RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

August 18 , 2005
FREE SAFETY ADVICE FOR SCOTTISH BUSINESSES

Businesses and organisations in Scotland are being offered free health and safety advice.

RoSPA experts will be giving updates and guidance on key issues facing health and safety professionals at a special breakfast briefing being staged from 9-10am at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow, on Thursday, September 29.

On the agenda will be information about new noise regulations, health and safety auditing and workplace transport.

Legally acceptable noise levels will reduce significantly under next February’s new Control of Noise at Work Regulations. These will mean existing assessments will have to be revisited, especially as an estimated 170,000 people in the UK suffer deafness, tinnitus or other ear conditions as a result of exposure to excessive noise at work. The briefing will tell employers what they need to do to tackle the problem.

Health and safety auditing is one of the most important tools to help reduce accidents. Advice will be given on building an effective business case for auditing so that organisations do not miss out.

Every year approximately 70 people die in onsite workplace transport accidents, making this the second biggest cause of accidents in the workplace. Delegates will learn how these accidents can be prevented.

The briefing will take place before the second day of the RoSPA Scotland Safety and Health at Work Congress 2005, sponsored by National Semiconductor. The theme is ‘Raising Standards, Embedding Excellence’ and the event will feature a range of high profile speakers (see www.rospa.com/scotlandcongress ).

The congress programme will offer opportunities to examine: ways in which ‘higher performers’ can reach out to influence safety standards across Scotland; the challenge of publicly accounting for performance; how to achieve real partnership with the workforce; and how to develop operational capacity to investigate accidents and embed lessons learned.
There will also be a strong focus on putting health at the heart of health and safety management.