New Honorary Vice President welcomed

27 May 2011

IOSH welcomed its former chief executive, John Barrell, as a new Honorary Vice President (HVP) yesterday (Thursday 26 May), during a ceremony at the House of Lords, London.

The Institution’s President, Steve Granger, presented the accolade during the Honorary Vice Presidents’ Lunch, which was also the setting for the launch of IOSH’s latest campaign, Li£e Savings. The campaign urges businesses and the Government to recognise the billions that could be ploughed back into the UK economy with better health and safety management.

Mr Barrell, who became IOSH’s Chief Executive in 1978, said: “To be named one of the Institution’s honorary vice presidents feels like a real mark of recognition for how important my time with the organisation was, acknowledging the impact that the things we put into action then have had on health and safety today. 

“It’s also been great to see and catch up with so many familiar faces from my IOSH days, so the whole event I think has been a huge success.”

Mr Granger added: “It is with great pleasure that I welcome our new honorary vice president, John Barrell, who helped with the changes that resulted in IOSH being the success it is today.”

Upon inaugurating the HVP, Mr Granger addressed guests, speaking about the central role the Government should play in highlighting value of health and safety to the business community. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger followed, urging professional organisations in the field to work together to make a bigger impact.

Mr Granger said: “Our national agenda is dominated by cost cutting and with this in mind, we have to ask whether moral responsibility alone is a sufficiently compelling argument on its own to make the business world see the value of safety and health.”

Following a survey of businesses in the run up to the launch of Li£e Savings, IOSH found that health and safety was second to last in their list of areas for investment to improve prospects. Less than half saw health and safety as one of the three crucial elements for improvements during the economic upturn.

In reaction to this, Mr Granger added: “We believe businesses and Government are missing a trick, because when a healthy, safe workforce is at the heart of a business plan, the benefits are far reaching. We know this because we have examples of companies that have saved millions through putting this into action.

“We also want Government to play its part in encouraging better health and safety management, at the same time ensuring that its austerity measures don’t cause more accidents or ill-health, ballooning costs in the process. We also want to see it remove tax disincentives to help employers get employees back to work quicker, and for sensible, risk intelligence to become a part of the national curriculum.”