Looking at the recent tragedy in Bangladesh, where over 1,000 people have lost their lives, it makes you wonder what difference would have made if there had been a similar regulator in the country (i.e. the equivalent of our HSE).

Looking back over the last 40 years, health & safety has moved a long way and as a result there are a lot less serious and fatal accidents that occur in the UK so love them or hate them, the HSE has made a massive difference.  We may not always like the decisions they make and the way they work but having a tough regulator has played a key role in achieving one of the safest countries to work.

That said, we still see too many people losing their lives at work and it is clear that without having someone looking over the shoulder of businesses then some may still be taking shortcuts that fail to properly consider the safety implications. It makes you wonder what the senior management at Primark are currently thinking, given their association to the Bangladesh tragedy.

It’s all too easy to look at keeping costs down but ‘cheap’ often means not following the rules and therefore the opportunity for things to go wrong.  However, even with a strong regulator they can`t be everywhere and it’s important that a business has access to good advice.

It’s unimaginable that such an event could occur in the UK but any serious incident would impact negatively on a business.  Therefore I suggest you need to ask whether a bad event could happen in your business and if so, determine what you need to do to prevent it from happening.