Evaluation of the Duty to Manage Asbestos
Sinclair A, Tyers C, Hunt W, Oakley J, Pearmain D, Savage J (IES), Bust P, Gibb A (Loughborough University)
Health and Safety Executive (HSE), March 2010

Exposure to asbestos is one of the major causes of occupationally related death from ill-health. To help protect workers from future exposure, the HSE has introduced an explicit Duty to Manage asbestos in non-domestic premises, by including this in the control of Asbestos Regulations (2002).

This research evaluates the impact of this duty so far. Specifically, the research aims to:

• establish levels of compliance with the Duty
• establish the extent to which compliance by dutyholders has brought about improved work practices among maintenance workers
• re-assess the assumptions made in the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) which accompanied the introduction of the Regulations about costs/benefits of the duty
• identify/investigate factors influencing dutyholders’ compliance with the Duty and examine any barriers to compliance
• determine the proportion of non-domestic and domestic rented premises which contain asbestos and the rate at which this is being removed.

The findings are based on a survey of 1,000 dutyholders, a survey of 500 maintenance workers, face-to-face interviews with dutyholders and maintenance workers, and 20 site visits.

[close]

Workplace Health Connect Pilot: Evaluation Findings
Tyers C, Lucy D, Carta E, Savage J (IES), Kossykh Y, Bailey Y (Frontier Economics)
Health and Safety Executive (HSE), March 2010

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Workplace Health Connect (WHC) pilot was launched in February 2006 and ran until February 2008. It was a free, no-obligation service which aimed to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with advice on workplace health issues in order to increase the level of healthy workplaces across England and Wales.

The pilot included an extensive evaluation of the service to inform the further development of the occupational health, safety and return to work (OHSR) model underpinning the design of this and other HSE pilots. The objectives for the evaluation were to:

• Assess the net impact of the service on the incidence and duration of occupationally related ill-health and injury, and to identify which model of support had the greatest impact.
• Assess the operation of the regional pilots, identify their costs and benefits, and perceived barriers to full use of service; also to assess the key lessons for improving the quality, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of OHSR support services in the future.
• Assess the operation of the national adviceline in the same way.

[close]

Work and Well-being provisions amongst SMEs
What are smaller employers doing to protect the health and welfare of their staff?
Tyers C, Carta E
Health and Safety Executive (HSE), March 2010

This research provides information on how smaller employers address the health and welfare needs of their staff.

Despite the importance of the small business sector in terms of UK employment, there is little that informs our understanding of how exactly such employers address the health and welfare needs of their workers. This research is an attempt to address this information gap. In addition, new HSE strategy sets out a specific goal which is to: adapt and customise approaches to help the increasing numbers of SMEs in different sectors comply with their health and safety obligations. The findings of this research should also help the HSE in meeting that goal.

[close]

National Strategic Skills Audit
Cox A et al.
UK Commission for Employment and Skills, March 2010

Draws on a number of data sources to identify current and emerging skills needs across the economy, with a particular focus on priority sectors to inform the Government's Skills Activism policy.

[close]

Involving Children and Young People in Improving Local Health Services
An Evaluation of the Impact of the engagement tool and lesson plan
Robertson-Smith G, Martin R
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHSI), March 2010

As part of its ‘Delivering Quality and Value Programme’ on Children and Young People’s Emergency and Urgent Care, the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement designed two products – an engagement tool and a lesson plan – to promote the involvement of young people. This should enable them to not only have a raised level of awareness about the variety of emergency healthcare options available to them but also to be involved in the planning, design and delivery of NHS services. Prototypes of these products were launched in November 2008. Working in partnership with ten NHS health systems, ten local secondary schools were asked to test the products through the existing curriculum.

This report is an evaluation of the prototype testing phase. It gathered first-hand feedback from students and from those involved in organising and/or running the lesson workshops.

[close]