Posted By Gary IMD(UK) Lawrence, I agree, it is an absolutely brilliant opportunity, and I wait with interest as to whether the 'Powers That Be' grasp the opportunity with both hands. Thanks for raising this thread. Take care!

Posted By Steve B Lawrence, you have got it spot on it is a fantastic opportunity to show the rest of Europe how we look after our workforce, and do not get Headlines like this: At least 14 men have been killed and 180 construction workers have been injured in Athens as the city prepared to host the Olympic Games. The true death toll could be as high as 40, a BBC Radio 4 investigation has revealed. Speaking on Radio 4's investigative programme, Face The Facts (Friday 23 July, at 12.30pm), Lampis Nikolaou, the President of the Greek Olympic Committee, admitted that the deaths and injuries were far greater than any other city to have hosted the Olympics in recent years. He comments: "The human price is very high for me but I cannot tell you if it is 40 or 36 or 35 or 34, I know that people are dying. This is something that I regret very much but in every country, in every workplace, accidents happen and people die." George Theordorou, the General Secretary of the Greek Construction Workers Union, believes the actual death toll resulting from Olympic construction work could be closer to 40. “Men are being forced to work long shifts, up to 14 hours a day everyday, in very hot temperatures and under constant pressure to complete construction work in time for the Olympics," he says. "Most have no hard hats or safety boots and if they complain they're sacked." Regards Steve

Posted By Tabs Perhaps IOSH could look at tendering for the position of H&S consultants/providers, creating a team to provide an overall policy and system for safety management on the project? Providing qualified and audited trainers, auditors, and advisors for the myriad of different levels involved? Senior management should look at being the single most important opportunity in the next few years.

Posted By Salus I do not like the consultant idea, "who are IOSH", IOSH are it's members, without members paying their subscriptions IOSH would not be viable, why can we (members)not do this ourselves. I do not want someone setting up a management structure sit back (and occasionally see the lads out on site) let all the "chosen" (picked by the "chosen") get paid peanuts (compared to what this consultancy would charge)while others set themselves up as leaders and get massive salaries and have their fingers in all sorts of lucrative pies as a result of it. I have heard this before and this may well take us down the same old route, (The Dome, Canary Wharf,lets show how good we can manage safety)again. No doubt SHP will be paid well to advertise these posts when they are required, why don't the future employers just log onto the careers forum and find them? All manner of PPE now being strapped on

Posted By Robert K Lewis Lawrence The real problem for the industry with regard to health and safety training and competence issues is the lack of any competent over-arching body to look at syllabuses across the board, from professional designer through managers to operatives. If you talk to Hazel H there is some discussion ongoing at this moment as to how IOSH could facilitate the creation of such a body. In recent conversations at the RoSPA construction conference it is very clear that the industry needs such a body if it is ever going to pull itself out of the current rut. The body does need to be clearly focussed on H&S, not deflected into other areas of competency. It will need to include ultimately Professional Institutions, Universities and Colleges, Training Organisations and Companies, the HSE and Trades Unions. It must be seen as somehow independent of other influences. Thus I believe that organisations such as the MCG and Con Confed would potentially be outsideof its membership remit other than for consultative purposes. I would be more than happy to discuss these thoughts further in an off-line conversation. My views on CSCS are well known and to my mind this scheme has stultified creative thinking in the improvement of H&S competency and training. Bob

Posted By Ian H Lawrence From what you have said I am assuming that you are trying to gain ideas as to how IOSH can be positioned and seen in a positive and helpful light. I would see IOSH's role as one of consulting members and sharing best practices. Perhaps these could contribute and inform the high-level standards that I presume the ODA will set. It is really a case of developing enough pull from all stakeholders, rather than a big stick to beat the contractors with. I do not think we should offer a 'consultancy type role': we should, using tact and the vast amount of knowledge in IOSH, create, share and encourage excellent practices in occupational health, safety and welfare. It is the smaller companies,throughout the supply chain who need the most help from us. Perhaps some sort of SH&E charter could be developed with the Olympic rings - each for a separate aspect of safety excellence. All companies, no matter of size, sign the charter and agree to enforce and support its guiding principles and the vision of an injury free olympic games. Maybe we could set up an Olympic specialist group in IOSH to capture learning across all industries and promolgate it.

Posted By Mike Draper Lawrence This is a fine question and a difficult one. Fundamentally the answer must come back to two reference points; what the ODA is actually going to do and what IOSH is for. The ODA is going to “regenerate East London, creating jobs, homes, the largest new urban park in Europe for 150 years, greatly improved transport infrastructure and also, in passing, the venues for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.” IOSH is “IOSH is Europe's leading body for health and safety professionals. As an independent and not-for-profit organisation, we aim to regulate and steer the profession, maintaining standards and providing impartial, authoritative guidance on health and safety issues.” So where do these overlap? IOSH could play a role in setting and delivering a tailored H&S training programme that is targeted to the needs of those involved in the programme. A particular area that springs to mind is the role of designers and their influence on the construction process. Designers tend to come from a disparate bunch of professional institutes and are consequently confused about what things like design risk assessment actually are and the purpose they serve within CDM. IOSH could also continue to provide a source of professional advice for members working within the ODA programme, although this perhaps could be less passive than the current services, with a regular monthly or bi-monthly seminar through the life of the programme. This could be of benefit to the wider IOSH membership as it provides an opportunity to network outside of the branch structure – sort of like an ODA SIG. IOSH can talk with bodies like the HSE, CITB, ECITB, CIRIA, etc about safety campaigns relevant to the construction industry that can be timed and used to the benefit of the ODA. I think that this is a particular area for IOSH to lead as those people in HSE, CITB, etc that would be involved are all most likely members of IOSH anyway. I think that IOSH can also play an important role in the arrangements between the ODA and the government, say as an adjudicator in disputes, an impartial advisor and as the voice of the profession. I think that many public projects like this fail (Millennium Dome anyone?) simply because there is no one involved to tell the politicians when to back off and stop meddling. IOSH can also use the opportunity of the ODA programme to promote H&S as a professional discipline by working with schools and universities to demonstrate the value added by the profession to industry as a whole and construction in particular. There may also be opportunities to set up visit programmes and competitions. IOSH could play a role in setting the standards for H&S professionals in the ODA, perhaps assisting in the recruitment process by validating the training and qualifications of those involved. Those are just a few thoughts. Mike

Posted By Mal Shiels Lawrence Firstly congrats on your appointment. What about asking each branch to devote one of their meetings solely to the Olympic thread. You could ask for a list of questions or topics to be pre issued before the meeting and then discussed and debated during the meeting. That may produce some new innovative ideas and it may produce a real consensus on one or two topics or areas. This would be a good way of canvassing lots of members views and actively getting them involved. Regards

Posted By Arran Linton - Smith For this flagship international project, IOSH and it’s membership have a unique opportunity to publicise and show Occupational Safety and Health Management at its best. It would be an opportunity to positively demonstrate positive innovation and best practice, examples where good OS&H planning not only reduces OS&H risk but can also contribute to other project goals such as delivering the project on cost and time. With changes to the CDM regulations we also have an opportunity to use this project to influence the safety culture within the rest of the construction industry. Within this project there are also significant opportunities for undertaking archenemy and scientific research, which would benefit our profession. There would also be a significant opportunity for networking not only within the UK but also worldwide. I am also sure that Olympics could also greatly boost the membership of IOSH Ownership of this unique opportunity must be immediately grasped by IOSH and its membership; otherwise other organisations will simply take this away from us.

Posted By Chris Lumley Thank you Lawrence for kicking off an extremely important debate. What should IOSH do? The answer is very simple; ‘Do everything within its remit to support the delivery of an exemplary 2012 Olympics and leverage the biggest brand in the world to leave a lasting legacy for the OH and Safety profession’ How do we do this? That’s a bit more difficult and I certainly don’t have all the answers. Here are my thoughts on what IOSH and its members should be doing. · Get directly involved with the ODA, the Delivery Partner or with the Contractors. We need the very best OH and Safety Professionals on this project. So if you believe you have got the skill and passion to make a difference, then make it your business to let people know. You could become one of the very privileged to work on this project. · If we are to deliver the high levels of performance the ODA require on this project then, as well as the best people, we need the best practices. IOSH should ensure that we take the opportunity to create a learning environment, where those working on the project can learn from the profession and vice versa. For a start we need the very best practices in relation to OH&S Leadership, Design, Occupational Health, Competence, Culture and Behaviour, Involvement and Engagement and Communications, to name but a few. · We should all try and create an exemplary Olympic Project within our workplaces. We should use 2012 to create a step change in our management of OH&S and IOSH has a significant role here to do the PR and create the publicity and backdrop for this. For example, improvement in Occupational Health works particularly well here with all the obvious health links to the Olympics. And finally, · We should also use 2012 to take the opportunity to take our knowledge and expertise outside of our organisations and support the SMEs who may not have that knowledge and experience. Again, this could be a campaign that IOSH could organise And please, no consultants, advisers, reviewers, auditors, etc bolted onto the project. We need to work through the overall delivery organisation (i.e. the ODA, Delivery Partner and Supply Chain) which has to work as a high performing partnership if are to deliver a safe and successful 2012 Olympics. Regards Chris Lumley

Posted By Lawrence Waterman Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the debate over the past week. The last few comments and emails sent directly to me have suggested a way forward. As Bill Parkinson said: "I would support the setting up of an Olympic Specialist Group as I believe that IOSH should support the idea of all those involved with safety on the project having a forum whereby knowledge and information can be pooled to adopt a consistent approach." This has been echoed by other Members, so I shall take this suggestion to Technical Committee and to Communications Committee. As for Chris Lumley's suggestion that we should get good H&S Practitioners working for the ODA - there is an opportunity here, and also note that the Suppliers we are appointing and contracting are some of the best construction and design firms in the world, and they too have real strength in depth amongst their own H&S advisory teams. It is good to hear so many positive voices looking for ways in which we can contribute to not only a great global event in 2012 but also to the regeneration of East London. Above all, there seems to be an appetite for sharing the benefits of the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games throughout the UK, and also creating a health and safety legacy we shall be proud of. As Head of Health and Safety for the Olympic Delivery Authority these are certainly my ambitions.

Posted By garyh We should take part in the games - relay race, passing the Risk Assessment from hand to hand, shot putt using COMAH safety report (at last, a use for it!), javelin (made or rubber of course). We could do the high jump, with HSE always raising the bar, with lots of HSE inspectors rushing round interfering and enforcing petty rules whilst ignoring big infringements.......we could have a runner carrying the flame followed around by a standbyman with extinguisher and radio........and more!

Posted By Hilary Charlton I wonder if IOSH could set itself up as an awarding body for this. Pretty much like the "NHBC Pride in the job Site", so that when a site is performing safely with all the relevant regs covered and ppe and so on, then they can be awarded a "Safety Site" status which should be revisited every month to ensure that the standards are being maintained. Failure to maintain standards will result in removal of the IOSH approval or "Safety Site" status which will be forwarded to the Olympic Committee. This way, IOSH members can benefit as well if they want. This should be applied for by IOSH to the Olympic Committee to be paid for inspections. Anyone who is a member of IOSH and has the relevant qualifications and experience can undertake an inspection to a pre-defined list of criteria and be paid a fee to do so. This way, you could avoid having the same inspector visit the same site twice and a different pair of eyes would identify different issues thereby pushing the standards higher and higher to retain the "flag of approval" as it were. This would ensure high visibility (large signs for "approved sites" all round the perimeter fence so every time it appears on the news or TV or newspapers IOSH is right there at the forefront showing the rest of the world how to do it properly and safely. Hilary