Safegaurding Scottish workers from injury and illness

Sharing the vision for safe and healthy working will be the aim of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents' annual conference in Scotland.

The RoSPA Scotland Occupational Safety and Health at Work Congress – entitled “Leadership, Partnership, Progress” – will feature speakers from Scottish organisations that are playing a leading role in efforts to reduce deaths, injuries and ill-health among workers.

There will be a particular focus on the value of demonstrating good health and safety performance and on how working together can lead to higher standards.

The event, at Glasgow's Hilton Hotel on Wednesday, September 24, sponsored by Scottish Water Solutions, will feature a keynote address by a representative of the Partnership on Health and Safety in Scotland (PHASS).

Dr Paul Stollard, Director for the Health and Safety Executive in Scotland, will then address issues including the setting of priorities and the targeting of scarce resources.

Louise Wilson, National Officer (Employment, Health and Safety) at the Educational Institute of Scotland, will cover the importance of involving the workforce in safety, and Roger Bibbings, RoSPA's Occupational Safety Adviser, will outline the business case for health and safety.

Sandra Stewart, Managing Director of Stewart Solutions Ltd, and Phil Beaumont, Professor of Employment Relations at the University of Glasgow, will present a case study of an organisation demonstrating high health and safety performance.

Dr Ewan McDonald, Head of the Healthy Working Lives Group and Director of Salus, will talk about the relationship between health and work, and Tom Stocker, Senior Associate at Pinsent Masons, will outline what can happen in the event of health and safety failures, including a focus on the offence of corporate homicide.

Dr Karen McDonnell, Head of RoSPA Scotland, said: “Tremendous progress has been made this year in promoting health and safety issues within Scotland, and the commitment of the Scottish Government to the Action Plan on Health and Safety and working with PHASS is exemplary.

“By further sharing Scotland's health and safety vision, this conference will provide an excellent opportunity to gain new insights into raising standards and enhancing competitiveness within individual organisations and into the links between workers' well-being and improving the health of the nation as a whole.”

Company directors and senior mangers, health and safety professionals, safety representatives, business advisers and risk, insurance and human resources managers will be among the delegates at the conference. For more information, call 0121 248 2120, email events@rospa.com or visit www.rospa.com/scotlandcongress/

The conference will take place the day before organisations from across Scotland gather at the Hilton Hotel to collect prestigious RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards.