Or the dents that have started appearing at the bottom of your racking system thanks to ‘over-enthusiastic’ pallet truck drivers…  how soon before the whole lot comes down?  Or the workers who take a short cut straight across the yard because it’s the quickest way to the smokers’ shelter?

As a manager you may resent having to think for everyone else when it comes to H&S.  But unless you fancy appearing in court on a possible H&S – or worse, corporate manslaughter – charge, I’d strongly recommend you ‘walk the job’.  Imagine what you might discover…

Wishing you all a Happy and safe 2012!