Institution news
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers organises a regular technical seminar for engineers to discuss the technical, legal and regulatory challenges and share strategies to overcome them.
Ahead of this year’s seminar, we caught up with the Ben Shirley at the Office of Road and Rail to get an advance of preview of what attendees can hear during his presentation and the key challenges facing ALARP practitioners from a regulatory perspective.
Q: Please briefly explain your role, involvement and experience with regards to safety and risk management
Ben Shirley (BS): I currently work as a Specialist Inspector of Risk for Great Britain’s Railway Health and Safety Regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). I act as a specialist in health and safety risk both internally to support ORR Health and Safety Inspectors and act the ORR lead on various industry risk groups. I am also involved in both ORR and wider industry policy and guidance setting on risk management.
Q: What is the top challenge facing engineers and risk managers when applying and demonstrating ALARP?
BS: There is always a perception that performance and reduction of financial expenditure is counterproductive to health and safety benefits. There is still a culture present that isn’t aware that getting health and safety right will often lead to better performance and reduction in costs.
Q: How has your approach to risk management changed in recent years?
BS: As a regulator, we do not have a responsibility for managing risk directly. However, we have done a lot of work on better identifying and modelling the risk profile of the railway industry to better allocate our inspection resource.
Q: What developments are going on in your industry which will change your approach in the future?
BS: We are continuing to improve our Risk Management Maturity Model (RM3) which in a process for determining the effectiveness of Health and Safety Management Systems and facilitating continual improvement of health and safety performance.
Q: What will you be presenting at the ALARP 2019 seminar and how will this benefit participants?
BS: My presentation split into three different risk topics. However, I want to draw attention primarily to the third part of my talk which focusses on how a Health and Safety Regulator understands and uses risk to take enforcement action to achieve legal compliance. This also includes an occupational health case study, to highlight the importance of considering health risk when discussing ALARP.
Q: Which other speakers and presentations are you looking forward to hearing at the forthcoming seminar?
BS: I’ve had the pleasure of hearing a few of the presenters speak previously (HS2, CAA and SaRS). They are all excellent and look forward to hearing them all again. If I had to pick, I would suggest Keith Miller of SaRS, as he presents on a very interesting and thought-provoking topic which provides a very different insight on previously established fundamentals.
Q: Why is it important for engineers and safety practitioners to come together and share best practice?
BS: This is an area that can sometimes appear very challenging and confusing. Practitioners should always seek to continually improve and my previous experience of the IMechE ALARP seminar is that it often provides very interesting, useful and important information on ALARP principles.
ALARP 2019: Risk Management for Engineering takes place on 12 September 2019 in Birmingham. The latest entry in this popular series of seminars, ALARP 2019 will provide safety practitioners with the opportunity to learn how to apply best practice to ensure compliance and manage evolving risks. This year's programme will examine methods for developing safety cases and practical examples of the application of ALARP, along with regulatory and legal perspectives. Case studies are drawn from a wide selection of industries, enabling attendees to learn from and network with a diverse range of peers, including:
- Civil Aviation Authority
- National Cyber Security Centre
- Office of Rail and Road
- Atkins.
For further event information and to book your place, please visit the event website at www.imeche.org/alarp.