Posted By Emma Forbes Hi everyone, I'm in the process of developing an action plan on health and safety within our department and one of the points I've made is including health and safety on our staff appraisal process. We have a form already and health and safety is mentioned a measly once. Has anyone got an example of a section on their appraisal forms relevant to health and safety or have any suggestions how I can highlight the importance..... Thanks.

Posted By TouchBasehse Hi Emma, I have always had a problem with setting objectives for staff, regarding SHE Management. Safety should be an integral part of the business and not a bolt on thing. Except for HASAWA general duties I would be inclined to let the staff get on with what they are paid to do and leave SHE to the Safety team, if they wish to get involved fine but should not be measured on it. I have just had this issue in my company and the response was the above. Regards, David

Posted By Hilary Charlton Emma Agree that this should form part of an appraisal as H&S is the responsbility of everyone and not just the SHE team. Below are the competency levels we expect from our employees at all levels and these could give you some ideas of what to look for on your appraisal form. COMPETENCY LEVELS LEVEL 1 - All Employees Basic awareness of the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974, their own responsibilities under this Act and the employers responsibilities. Ability to recognise potential hazards and report these to the relevant authorities. Basic awareness of Environmental aspects and recognition of impacts and report these to the relevant authorities. LEVEL 2 - Line Managers/Leading Hands Working knowledge of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Environnmental Protection Act and their own responsibilities towards their staff, contractors, subcontractors and peers under this Act. Basic knowledge of the Factories Act and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act, COSHH, Water Resources Act and other major pieces of legislation. Ability to conduct risk assessments, job supervision assessments, identify hazards and act where appropriate. Ability to train staff in awareness of rules and regulations governing health and safety and have a working knowledge of the Health and Safety system as run at HMD. LEVEL 3 - Managing Director, Senior Managers, Environmental, Health and Safety Representatives A good working knowledge of the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 and the Environmental Protection Act, a broad knowledge of other major pieces of legislation such as COSHH, PUWER, Factories Act, Electricity At Work Regulations, Water Resources Act, Clean Air Act, etc. A good working knowledge of safe systems and procedures. Ability to conduct simple accident investigations, risk assessments, job assessments, to give training, supervision and information on simple health and safety issues. The ability to carry out induction training in health and safety for new employees. To be able to make informed, instant decisions on major hazards and risks to health and carry these through to conclusion even if this requires plant to be shut down. LEVEL 4 – Environmental, Health and Safety Practitioner To have an indepth working knowledge of all major pieces of environmental and health and safety legislation and to keep abreast of all developments within the field of health and safety, disseminating information as appropriate. To train all employees in health and safety and environmental practices. To introduce and be responsible for the maintenance of safe working practices. To conduct risk assessments, DSE Assessments, COSHH assessments and make decisions following these. To act as the Emergency Officer for all incidents. To conduct accident/incident investigations, to shut down plant where necessary. To act as liaison for the enforcing authorities. To ensure that the Company operates in a legal fashion at all times. I hope this gives you something to work on Hilary

Posted By Kieran J Duignan Having statements about health and safety on form for performance appraisal is one thing, enabling the line manager to validly assess the standard of health and safety performance is something much more. So that you make it as easy as practicable for HR and line management, write (draft) statements of behaviourallly that can be assessed by observation. This may be by direct observation, in terms of what a person does, or indirect, in terms of what a manager communicates, in writing or in person. Arguably, it could have an adverse effect to include in performance appraisal items about health and safety that can't be validly assessed.

Posted By Merv Newman I agree with fats 100% Safety IS part of everyone's job. As is quality, cost control, productivity, human relations, protection of the environment. As a technician, foreman, lab manager, HSE manager and SMS consultant I was, for 25 years, assessed on ALL of those criteria. At the time not all of those assessments were based on numeric objectives. However if you want such for safety then ask Neil Budworth for a copy of his excellent article on proactive safety measures. He gives them to anyone who asks, just requesting acknowledgement if they are used. Example : how many employees of a manager's department participated in safety training ? Which foreman's team comes up with the most safety suggestions ? Part of an HSE audit is seeing how safety roles/missions/responsibilities are defined. Usually the answer is a choice between "poorly, briefly, badly, not at all". For a large company it can take years going through all the negotiating and approvals required to redefine missions for all levels of the company so as to get HSE responsibilities properly integrated and defined in the same manner as are all of the other responsibilities (listed above) I have occasionally come across "safety managers" who have fought desperatly to hang on personally to EVERY aspect of safety : refusing to reason or argue, refusing to teach, refusing to allow others to participate. Just saying "I'm safety, it's the law, it's my decision, do it that way". You have to be really, really sure of yourself and really, really good at the job to even think of doing that way. And it's too much like hard work for me to try it. Participative safety, shared responsibility ; you know it makes sense.

Posted By Merv Newman Ray, check my posting, the one above yours Merv

Posted By Adrian Watson Dear Emma, If you want to get to the next level in health and safety you should certainly incorporate health and safety into staff appraisals. However, some words of caution, to amplify and reiterate what Fats, Kieran and Merv have said. First and foremost measure behaviours not attitudes. Remember, that safe intentions do not always translate into safe actions. At lower levels in the organisation assess behaviours such as working safely, use of ppe, etc. I do not recommend direct numerical limits such as wearing ppe 50 % of the time, but it could be "improve the number of times appropriate ppe is worn correctly when working on x during the next year" i.e. use SMART objectives in a smart manner. These objectives are measurable in that they can be compared against base line measurements but are not met by hitting a value. At higher levels the behaviours should demonstrate a commitment to, as well as encourage safe behaviour in others. Secondly, measure positive behaviours in the control of individuals. Do not measure unsafe behaviours or events such as accidents, as these are capricious events that are generally not in the control of individuals. Thirdly, get individuals to set their own targets for the next year. I.e. get their commitment and hold them to it. Regards Adrian Watson

Posted By Kieran J Duignan This is a brief comment on Ray's illustration of his reservations, on the assumption that he not joking. Ray, from your statements, while I can sympathise with your dismay, I need to say that what you are describing appears to a poorly designed 'competency' system being operated by a manager who doesn't know the wood from the trees and the trees from the forest and the forest from the ecosystem. The mistakes you describe also illustrate why an effective competency system takes a long time, and several iterations to get right. There's now enough research available on competency design, including easy-to-read materials published by the CIPD, for any competent HR and Safety partnership to implement a far, far more competent system than the one you refer to.