British Safety Council Conference

Board responsibility and director leadership: what the law requires, and what the evidence shows about the benefits of top level leadership

Event date: Thursday 12th February 2009 from 09:00 - 12:30

Venue: Hilton London Euston hotel located in the heart of London just five minutes walk from Euston Station

Website: www.hilton.co.uk/euston

Keynote speakers: Nina Wrightson OBE, Chairman of the Trustees of the British Safety Council and Sir Bill Callaghan, former Chair of the Health and Safety Commission

Agenda and timings

• 9.00-9.30 - Registration and light breakfast
• 9.30-9.30 - Welcome and introduction
  Brian Nimick, Chief Executive, British Safety Council
• 9.35-9.55 - Keynote address on the vital role of director leadership
  Sir Bill Callaghan, former Chair of the Health and Safety Commission
• 9.55-10.15 - Board directors and senior managers legal responsibilities for health and safety
  Oliver Campbell, Barrister, Henderson Chambers
• 10.15-10.35 - The legal implications for employers of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and likely impact
  Mark Tyler, Solicitor, Partner, Shook Hardy & Bacon International LLP
• 10.35-10.55 - Tea/coffee break and networking
• 10.55-11.35 - Board responsibility and director leadership in action - two directors share their organisation?s experiences and achievements
  Shaun Davis, Group Director of Safety, Health & Environment, Rok plc
  Peter McCormick, Network Services and Safety Director, CE Electric UK
• 11.35-12.20 - Getting boards and directors actively involved and taking responsibility - the way forward
  Dan Shears, Health, Safety and Environmental Research & Policy Officer, GMB union
  Professor Philip James, Professor of Employment Relations, Oxford Brookes University
  Nina Wrightson OBE, Chairman of the Trustees of BSC
• 12.20-12.35 Final questions, conclusions and closing remarks
  Brian Nimick

The Event

The evidence is clear. Organisations where Boards of Directors lead from the top on health and safety are far more likely to be more successful in effectively controlling the risk of work-related injury or ill-health to their workers than those where directors ignore or downgrade risks to the health and safety of their workers. Is this due to a lack of understanding of the responsibilities we all face, whether we are directors, senior managers or corporations? What is the likely impact of the Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007, now that it has been in force for several months?

The British Safety Council is bringing together some of the top experts in this field to give you a chance to meet them and ask questions about this important issue and how it affects you and your organisation. For the first time, the BSC panel will bring together leading lawyers practising in the field of health and safety law; directors from organisations where top level leadership is practised, and a trade union health and safety officer with experience of working with top level directors and managers to drive health and safety improvements.

The conference, which will be chaired by Brian Nimick, BSC's Chief Executive, comes at a time when health and safety now features prominently on many boardroom agendas. More and more boards of directors of organisations, of all sizes across all sectors, appreciate that risks concerning ill-health and injury to their workers need to be properly controlled and that they have a key role in making it happen. The consequence of directors not taking responsibility and providing leadership could contribute to the serious injury or ill-health of their workers, major business dislocation and, possibly, criminal prosecution and civil proceedings for damages.

But as well as clear business benefits and the avoidance of legal action there is a moral imperative too ? and that is to send workers home at the end of the working day healthy and safe.

Expert speakers include:

• Nina Wrightson OBE, Chairman of the Trustees of BSC, Past President of IOSH and former Chair of RoSPA's National Health and Safety Committee
• Sir Bill Callaghan, former Chair of the Health and Safety Commission
• Oliver Campbell, Barrister, Henderson Chambers
• Shaun Davis, Group Director of Safety, Health & Environment, Rok plc
• Professor Philip James, Professor of Employment Relations, Business School, Oxford Brookes University and adviser to the Commons' Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry of 2007/08 into the role of HSE
• Peter McCormick, Network Services and Safety Director, CE Electric UK
• Dan Shears, Health, Safety and Environmental Research & Policy Officer, GMB union
• Mark Tyler, Partner, Shook Hardy & Bacon International LLP
• Neal Stone, Head of Policy & Public Affairs, British Safety Council

Why Should You Attend?

The conference will bring together a number of speakers' expert in this field to:

• share their knowledge and expertise of the developing law concerning the health and safety responsibilities of corporate entities, employers, directors and senior managers including the likely impact of the Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007
• consider the evidence concerning the tangible benefits of directors taking responsibility and providing leadership on health and safety
• share their experience as directors of the measures their organisations have put in place to provide leadership from the top
• identify effective techniques to assist directors and senior managers engaging effectively and successfully on health and safety with their workers
• consider the case for and against new positive duties on all directors to ensure the health and safety of their workforces

Who Should Attend?

• Directors and senior managers from businesses, public sector and third sector organisations
• Risk managers
• Health and safety managers
• Health and safety practitioners
• Trade union safety representatives
• Business consultants and advisers
• Health and safety policy makers and regulators
• British Safety Council member organisations

Registration price:

The registration fee for the event will be £150 for BSC members and £200 for non-members. However book before 23 January 2009 and you will save on the registration fee! It will be £75 for BSC members and £100 for non-members. All prices are VAT exclusive.

Contact Details

For further information regarding any of the British Safety Council Events & Award Schemes contact:

Events Team
Communications Division
British Safety Council
70 Chancellors Road
London W6 9RS
United Kingdon

Telephone: 020 8741 1231

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