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Effective and strong leadership needed for improved workplace safety

Industrial

Health and safety management at workplaces in the GCC are in need of strong leaders, opined Richard Evens, commercial director of the British Safety Council

At the recently-concluded 3rd Annual HSSE Forum in Oman, Evens felt that directors and managers must be actively involved in engagement and deployment of best practices at workplaces across the GCC.

Specifying the International Labour Organisation’s research, which said that an excess of four per cent of the annual global GDP is lost to occupational injury and disease, the British Safety Council director felt that necessary training and development were decisive to good health and safety.

“A general approach includes directors and managers taking responsibility and providing leadership; actively encouraging workers at all levels to get involved in identifying hazards and managing risks,” he said.

To support his viewpoint, Evens pointed out how GCC member organisations of the British Safety Council were allowing staff to attend training and health and safety meetings and publicised the results of good health and safety performance among the workforce, thereby fostering a healthy workplace safety culture.