Narrative Reporting Made Compulsory for Companies
Success of a company is not only dependent on monetary gains, but also on its ability to fulfil the health and safety requirements at workplace. To make the corporate sector accountable, the government of
On the recent decision of the government, Edward Davey, the business minister, stated that although, the
There are three main objectives of the government. Firstly, improve the quality of narrative reporting by focussing on social and environmental issues. Secondly, encourage participation of shareholders for upgrading the performance of the company. Thirdly, bring consistency in the requirements of corporate reporting to lessen the regulatory burden. The government is ready to adopt both regulatory and non-regulatory approaches to achieve these goals.
TUC Head of Safety, Hugh Robertson, stated that the mandatory narrative reporting assumes significance because the voluntary requirements are insufficient. The government wants to know, whether the companies comply by the health and safety laws or not. The company report should be genuine about their internal policies, and regulatory action, if any, taken against them for violation. This in turn would help the companies look at the flaws and help to bring a change in its policies to ensure safety of its workers. Therefore, the concept of narrative reporting is a positive step.
Employers have a duty of care towards ensuring health and safety of the workers and members of the public; Courses, leading to the award of the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health, can be of benefit to organisations in providing the knowledge to manage safely and effectively in compliance with both the organisation’s policy and best practice in health and safety. See NEBOSH e-learning – for information on a web-based training course accredited by the National Examination Board for Occupational Safety and Health.