On the 6th of April 2002 Compass HSC was formed and if you can do the maths, we celebrated 22 years on the 6th of April 2024.

It’s been an incredible 22 years, and as we now enter our 23rd year we are as enthusiastic and dedicated to you our valued clients as ever, and very much hold to our business model, “exceed expectations”, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

To everyone who has been a part of our journey may I take the opportunity to say thank you.

Brian
Managing Director
Compass HSC

Workplace incidents/accidents can never be zero the UK
fatality incident rate, ( the number of people employed
measured against the number of fatalities in a year then
multiplied by 100000) numbers are quite low for a work
population of around 32 million-and certainly much better
than countries in Europe.

Malta, Finland, Ireland, and Norway all have a lower fatality
incident rate than the UK…and in case you were wondering
which country is the worst?

Its Cyprus followed by France.

Consider the diagram below – can you recognise these components within your own organisation?

If not you have a weakness that will at some point manifest to be a physical injury event and the consequence of that will be in many ways more painful with potential:

HSE intervention | Interviews | insurance claims/premiums |
Disruption to business | Tarnished reputation | Stress and anxiety | Cost

Section 2 – A view of the world

 We all view the world we live in in different ways, we all have different priorities and values, the world of work is complex, with many challenges that need to be overcome or dealt with.

For most small to medium enterprises regardless of what they do their most important priority is getting paid, retaining, and growing their client base, and surviving.

No wonder then that in this context health and safety falls quite a way down the list of priorities and is why Employers/ Businesses are almost forced through circumstance to take risks and hope to get away with it- this is particularly so in the construction sector.

Here is a case which adequately demonstrates this position:

A site visit carried out in November 2022 identified multiple, serious health and safety failings.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found one of the barns, used as a through route by an employee, was deemed unsafe to enter due to its poor structural state. Seymour Stevens Ltd were aware of this but had taken the decision not to repair the shed due to the costs but had continued to allow its use. A number of electrical faults were also
identified within that shed.

In another shed, the roof was insecurely fixed and was being weighed down with a straw bale in an attempt to prevent it from moving. Roof sheeting was also in poor condition and state of disrepair, in some cases even falling from the building.

Bull pens were broken and rusty and concerns were raised about the suitability of these to contain a bull. During the Christmas period in 2022, a bull had managed to escape the farm and was brought back to site by the Police.

Earlier in the same year, the company had been invited to attend a paid-for “Preparing for Inspection” courses which have been developed in partnership with industry. They didnʼt take up that offer, missing the opportunity to learn more about their health and safety responsibilities and to better manage the risks they faced.

Seymour Stevens Limited pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. act 1974 and was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £4,830 in costs at a hearing at Maidstone Magistratesʼ Court on 24 April 2024.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Peter Bruce said: “While agriculture accounts for just one percent of the working population, it accounts for about 20 per cent of workplace fatalities.

Notes / Comment

The entire cause of all these failings can easily be identified
1- Money- or lack of money
2- Historical farming culture and attitude
3- Business survival

Its hard not to have some sympathy with the circumstances of the case.

So, where does this leave us

Winning – an analogy- frank Dick Athletics coach and motivational speaker.

Making any change starts with a recognition or need to behave differently. Knowing what you need to improve
and what is needed to achieve it.

In the video from the link below Frank Dick talks about winning

Winning is being better today than you were yesterday everyday