Rank: Forum user 
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I am a H&S Contractor and have been working at the present comopany for 8 weeks now. I have never even seen the senior manager, let alone met him.
I am well aware they are in a slight bit of bother with the HSE as they have had a letter of intervention. I also know that the company is in some other difficulties having had a regime of management who have basically milked the company pretty dry by spending on useless equipment and processes, overselling themselves and the like. The current senior manager is trying very hard to appease various customers from the motor racing industry owing to our inability to deliver the right quality and on time etc.The company is workig 24/7 We were supposed to have a weekly H&S meeting to try and kick start H&S, but after 3 weeks it fell apart, with no-one turning up for it except myself, the business systems manager who is responsible for H&S and also my boss, and the senior engineer on site. The senior manager (the only director left) kept on failing to turn up even though he made the right noises each time. I hear he is really committed to H&S (really?) How can he expect anyone else to be interested in H&S if he doesn't lead from the top? (at least once!) Has anyone else been in this situation and if so what happened? It is extremely difficult to try and get anything done as everyone is too busy fighting fires metaphorically speaking. They are missing a complete layer of management owing to redundancies, as well as maintenance people. I was brought in to help with risk assessments as there is not the expertise within the company to do them themselves.
What can I do to try and get anyone to do something? It is pathetic that no-one will take responsibility for anything except getting parts out of the door. My boss doesn't want me to send an email to the senior manager, for whatever reason. I wouldn't know where to find him to speak to him personally Any ideas gratefully received on how we can improve the situation.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I don't mean to be unsympathetic. But this is normal - you just have to work around it, and find the people (whoever they may be) who will be your allies and help ypou get some things done, instead of expecting leadership from the top.
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 1 user thanked Kate for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user
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I have been contracting for 8 years and worked in H&S for 15 yrs all told. I have never come across such apathy before....
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Rank: Forum user
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If you were brought in to do risk assessments then just do risk assessments but do so with the help of the BS Manager and the Senior Engineer who will advise you on the processes and get them to take ownership. If they are able to see the value in having these assessments then they will drive the process to compliance. Essentially, if you make recommendations and they choose to ignore them it is up to them. You can lead a horse to water....
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Rank: Super forum user
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If you are a consultant, there comes a time when you must walk away, I have done that on three occasions
The IOSH Code Of Conduct has a clause that says sonething like:
... as a consultant, if you are aware that your recommendations are not being implemented, but you continue to advise the organisation for the fee income you derive, then that may point to a lack of integrity.
So in the event of a serious accident, for example, you could get into difficulty as your efforts would be seen as ineffective.
John
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Rank: Forum user
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I’ve had this issue before, I made a decision to hit the wallets instead of their hearts. I got the main manger/director and gave them a quick 15 minutes on the new sentencing guidelines and how fines are now imposed, this was followed by a quick war game on how much the company could lose if we had a major accident (they didn’t realise it came of the bottom line and you can’t insure against it). I also dropped a hint that I am now doing my duty as they employed me to and failure to act on sound advice would now come back to them instead of me.
Its unfortunate that sometimes an uncaring manager will better respond to potential fines or imprisonment as opposed to just doing the right thing.
Worth a go if you can get the right person in a room for ten minutes.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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and from 1st November 2018 Gross Negligence Manslaughter will attract a custodial sentence of 18 years (range 10 - 24) for Very High Culpability e.g. avoiding the costs of Health & Safety Certainley got a lot of attention when this was posted at work today - and we have a responsible management
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Rank: Super forum user
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and from 1st November 2018 Gross Negligence Manslaughter will attract a custodial sentence of 18 years (range 10 - 24) for Very High Culpability e.g. avoiding the costs of Health & Safety Certainley got a lot of attention when this was posted at work today - and we have a responsible management
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Get on with the work and stop focusing on the boss. Visible, pro-active committment is often overplayed as being essential in my view. In theory and from a behavioural standpoint it sounds fine but what does it actually mean in practice? Committment can be found in many passive ways. Approving the cost of bringing you in for example. Trusting you to get on with it and providing him with a workable system/situation including his part in that.
A few questions to discuss with your line boss perhaps? Is it really essential that he attends every H&S meeting in order for the project to succeed? Is he actively blocking any recommendations/improvements? Is there a protocol for regular updates for him on progress and who will be doing that? I think Kate has it outlined in her post. I would just get the team together that you need to acheive the practical stuff and the rest will follow. If you get it right your output is what will bring any doubters on side. Given your description of the state of the company it is easy to see why and where the senior people are focused. The point I am labouring here is that you need to avoid the assumption that because it doesn't fit your or the received model then that means no committment to H&S.
Good luck
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Well you have to decide if things are moving forwards or not under your influence. If the answer is no then you should do as others have said which is walk away. This may not depend on the involvement of the Senior Manager (it sounds like he is probably just fighting to keep the business afloat at this point). Are the areas in the Letter of Intervention being dealt with, if not then that may be either your way in or your cue to leave.
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Rank: Super forum user
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To look on the bright side - at least you don't have the worst sort of senior manager, the throwing-their-weight-around ones without real knowledge who pick out silly things to micromanage and expect you to implement their silly ideas. I much prefer the hands-off ones to those!
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2 users thanked Kate for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Also, before criticising the committment from their Senior Management ask yourself why "my boss doesn't want me to send an email to the senior manager".
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Rank: Super forum user 
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From what I can see the current senior manager is happy to leave it with you, your boss and the senior engineer on site. Who else do you need?
Can you not undertake RAs without the senior manager? Is the senior manger even knowledgable enough about what goes on on the factory floor enough to be the best person to advise. Surely you can make a start with the three of you and work from there by getting those who do the task to contribute. THe RAs can then be forwarded to the senior manager.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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From the description given I suspect that mangement (at all levels) are more forcused on keeping the company afloat and the shopfloor are more focused on getting things out of the door in order to achieve this (and keep their jobs), than worrying about H&S? Yes we all know the importance of H&S and it's your job to help them understand/put things in place to achieve a safe working environment/practices. I suspect that management brought you in to try and put these things into place while they focus on keeping the business in business.
Maybe try to avoid meetings for meetings sake and only bring the management in when you have something tangible to show them/put forward? I suspect they want you to find the problems and solutions and then sign off your proposals without eating into their time/efforts of keeping the business viable.
Sometimes it helps to take a step back and put yourself in their shoes, to get a better understanding of why they arent focusing on H&S as much as they should be? At the end of the day, as others have already said, you can only do so much before needing to walk away but maybe trying a different tact first could help?
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1 user thanked grim72 for this useful post.
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