Dale Ashford (NIFRS) - Radio Interview

Dale Ashford, Assistant Chief Fire Officer & Director of Safety Services for Northern Ireland, is also an active member of the Northern Ireland Branch.

We were delighted to hear Dale speak on U105 (Friday 20 April), urging members of our communities to "think about where you want your fire fighters to be – up mountains, or at their local stations ready to deal with genuine emergencies?"

Tackling wildfires often results in resource intensive operations, diverting fire crews and equipment from covering other incidents and potentially risking lives.

The current spell of dry, sunny weather following a mild winter means conditions are ripe for gorse fires to take hold and blazes broke out on Wednesday in the Mournes; on Black Mountain in Belfast, as well as the Ballymoney and Dunloy areas of County Antrim.

"Remember, we may not be the target, but it’s you and your local community who are the victims." Dale Ashford, NIFRS.

If you would like to know more about Dale’s stark warning over wildfire consequences, then please click here.

HSENI Outline of Corporate Plan and Legal Update

On Monday 19 September IOSH linked up with NISG and together they hosted a joint event at the King’s Hall, Belfast.

This meeting was undoubtedly an outstanding success and the topic certainly sparked off sufficient interest resulting in an outstanding attendance, with well over 100 people in the audience at the King’s Hall.

Wilson Lambe, NISG Honorary President (also IOSH committee member) welcomed everyone to the meeting and after providing the emergency procedure information, he acknowledged the great work and outstanding contribution of both speakers, namely Messes Dermot Breen and Bryan Monson, both current and serving Deputy Chief Executives for the Health & Safety Executive (NI).

PowerPoint presentations will be made available on our web site – please refer to Event History.

In closing Valerie Robinson, IOSH (NI) Branch Secretary thanked both speakers for on everyone’s behalf, stating the presentations had been most informative and interesting. Everyone was reminded of forth coming events for the Northern Ireland Safety Group and the Institution of Occupational Health & Safety.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

NISG - Monday 17 October 2011.  0830- 1600 hours.  Ramada Hotel, Shaw’s Bridge.  NI’s Premier Employee Health & Wellness Event. The Wellness Revolution - Creating a Healthy Workforce.

IOSH - Tuesday 8 November 2011.  1330 – 15.30 hours. Ballymena Showground’s. John Armstrong CEF and Ken Logan, HSENI Chief Inspector (Construction).

23 June 2010

President-elect, Stephen Granger attended the Northern Ireland branch AGM and delivered a presentation on 8 June 2010. He discussed the following topics:

• The IOSH Strategy
• Current events at IOSH
• Changes and improvements for branches and groups
• Competence and a regulated profession
• The IOSH Benevolent Fund

The presentation is available in its entirety here.

17 March 2010

In theory, the rules and regulations that relate to safety in the workplace are set to highlight the benefits of a safer environment and offer clear guidance in attaining this to both employers and employees. In practical terms, however, these do not always meet a steadfast culture that embraces health and safety processes at work.

Harmful health and safety cultures in the workplace are becoming the object of increased scrutiny in a bid to improve attitudes among the workforce. Whilst in a recent report funded by the Health and Safety Executive it emerged that a safe workplace makes “sound commercial sense”, the phrase ‘health and safety’ is still seen as too generic and therefore misunderstood to the point of negligence. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, perceived rates for accidents at work are lower than actual rates, where workers believe 3,000 people were badly injured or killed in 2009 while the true figure, we are told, reaches 137,000.

Even more worryingly, Rob Strange, Chief Executive of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), recently wrote in the Independent to warn of the dangers of treating health and safety as a joke, one that has been created, and often made up, by the “myth-making formulas” of some press. Such attacks, he fears, will encourage the public to see health and safety as more a nuisance than a requirement to protect life, becoming “something ‘done to’ them, rather than owned by them, requiring their input and responsibility to make it work”.

In a bid to improve workplace attitudes, the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) is organising a Conference on the perception of health and safety issues in the workplace. The Conference, called “Changing Attitudes – Changing Cultures”, will take place on Wednesday 21 April 2010 and will cover such topics as the measures you can take to help change attitudes to health and safety in the workplace, behavioural safety and health and wellbeing at work. Distinguished speakers will review key issues by demonstrating through case studies and presentations how it is possible to manage culture shift effectively and showing how to apply the correct risk management techniques to your own working environment.

This Conference is organised through a partnership of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), the Northern Ireland Safety Group (NISG), the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (NIC/ICTU) and Castlereagh Borough Council representing the District Councils of Northern Ireland.

Tickets cost £100 and include lunch, refreshments and free parking at the venue, the Ramada Hotel, Shaw’s Bridge, Belfast. For more information, please refer to the HSENI Invitation, which includes a programme and location of the venue or visit the HSENI website.

The Northern Ireland Branch is giving away two free tickets to attend the HSENI Conference on 21 April 2010 at the Ramada Hotel in Belfast.

To enter, you must be an IOSH member. Please email your name and membership number to Sue Phillips at IOSH.

Good luck!