HSENI produces new draft five-year Corporate Plan

Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland produces new draft Corporate Plan 2018–2023

THE Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland has produced a new draft Corporate Plan for the period 2018–2023. Whilst the draft plan cannot be finalized in the absence of a Minister for the Economy, the HSENI board has agreed the plan as a clear strategic direction for the organization.

Given the overwhelmingly positive support received at consultation, HSENI says it will use this draft document to set its priorities until the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive is restored, and a Minister for the Economy is in place to consider the draft.

In the Corporate Plan, HSENI has set out its mission ‘to work with others to reduce serious work-related injury and ill health’. Strategically, HSENI will focus on preventing the most serious workplace health and safety issues in high-risk industries and activities, taking a sector-based approach that specifies the challenges and priorities in key industry sectors, such as the extractive industries.

In addition, for a number of years HSENI has been increasing its activity and focus on occupational health issues. Given the potential short- and long-term costs to workers and to the Northern Ireland economy from ill health at work, the Corporate Plan represents a step change in activity in this key area, which is devastating many lives and costing the NI economy more than £238 million every year.

Over the five-year lifetime of this Corporate Plan, HSENI, working with others, plans to achieve the following three key outcomes:

• reduce serious and fatal accidents by 10% to no more than 50 per annum on average
• reduce major accidents by 10% to no more than 350 per annum on average
• reduce over three-day accidents by 5% to no more than 1,700 per annum on average.

HSENI say these three targets are both challenging and, in large part, dependent on the health and safety performance of other parties, which underscores the fact that the new Corporate Plan represents a shared vision between HSENI, Northern Ireland employers, and employees. 

A copy of the draft Corporate Plan 2018–2023 can be downloaded below.