Moving the Goal Posts in Health and Safety

Introduction

On one of my last Inspections as HM Specialist Inspector (Human Factors Engineering), I was asked the following question: “What does the regulator actually want?”  It was asked with some exasperation.  The beleaguered Operations Manager said that the regulator (in this case the COMAH Competent Authority) was constantly shifting the goal posts.  “Why can’t you just say what you want and stick to it?”  Well, it’s a good question, and one that never fails to confuse me.  So as I hang up my HSE hard hat, I thought I would have one last go at trying to answer it.

The Human Factors Operational Delivery Guide

In the first place, let me try and explain why the question confuses me.  The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) set out the benchmark standard for Human Factors in Major Hazards in 2016 in the Human Factors Operational Delivery Guide (HFODG).  It’s now 2022 and on the face of it, the standard they set out in 2016 remains the same 6 years later. HFODG is currently being reviewed and updated on the basis of industry feedback that it wasn’t informative enough about Organisational Factors.  Other than adding information on Topic 6, any changes to the rest of the document are minor and aimed at increasing clarity. 

The HFODG was not invented from thin air either.  Instead, it collated the standards already being used by HSE Inspectors in one place.  It was aimed primarily at clarifying for Inspectors how we should set about regulating Human Factors in Major Hazards.  A secondary aim was to make this clear to everyone involved, including industry.  In this it succeeded.  The standards weren’t new even then, although they may have been new to some operators!  So, in one sense the HSE have said what they want, and they have stuck to it, since COMAH 1999.

Adapting Health and Safety Regulation

However, I think many people fail to grasp the essential nature of Health and Safety Regulation in the UK.  In a very real sense, the goal posts of regulation in the UK are constantly moving.  This is because the Health and Safety At Work etc Act 1974 is goal-setting legislation. All the regulations made under it are, in principle, goal-setting too.  The legislation does not say ‘do it this way’.  It says instead, do it as healthily and safely as is reasonably practicable.  The goal posts move because what is reasonably practicable changes with research, learning and innovation.  The more good practice is adopted by industry, the more reasonable and practicable it becomes.  So yes, since 1999 the goal posts have moved because Industry has learned so much since then.    

So what does the regulator want?  The regulator wants Industry to take the lead and set the standards.  The regulator wants Operators to engage in continuous improvement, learning from what goes wrong and what goes right. The regulator wants Operators looking for new answers to old problems.  The regulator wants to leave site thinking “I learnt something new today”. But most of all, the regulator wants people and the environment to be safe from Major Accidents … don’t we all?

Human Factors Expertise Ltd can help Operators understand the requirements of the Human Factors Operational Delivery Guide: check out our training course What the Regulator Wants. We also provide help and support on any of the topics contained within the Guide.