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Good HSEGovernance

Mark Cowan, AdvisianSeptember 2016

What is good governance?

The collection, organisation and upkeep of the policies, procedures, requirements, expectations, processes, records and tools we use for managing health and safety in our work environment.

Creating safety. Not reacting to harm.

What does governance look like?

Board of Directors

Company Managemen

t

Set expectationsCharter and policy

Strategy and objectives

Deliver RequirementsSet targets

Incorporate into management practices

Determine resources required

InformPerformance metrics

Health and safety report

Worker participation

Understand PerformanceKnow what to askAssurance plan

Recognise what good looks like

Industry Good Practice

Internal health and safety advice

Independent Expert Health and safety advice

Health and safety management systems can help provide good governance

Primary motiveManaging

workplace risks to avoid injury

or illness

Aid industrial relations

Minimise incident costs

Comply with legislation

Typical components of a Health and

Safety Management

System

Leadership

Risk Management

Change Management

Training

Incident and emergencies

Contractor Management

Assurance

Communication

Tracking performance by accident statistics does not equate managing safety.Accident statistics are lagging indicators – they are too late to prevent the accident, but we can see what happened with hindsight.

Q. How do we turn hindsight into foresight, and prevent accidents from happening in the first place?

A. Leading indicators

Leading IndicatorsLeading indicators provide us with information to tell us we are doing the right things to create a safe environment.

Skill & knowledg

e

Clear process

es

Good tools

Safety outcome

Reporting and assurance

01 Assurancecan be improved by prioritised actions agreed by leadership on the basis of the reporting received.

02Reporting can be updated over time based on performance concerns raised by assurance activities.

AssuranceChecking that what we do is right

Reporting Informing leadership of performance

AssuranceThere are a range of activities that need to be reviewed to determine what we do, and identify good practices to share and embed, as well as areas of concern to rectify.To be effective, organisational assurance should be driven at a range of levels to reflect the business hierarchy and structure.

Levels

1. External / independent2. Systems level3. Departmental level4. Work activity level5. Contractor / interface

level

ActivitiesAssurance

1. Audits2. Reviews3. Site inspections4. Leadership visits5. Performance against plan

Reporting should be:A combination of leading and lagging indicators.Consistent information from all parts of the organisation.Genuinely useful information that decisions can be based on.Easily understood and interpreted.

Lagging and leading indicatorsThey should be specific to objectives and take into account the health and safety risk profile.

1. Number of injuries or illnesses2. Absence rates due to sickness3. Number of exposure incidents4. Notifiable incidents or events5. Contractor injuries, illnesses or events

1. Number of audits or inspections completed2. Timeframe to close corrective actions3. Training completed4. Number of near miss incidents reported5. Preventative maintenance completed6. H&S Committee meetings7. Safety conversations completed

Lagging indicator examples Leading indicator examples

Reporting pitfallsActing on headline data only – this should be a starting point for enquiry, not a cue for a knee jerk reactionA single incident should not drive the organisation's full focus – it should be a range of organisation ‘symptoms’

How to report properly?1. Review organisational objectives

for health and safety2. Develop appropriate indicator set:

a) Risk areasb) Work scopesc) Practicality

3. Develop reporting format and approach

4. Monitor results

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