The Secretary of State for Defence has been in post for over two years, but has not yet issued his policy statement showing his commitment to safety within the MOD. The policies posted around the MOD estate are signed by Liam Fox so they are therefore no longer extant. What sort of commitment to the safety and wellbeing of the Armed forces and MOD personnel does this show! It’s worrying that the requirement to issue a statement came from parliament in the first place (HSWA S 2 (3). What do the other members think of this and should I whistleblow to the HSE – something to debate on a wet Friday.

My first thought was the HSE has better things to do but then I thought FFI! It does apply to Crown bodies and perhaps this is the sort of 'significant breach' that the HSE could be used to generate more income...

All It is indeed correct that the SofS has not signed a new H&S statement but, following on from ExDeeps post, each Commanding Officer/Head of Establishment (civvy) has their own statement too. These are renewed as and when required (and at least checked once a year for currency). Ian In reply to your postings (quite scathing but then you are entitled to your opinion) - the Armed Forces and the back up Civil Servants (of which I am one and have been for over 20 years) have the same rights and priviledges under H&S as everyone else; any claim etc that has been blasted through the papers has, indeed, been the exception rather than the rule. There are no excemptions from H&S for the MOD unless in very specific circumstances (eg War/Conflict Zones; specific training sanctioned and signed off by the SosS himself). Any compensation paid out to personnel is in line with rules and procedures in the same way as any responsible employer (most employers have insurance, the MOD does not so therefore has to put aside a pot of money to cover for these things...) For everyone else... If anyone would like to see the basic MDO H&S 'Bible' then I refer them to the Joint Services Publication 375 (available through any good web search engine) where you will find that most of the information is lifted straight from, or derived from, the HSE Publications.

Nidan is spot on with his explaination need to have a pot of money for compensation- MoD is not insured. Ian, yes the MoD does do get some rather startling claims for compensation which cannot always be defended. I suspect this is the case for many if not all big businesses and corporations. Ian you seem to have some specific incidents in mind- care to share the specifics, some of us might be able to fill in the blanks and clarify what actually occurred. Re the OPs concern, yes, this has been chased many times by many groups and several drafts have been presented, PH is just not keen to sign it. This is a cause for concern and irritation to many of us,particularly if we are promoting a "positive safety culture" Basically as explained earlier as each Commanding Officer/ Head of Establishment will have their own statement which is displayed and drawn to the attention of all personnel under their control- Civvy or Military.

I don't see any actual requirement for signature as such - just requiring that policy exists and is reviewed as appropriate (whatever that means). And there is certainly no specific 'dating' standard, so the only way to determine if policy is outdated is by content, relevance and therefore 'appropriateness'. Therefore there would be no HSE FFI implication, as there has to be a breach of legislation. It is a pedantic point only - hardly whistleblowing material. Not sure I can see the connection between lack of signature on a policy statement and civil claims or claims culture.