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The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has long campaigned on how good health and safety is good business and the 94-year-old safety charity is now taking its key principle from theory into practice at a special event.

Part of RoSPA’s “Meet the Experts” series, the half-day seminar on communicating the business benefits of a sound health and safety culture and management system is scheduled for next month. The event takes place on October 4, 2011, at the National Metalforming Centre, West Bromwich.

To remain competitive in today’s financial environment, it is vital to understand how much health and safety failure is costing - or could potentially cost - an organisation.

The keynote address will be given by Alan Spence, chief economist at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Kate Haire, team leader in the HSE’s Small, Medium and Low Risk Business Team, and will cover the real cost of accidents and ill health and the benefits of effective health and safety.

Leading safety professionals will showcase their tried and tested methods and strategies for calculating and communicating the cost of health and safety, as well as presenting relevant case studies.

Delegates will have the opportunity to hear the experts speak then to participate in discussion sessions to find out the best way to present this information to key decision makers and build the business case for safety and present it to key decision makers. Among the speakers will be Hugh Kempton, health and safety manager at CHEP and Andrew Denby, group health and safety manager at Tamdown Group Ltd, who will present case studies.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA’s occupational safety adviser, said: “When it comes to investing in health and safety, it is not just a case of doing the right thing; it is underpinned by a very strong business case. Furthermore, this business case is even stronger when times are tough, for a very simple reason: accidents and ill health caused by work, not to mention non-injury incidents which are much more numerous, impose massive - but largely unrecognised - costs on business.

“This event brings together expert knowledge and delegates’ experience to discuss the practicalities of communicating the health and safety business case.”

For more information about this event, supported by the HSE and the CPD Certification Service, visit www.rospa.com/events/businessbenefits or contact the events team by calling 0121 248 2089 or emailing events@rospa.com.