24 August 2004 - HSE Report on Hard to Reach Groups' Awareness of Health and Safety
A project
undertaken by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), set up in January 2004,
was completed in order to help the HSE achieve successful interventions with
the "hard to reach groups" of people and how best to target them. As a
result, a report has now been published.
The report resulted from discussions at an SCS event, in a bid to find quick
methods for the improvement of the way the HSE target the "hard to reach
groups".
There are a range of groups, classified as "hard to reach" within the
report, including:
-
young males (this group is at a 40% higher risk than older male workers, after allowing for occupations and other job characteristics)
-
children and young people (the HSE says that young people have the lowest awareness of health and safety, especially the unskilled and unemployed)
-
small businesses (the HSE specifically mentions those businesses without links to trade associations as being difficult to reach)
-
contractors
-
workers who are peripatetic or itinerant, such as security staff, cleaners, and agency workers
-
workers with disabilities
-
ethnic minorities.
At the
moment, the effectiveness of the new interventions do not provide sufficient
information for the HSE to be able to be more effective and efficient in
targeting these vulnerable groups most at risk and an avoidance of
duplication is required.
The report - Successful interventions with hard to reach groups can
be found by clicking this link:
Successful interventions with hard to reach groups
Article by Alexandra Johnston
