HSE INDG417 (Leading health and safety at work)

The guidance in this leaflet sets out an agenda for the effective leadership of health and safety. 

It is for use by all directors, governors, trustees, officers and their equivalents in the private, public and third sector. It applies to organisations of all sizes.

This leaflet has been updated to reflect the move from 'Plan, Deliver, Monitor and Review', to 'Plan, Do, Check and Act'. This change has been made to be consistent with HSE's wider approach to health and safety management. The overall guidance remains broadly the same.

The Companies Act 2006

Part 10 (Chapter 2) of the Companies Act 2006 clearly details the responsibilities of company directors.

This includes the “Duty to exercise independent judgement” (173) and the “Duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence” (174).

Deloitte: The different types of directors

This document sets out to define the different types of company directors— Executive Directors, Non-executive Directors and Independent Directors.

Information includes:

• University of South Wales Senior Law Lecturer, Alexandra Dobson (excellent resource)

• IOSH Corporate Risk Essentials Risk Management Framework (Governance)

• ISO45001 & ISO31000 reference (Governance)

• Short case reviews of prosecutions under the CMCH Act 2007 (Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide)

• Institute of Internal Auditors Three lines Model

A construction boss has been jailed for "shocking failures" that resulted in two workmen falling to their deaths from a balcony during a luxury flat refit in Knightsbridge, west London.

Tomasz Procko, 22, and Karol Symanski, 29, died in an "entirely foreseeable and preventable" accident while hauling a sofa on to a first-floor balcony.

They died when 130-year-old railings supporting the sofa gave way in 2014.

Boss Martin Gutaj, 44, from Brentford, was jailed for 14 months.

Director struck off after exposing employees to dangerous working conditions.

The director of a waste transfer company has been found guilty of knowingly exposing employees to unsafe working conditions. As a result, they have been banned from hold a Director role.

In November 2018, the director allowed the continued use of a seriously damaged machine to be used on the waste transfer site, based in Blackburn. This was despite a previous conviction for transport related health and safety offences following a fatal accident in 2013, and a further enforcement action in 2017 for using a poorly maintained and damaged telehandler.