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A number of approaches to manage and promote health and safety have been developed and implemented by various stakeholders. A few examples of such initiatives are provided below.

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4.2.1 The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS)

CHAS is a form of pre-accreditation for suppliers, predominantly used in the Construction sector (Fidderman, 2007) though also used in jobs ranging from care services to demolition contractors, designers and consultants in the UK (The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme, n.d). Set up in 1997, in a collaboration between health and safety procurement professionals and the Association of London Government (ALG), CHAS has founder member status with the HSE supported Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) and is certified to ISO9001 and ISO14001 standards (The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme, n.d).

The scheme’s purpose is to reduce duplicated safety applications for both suppliers and buyers and save time and resources in the supply chain when contractors are aiming to demonstrate competence to potential clients/buyers in the first stage of Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations criteria. Once the supplier has achieved compliance, they are approved to work for all CHAS buyers. In addition, CHAS provides suppliers with information about any weaknesses in their safety management and gives guidance on how they can improve (The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme, n.d).

There is also a version for organisations with less than five employees which reflects the revised CDM Regulations. This differs from the standard version in that, by law, policy and arrangements do not have to be in writing, though firms are still required to demonstrate competence to a potential client and are, like larger firms, required to make provision for competent advice. In addition, tailored versions are available for CDMC and designers that are slanted towards assessing training and qualifications (Fidderman, 2007).

4.2.2 Making the Market Work (MTMW)

A scheme by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), Making the Market Work provides trade associations and trade bodies with guidance about the kind of best practice employer liability insurers would like to see member firms adopt (Fidderman, 2007). To be in the scheme, organisations must adhere to the following stipulations: be members of the trade association’s health and safety scheme; meet the recognised health and safety standard and have an up-to-date policy; an assessment tool; training; and collection of statistics. The Better Regulation Executive (2008) also notes that duty holders have to demonstrate they have met HSE guidance in addition to meeting minimum standards. Once the assessment process is complete, the ABI sends details of the trade association scheme to its entire Employers’ Liability providing members, with the decision to offer discount or not made by the individual insurer. There are no mathematical mechanisms in place for risk-based premiums and no guarantee members will receive a discount (Wright et al., 2005).

The British Printing Industry Federation’s (BPIF) health and safety ‘health check’ scheme was the first trade association scheme approved under the Making the Market Work initiative (Fidderman, 2007). The health check is a self-report questionnaire which covers 22 areas, each of which comprises 10 sections. After completion, the applicant’s answers generate a report which is compared with OSH legislation and industry good practice, and makes recommendations for actions. An applicant receives full marks for best practice and legal compliance, 75% for legal compliance only and 50% for best practice only, with the answers in each area ranked. The check is performed annually which allows member companies to revisit insurers annually to demonstrate improvement (Fidderman, 2007). The BPIF has a block insurance arrangement with the Royal Sun Alliance, where a score of 70% generates a 10% reduction on the overall premium. The health check is based solely on the applicant’s answers given during the BPIF visit and no attempt is made to verify these, the only exception being when the health check is part of a government funded training contract. In these cases “essential” items are audited (Fidderman, 2007).

4.2.3 OHSAS 18001 (2007)

OHSAS 18001 is a standard that describes the requirements for an organisation’s OSH management system. It can be used for certification/registration and/or self-declaration purposes. Fidderman (2007) summarises the main requirements of OHSAS 18001 as follows: policy; planning (hazard identification, risk assessment and determining controls); implementation and operation (including

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resources; appointment of a senior manager responsible for OSH; competence, training and awareness; communication, participation, consultation and, and representation; and emergency preparedness); checking (performance monitoring, incident investigation and internal audit).

BSI states that in the 2007 version there is the much greater emphasis on health rather than just safety, greater alignment to ISO 14001:2004, and improved compatibility with ISO 9001:2000. These improvements enable organisations to develop integrated management systems. An organisation may wish to demonstrate conformity with the standard to make a self-determination and self-declaration about their OSH management system; to seek confirmation of the said self-declaration by an external party to the organisation; to seek certification/registration of its OSH management system by an external organisation; or to seek confirmation of its conformance by parties who are interested in the organisation’s business (e.g. customers) (Fidderman, 2007).

4.2.4 The Management Standards for Work-related Stress

The Management Standards were developed by the HSE in 2004 and are a form of guidance developed to assist employers, employees and their representatives manage and reduce levels of work-related stress (Mackay, Cousins, Kelly, Lee & McCaig, 2004). The HSC decided to address this issue through soft-regulation in the form of guidance (HSE, n.d. b). Therefore, although the Standards reflect the legislative framework of the HSWA (which requires UK employers to secure the health (including mental health), safety and welfare of employees while at work) and the MHSWR (which require employers to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of significant health and safety risks, including the risk of stress-related ill health arising from work activities, and take measures to control that risk) the Standards are not legally enforceable (Mackay et al., 2004).

Six key areas of work design are included in the Standards that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and well-being, lower productivity, and increased sickness absence (HSE, 2007c): job demands, control, support from management and peers, relationships at work, clarity of role and organisational change. The methodology of the Standards involves each of the six areas having a threshold (expressed as a percentage) and an accompanying platform statement ‘the states to be achieved’ for each standard. This approach allows organisations to gauge their performance and to encourage continuous improvement with meeting the threshold criteria indicating that an organisation’s management practices conform to good practice with regard to preventing the occurrence of work-related stress (Cousins et al., 2004).

On the basis of the case study analysis of 15 stakeholder initiatives, including 15 stakeholder interviews, conducted in the second stage of the research, six key thematic areas emerged in relation to the policy development process of these initiatives. These included Drivers behind initiative development, Influences on initiative type, Constraints on the initiative, Challenges around the initiative, Success Facilitators, and Success Indicators. These are described in the following sections and substantiated by the research findings (see also Annex 2 for a summary).