Aim for the top

摘要

Using the business case and the bottom line with directors and senior managers as motivators for good health and safety has, rightly, become an established part of the role of the practitioner (see Jonathan Edwin's article on this very subject, elsewhere in this issue). The case for good leadership to include health and safety is equally compelling. It provides an opportunity for practitioners to challenge and support directors and senior managers on their own turf and to tap into their motivation to be good leaders. In addition, packaging health and safety within the context of leadership's primary focus on strategy, overall policy, good governance and initiating change means some of the traditional barriers to the subject can be broken down, and concerns about the need for legal and expert knowledge overcome. There is still some way to go in many organisations but it's not just a case of "more training" - there are many other opportunities that practitioners can make the most of, and, hopefully, this article has provided some food for thought for those who would like to explore the subject further.