Promises, promises

Judith Hackitt, the new chair of the Health and Safety Commission, began her term of office this month by calling for more board-level engagement with and ownership of health and safety issues.

Lamenting the large number of deaths and injuries, Hackitt said: “To improve our safety record, we need strong and committed boardroom leadership that focuses on real causes of harm in the workplace and not trivia.”

Safety reps will be watching closely to see whether she steers the Commission towards legal duties on directors to make them accountable if their “leadership” on safety matters is inadequate.