Introduction to Fire Safety Management

3.2.3 Directors and senior managers
The Health and Safety Commission has identifi ed health 
and safety as a boardroom issue. The chairman and/or 
chief executive are seen as having a critical role to play 
in ensuring risks are properly managed. They further 
argue that those at the top of any organisation have a 
key role to play. In order to allow directors and senior 
managers to contribute to the HSC it is recommended 
that a director is given specifi c responsibilities for health 
and safety. These again will be detailed in the organisa-
tion section of the company’s health and safety policy.
Current authoritative guidance suggests that the 
‘boards of companies’ take the following fi ve actions:
1. 
The board needs to accept formally and publicly 
its collective role in providing safety leadership 
in its organisation
. Strong leadership is seen as 
being vital in delivering effective risk control. Every-
one should understand that the most senior man-
agement is committed to continuous improvement 
in safety performance.
2. 
All members of the board should accept their 
individual role in providing safety leadership for 
their organisation
. Board members are encour-
aged to ensure that their actions and decisions 
always reinforce the messages in the board’s safety 
policy statement. Any mismatch between board 
members’ individual attitudes, behaviour or deci-
sions and the organisation’s safety policy will under-
mine employees’ belief in the intentions of the board 
and will undermine good fi re and health and safety 
practice.
3. 
The board needs to ensure that all its decisions 
refl ect the organisation’s safety intentions, as 
stated in the policy statement
. Many business de-
cisions will have both fi re and health and safety im-
plications. It is particularly important that the safety 
ramifi cations of investment in new plant, premises, 
processes or products are taken into account as the 
decisions are made.
4.