Management of Occupational Health and Safety Essay

Management of Occupational Health and Safety - Essay Example "Now 25 years on, it is time to give a new impetus to health and safety at work. Too many deaths still occur at work. Each death or serious injury in the workplace is a tragedy; a tragedy that causes devastation for workers, their families and loved ones; a tragedy which, perhaps, could have been avoided in the first place" says Deputy Prime Minister in his forward. (http://www.hse.gov.uk/revitalising/strategy.pdf) A great number of working days are lost every year due to ill-health and injury showing the importance of reducing the incidence of work related ill health and accidents. Government and connected organisations have been trying all ways of reducing such fatalities and injuries. Government also launched their Securing Health Together (SHT) programme and the main intention had been controlling work related ill health (WRIH). There were necessities and compulsions that forced the government to set targets and specific aims. While doing so, several priority areas have been identified. "The aim of Revitalising Health and Safety is to... There was an immediate need of upgrading health and safety measures in Britain and studies and surveys have shown that ill health and accident rates were spiralling up instead of coming down and this alarmed the Government. There were many fatalities especially in the construction industry. There are many workplaces similar to construction where health and safety hazards are rampant and they needed immediate government attention. "The challenge for all stakeholders is to reduce deaths, injuries and work-related ill health. Government Departments are required to Demonstrate that they are leading by example and are using best practice in health and safety management" http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/InformationNote2100.pdf Government and HSC decided to work in partnership all connected parties to introduce a series of reforms and improvements keeping workers' health and safety as goals. This ambitious project was undertaken with the specific need of better safety and health measures to meet the requirement of the changing, globalising world and expanding businesses in need of fit and secure work force. IMPACT ON SAFETY: The introduction of revitalisation for a period of ten years made tremendous impact on safety of workers at all workplaces. In Britain, there was not a single work place which remained untouched at one point or other as a result of this measure. The immediate targets were to "reduce the number of working days lost per 100,000 workers from work-related injury and ill health by 30 by 2010; reduce the incidence rate of cases of work-related ill health by 20% by 2010; reduce the incidence rate of fatalities and major injuries by 10% by 2010; and