Duty of Care

Duty-of-Care has been on my mind a lot lately. Why? Because all around me I see continuing decline in the ability of companies to excercise their duty of care.

As a HSE Practitioner I spent a lot of time in international roles and as such I had a lot of contact with International SOS and whenever I have faced the dreaded 'Duty-of-Care' dillema I always seemed to end up on their doorstep, which was always a fine experience by the way.

So, firstly, just 2 comments to build the bridges.

1. I am currently studying again and in those studies which are very focussed on the Dutch Health and Safety system I am really missing the absolute clarity on Duty-of-Care, infact, it is all about compliance, and;
2. A major change in Dutch SEVESO legislation recently has got me concerned

So, browsing through the SOS-International site this morning, looking for inspiration, I came across the paper in the link below.

On page 7 of the paper there is a beautiful illustration of key drivers of change in my profession.

The one driver that immediately flies out at me is '53% Industry Best Practice Compliance'.

A penny dropped for me. In my studies and daily work this is the thing that is hurting at the moment.

Previously best practice compliance was a thing for ISO 14001 and SEVESO businesses.

In the EU now it is everybody's business.

An example of where this can be seen is recent major changes in Dutch Seveso Legislation.

SEVESO or COMAH legislation in the Netherlands used to be captured under what was known as BRZO. Since 1 January this year BRZO as we new it is gone, assimilated into new legislation that I am furiously trying to read up on. This has got me seriously concerned about the Competent Authority (Bevoegd Gezag) and it's status in the future.

In order to understand your duties around major accident prevention, in the Netherlands, you now need to get up to speed on the new enviromental act which is called 'Besluit Activiteiten Leefomgeving' or BAL.

This combined with the previous ARIE updates indicates a massive change in how Health and Safety is to be managed in the Netherlands.

All this is why I ended up on the doorstep of SOS-International again this morning.

According to what I see, and linked to the Energy Transition, recent and upcoming changes in the EU are heralding in a new social system and that has huge implications for everybody. Not least us safety practitioners.

How will this impact on your role as a safety practitioner now and the future? Good point to go reflect on. Study the SOS white paper and have a plan.

B=f(PE)

Have a safe rest of your week.