In October 2007, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Institute of Directors (IoD) jointly published guidance for directors encouraging them to lead on health and safety in their organisations; the publication was entitled ‘Leading Health and Safety at Work: leadership actions for directors and board members’ (INDG417). Following the completion of a baseline study to assess awareness and impact of the guidance among directors/board members , the HSE commissioned Databuild to conduct qualitative research to explore:
- What directors/board members understand about the current legislative framework for health and safety.
- What directors/board members mean when they say they have taken action in the areas covered in the baseline study.
- Whether and how board level actions translate into action on the ‘shop floor’ and genuine improvements in health and safety.
- The impact of board level behaviour change from the perspective of health and safety managers.
- Whether there are opportunities to influence behaviour.