News 08 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk June/July 2024 The most important responsibility a company has is to ensure that its people and environment are kept safe from harm. This is not just simply a box ticking exercise to comply with the law and, avoid potential prosecution, but a moral imperative to ‘do the right thing’ by employees and the working environment. Effective environmental, health & safety (EHS) performance within an organisation comes from the top. Senior leaders have both collective and personal responsibility for EHS and developing a positive workplace culture from the top down. Put simply, EHS initiatives that don’t have the full and active support of senior leaders who own it and drive it through the organisation are doomed to failure. Rather than looking at EHS initiatives as ‘we’ll send you on a training course’ the best companies take a far more holistic approach which looks at a training programme at three levels and, which benefits people at all levels of the organisation. These are leadership, competency and compliance. Leadership ensures that any senior management team has a buy in and becomes an asset rather than an obstacle to organisational change. To get your senior team on board you need to demonstrate why they should care and then give them the tools to do something about it, not just off-the-shelf training. Additionally, leaders need to make tangible commitments and measure success. Competence is described as having “sufficient training & experience or knowledge & other qualities” which comes from a variety of sources. For EHS practitioners this is likely to comes from qualifications provided by organisations such as the Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) or the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA). Both of these organisations provide resources and tools, research and knowledge sharing along with training and qualifications to meet the real-world needs of employees. Finally, compliance training?is a crucial type of training needed to inform employees of an organisation’s regulations, policies, or adherence to laws. Compliance training is often mandatory for employees because it serves to protect an organisation’s values, policies, and commitment to the law. Such training could include data and cyber security, data protection and GDPR, basic health and safety training, environmental management, and anti-bullying. By following these three guiding principles, organisations can make a very real difference to their workplace culture and, not just keep their people and environment safe from harm, but make a real difference to their performance. By MAKE UK chief executive, Stephen Phipson MAKE uk - the manufacturers’ organisation monthly news comment Britain’s manufacturers are calling on the next Government to match their ambition for growth with a bold economic vision that puts the importance of the economy across every Ministerial portfolio. Publishing its manifesto Make UK believes that the centrepiece of this vision must be a bold, long-term industrial strategy announced within the first hundred days, along with four other specific policy measures. In particular, this strategy must embrace a skills revolution throughout the education and training system to provide future talent, as well as the upskilling and re-training of the current workforce. According to Make UK, such a vision is essential given the huge changes in the policy landscape, the need to shock the UK economy out of its anaemic holding pattern and, take advantage of the opportunities provided by rapidly accelerating technologies, investment in infrastructure and the move to a greener economy. A policy framework for the economy beyond 2030 is also essential to counter the march of the US and China in green technologies in particular, as well as the need to make the UK as attractive a destination as possible for investment given the rate at which other countries are gearing up. The five specific measures Make UK is calling for in the first hundred days of the next Government are: 1. Announce a long-term modern Industrial Strategy to underpin all economic policymaking which has cross Government commitment. This should be backed by the re-introduction of an Industry Strategy Council and a new Cabinet Office backed Committee to ensure the implementation of the Strategy across Government. 2. Align the UK CBAM (Carbon Border adjustment Mechanism) with the EU CBAM in terms of timescale and design to provide a level playing field with the EU. 3. Commence a root-and-branch review of the Apprenticeship Levy as a funding mechanism, as well as the wider apprenticeship system. 4. Re-establish an updated, modern Manufacturing Advisory Service. 5. Establish a mechanism for ongoing and active consultation with industry to decide where it is appropriate to maintain alignment with EU regulatory changes or, where opportunities for divergence might apply. Commenting, Make UK CEO, Stephen Phipson, said: “The policy landscape in which manufacturers operate has changed significantly in recent years and more changes are yet to come, from the transition to net zero to rapidly accelerating and game-changing technological change. To keep up with these changes and, take advantage of the many opportunities ahead, not to mention the threats from other countries we need a vision from the next Government which recognises the scale of these challenges.” According to Make UK, the overall economic vision should be driven by ten key themes which are included in the manifesto. These are: 1. A long-term and robust industrial strategy 2. Maximising the opportunities of a net zero economy 3. Grow and develop future manufacturing talent 4. Retrain and upskill the current workforce 5. Unlock innovation, support commercialisation and accelerate digital adoption and automation 6. Create the right conditions for business to invest 7. Boost manufacturing exports across the globe (anything about EU barriers?) 8. Invest in physical and digital infrastructure 9. Build the Future Factory with AI 10. Make supply chains more resilient First 100 days of new Government must see five key commitments
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