Championing health, safety and wellbeing for over 60 years
British Safety Council has been trusted for over 60 years to champion safer workplaces and improve health, safety and wellbeing standards for organisations across the globe.
Since its foundation in 1957, we have campaigned tirelessly to protect workers from accidents, illness and unsafe conditions, and played a decisive role in the political process that has led to adoption of landmark safety legislation in the UK. The efforts of our founder, James Tye, led directly to the ground-breaking 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, as well as the introduction of car seat belts.
James Tye was ahead of his time regarding the importance of workplace wellbeing. Back in the 1980s he recognised that workplace stress was increasingly damaging peoples’ health and wellbeing and he founded the British Wellness Council to raise awareness on how to stay physically and mentally healthy. Today we recognise and promote the importance of health, safety and wellbeing though our new flexible Being Well Together programme – designed to be a one stop shop to help organisations support their workers’ wellbeing.
British Safety Council is a trusted partner of many reputable and experienced health, safety and wellbeing organisations. We work closely with IOSH, NEBOSH, Sussex Mindfulness Centre – part of the NHS, National Counselling Society, Mates in Mind, IEMA and Mercer Marsh Benefits to name a few. These relationships have been carefully crafted over many years to ensure that our members, supporters and customers are offered the best products and services in the industry to support them on their journey toward best practice.
Our annual International Safety Awards are one of health and safety’s most prestigious award schemes. They recognise organisations that have demonstrated commitment to occupational health, safety and wellbeing, regardless of their size or the sector they operate within. 2021 is the 63rd year these awards have been held.
Our unique 5 Star Audits covering health and safety management, wellbeing and environmental sustainability are assessed against best practice and developed with our leading, internationally experienced, technical experts. This ensures that, not only are relevant specification requirements being met, but also identifies any areas which are excelled in and serve as examples to the rest of the world. 2020 saw the 41st year of our Sword of Honour Awards – where those who have achieved a 5 Star rating in their audit are invited to apply and demonstrate their excellence in specific aspects of health and safety in the workplace.
British Safety Council was the official supplier of health and safety training and consultancy services for the London 2012 Olympic Games – the safest ever Olympic Games. This is testament to the quality and level of services and products we offer and the experience we have gained over many years of change in health and safety practise.
The industry leading monthly Safety Management magazine has been published by British Safety Council for over 50 years. It is distributed in more than 67 countries all over the world and reaches 25,000 industry leaders. The magazine is free to our members and keeps readers abreast of the changing UK and international health, safety and wellbeing landscape through news reports, expert commentary, in-depth features and case studies. We also report on our research, campaigns, engagement activities and innovations in health, safety, wellbeing and environmental products and services.
As a registered charity every penny we make goes into ensuring that workers are safe whether that be through, training, lobbying for change, auditing or raising awareness of the most up to date information in the industry. In 2020, our many years of experience allowed us to very quickly adapt to the rising health and safety threat of the current global pandemic and we are now leading providers, nationally and internationally of COVID-19 workplace assurance assessments and many workplaces are now much safer for workers and clients because of this.