HEALTH, SAFETY & WELLBEING


Q & A: BEN HAUGHTON


Tomorrow’s FM chats to Ben Haughton, Technical Director at Arco Professional Safety Services, about why skills fade has the potential to lead to increased risks to health and safety in high-risk industries.


Everyone has a fundamental human right to go to work each day and come home to their loved ones safely. Nonetheless, statistics show that in the last year the construction industry was hardest hit by fatal injuries (40), followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing (20) and manufacturing (15).


Ben Haughton, Technical Director at Arco Professional Safety Services, speaks out about the escalating dangers industries may face as businesses deal with the ongoing fall-out of COVID-19.


Which industries are in danger of becoming more susceptible to


workplace risks? Between April and June this year alone, over 32m working days were lost to COVID-19 related absences. In addition, redundancies and fluctuating guidelines have made it increasingly difficult for organisations to provide their workers with training. Movement restrictions, company policies and lockdown have all contributed to a reduction of training over the summer months.


“It’s vital that this training provides workers with the right balance of


knowledge and practical skills to be able to deliver their work safely.”


Businesses are doing their best to catch up but with the threat of a second wave and tighter restrictions coming into force, it is hard to see how they will keep up with training requirements. Reduced training and a reduction in task-based activity (those who have extended time in furlough) will result in skills fade. The possible consequences of this in the high risk industries of confined spaces and working at height are plain. If we are to maintain skill levels in industry, we need to look at other ways of achieving it.


How can businesses manage rising


threats to safety? Alongside contingency plans and ‘back to work’ responses, health and safety training must be boosted to


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ensure that a restructured workforce can cope with high- risk environments and inevitable skill gaps that can occur.


It’s vital that this training provides workers with the right balance of knowledge and practical skills to be able to deliver their work safely. It is all too tempting for companies to provide their workers with theory only training when social distancing and movement restrictions are in place however the shortfall in practical skills could have severe consequences.


This is not to say that there is no place for training in the virtual world, there is a balance to be struck where it is safe to do so. The workforce needs the confidence to manage their day-to-day tasks safely but also not to be exposed to the increasing risk of contracting COVID-19 by receiving training in the normal classroom setting. We’ve launched several video conference courses and we are developing VR tools to help organisations keep its workforce safe whilst also maintaining the recommended social distances during COVID-19.


How has COVID-19 impacted


training centres? We understand that managing health and safety risks can be complicated, time-consuming and demand a level of technical expertise, and resources, that businesses may not have internally. COVID-19 shouldn’t stop organisations reaching out for help, equally it doesn’t mean that training should stop. Providing practical skills is essential in high- risk industries and so we have adapted our centres to provide attendees with a safe learning environment and the reassurance they need to join critical training programmes.


We’ve introduced new precautions at all our training centres, such as pre-start COVID questionnaires, non- contact body temperature checks, staggered break times to minimise unnecessary people movement and mixing and the use of larger rooms equipped with enclosure screens to ensure adequate social distancing. Where the physical element is indispensable, in height rescue training, for example, we can still find ways to cut proximity and limit the time spent in close contact with trainers.


As a result of the pandemic has there been anything you’ve had


to do differently? There has been a stark increase in demand for all types of PPE for healthcare workers and all first line COVID-19


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