IOSH Conference 2018: 4 key takeaways

September 17th and 18th saw the Cansford team decamp to Birmingham for a few days for the 2018 IOSH Annual Conference. Organised by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the two-day event featured a varied programme with topics that spanned risk management, the contribution of OSH to productivity, litigation and legislation, and more: areas with which our work in workplace drug and alcohol testing is closely aligned.

Before the event, we shared our thoughts on the talks not to be missed. But the insights we gained weren’t just from the talks: our learnings also came from other exhibitors, visitors to our stand, IOSH management and others.

The programme was packed: with four different tracks throughout the two days, there were so many more talks we’d have listened to if we’d had the time. But we got to as many talks as we could, and we took away plenty of learnings. Here are our top four.

The importance of company culture

Throughout the two days, every session we attended made it clear that creating the right culture is vital for implementing occupational safety & health initiatives. But what exactly is “the right culture”?

The common consensus at the IOSH conference was that it’s one of responsibility. From ITV’s summary of their detailed “Leading Risk” programme to Dame Judith Hackitt’s summary of her Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, the fact that a lack of ownership and responsibility at every level can lead to catastrophic outcomes was a key theme. We were also interested in IOSH Chief Executive Bev Messinger’s session on mental health in the workplace, which highlighted the importance of culture in tackling issues to benefit both the company, and affected employees and their families.

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On day two of the conference, Siemens’ EHS Head for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, Salman Khan, gave an insightful and buzzy breakfast session honing in on the importance of creating a culture where people felt safe to report incidents, referring to a study that demonstrated how people tend to adopt the work ethic and culture of their peer group. Interestingly, this is the case even when the culture is one of covering up problems.

Among the best attended talks of the event were those from Mark Gallagher on Formula One safety (including the death of Ayrton Senna), and Dominic Wigley on the devastating 2016 crash on The Smiler at Alton Towers. Both sessions told the story of incidents that led to significant culture shifts - but should it really take fatalities for the way things are done to change?

The launch of WORK 2022

IOSH used their 2018 conference as a launchpad for their new five-year WORK 2022 strategy: a strategy that sets out a vision of working together to “achieve a safer and healthier world of work”.

There are three broad aims to the strategy:

• Enhance the occupational safety and health profession
• Collaborate to build strategic partnerships
• Influence and strengthen impact globally

With over 2.3 million people globally losing their lives as a result of work-related illness or accidents each year - and many more incapacitated by pain, health problems or injuries - WORK 2022 has been set out to reduce these numbers. And where better to set out their stall than in a conference hall full of OSH professionals at their annual conference?

Where do health and wellbeing come in?

For our co-founder John Wicks, this year’s conference was more focused on concerns about work environments and safety than wellbeing and health: the Vision Zero concept, Grenfell and the built environment sector, fire protection and workplace fatalities, to name but a few.

We’d be interested to hear the thoughts of others, but we also perceived an interesting bias in terms of cause and effect. It may have been due to the focus on safety rather than wellbeing, but it was interesting to see that many sessions focused on the negative effects of work on health and how to prevent them, rather than the negative effects of health or wellbeing on work.

Varied views on drug and alcohol testing

We had a number of very positive conversations with visitors to our stand, with many looking for advice on introducing testing programmes. Some of these voiced frustration with the challenges of introducing drug and alcohol testing within their organisations, due to opposition from external parties.

This problem, however, doesn’t apply to everyone - we had conversations with around 10-12 people who were looking to meet with us quite quickly to set up drug policies/programmes, to monitor drug use, or to initiate conversations to map personas and/or pain points.

At the start of the month, we were at the International Forum for Drug and Alcohol Testing (IFDAT) in Dublin, where it was claimed that the percentage of people using drugs in a workplace setting is as high as 19% in the UK. In testing environments, however, this figure falls dramatically - our own figures suggest less than 4% overall. With these figures - and a perceived unwillingness to talk about drugs and alcohol - would educational material directed at employee organisations and trade unions be of use?

We thoroughly enjoyed our two days at the ICC, Birmingham, for the 2018 IOSH Conference: the calibre of the speakers was outstanding, the atmosphere was buzzing, and there was ample time for networking. We had some fascinating conversations with those who came over to our stand, and we’re excited to see how the occupational safety and health industry develops, with the launch of WORK 2022 and other initiatives.