Due to popular demand the full recording of our event ‘Health and safety in the workplace – how to protect housing staff at work’, held on 28 March 2025, is now available to watch on-demand for a limited period.

Order your on-demand viewing today to:

• Watch a full video recording of the event, including all presentations, Q&A sessions and panel discussions via Zoom
• Receive copies of the slides used during speaker presentations
• Get access to on-the-day materials, including speaker biographies and the agenda.

As a social landlord, you are responsible not only for the health and safety of the buildings you manage but also the staff who work for you. We know the pressures on all housing staff are rising, with growing workloads and more tenants with vulnerabilities to support, often in the absence of other services. Repairs and maintenance staff also face dangers inherent in the types of work they carry out.

A failure to protect staff or contractors can result in hefty fines or even prison time, but it can also affect staff morale, sickness levels and general wellbeing. It is important to get it right.

This event focused on how you can best care for the health, safety and welfare of all your employees: office-based or working from home, from housing officers out and about on your estates to repairs and maintenance staff driving long distances to jobs and working in unfamiliar places. We also looked at the specific requirements and good practice surrounding those who work on their own.

What we cover:

• Your responsibilities for the health, safety and wellbeing of your employees
• Managing the risks associated with repairs and maintenance or development work
• New issues emerging from working from home
• Lessons learned from a recent HSE prosecution in the social housing sector
• Best practice in supporting front-line employees to reduce stress and mental health issues
• How to protect lone workers and make the best use of technology.

What you will get from the recording:

• An update on your legal and regulatory requirements regarding health and safety in the workplace
• Hear from others on how they protect their workers from stress and illness
• Understand what types of safety issues you need to be aware of in the social housing business
• Hear directly from an organisation fined for not protecting their repairs and maintenance staff.

Essential for:

• Directors of housing
• Directors of health and safety
• Directors of HR/LOAD
• Health and safety leads
• Governance and compliance leads
• Board members
• Chairs of boards.

Welcome and introductions

• Jane Atherton, Associate, HQN

Health and safety issues for employees in social housing  

• Nichola Harrison, H&S expert and housing association board member

Looking after staff’s mental health

• Liz Skelton, Director of Health and Safety, Guinness Partnership

Break

Learning from an HSE prosecution

• Ashley Hook, Chief Executive, mhs homes

Legal update

• David Gibson, Partner and Head of Employment, Burnetts

Using technology to protect lone workers 

Close

Jane Atherton, Associate, HQN

Jane is an experienced Organisational Development (OD) professional. A Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, she has a proven track record in senior roles delivering strategic OD and HR. She is passionate about all things employee engagement and is proud to have supported businesses to achieve top spots in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For, along with National Training Awards and Investors in People.

She became an independent consultant in 2018, runs her own business called Hooga Consulting, and is an Associate of HQN.

She is also a Board member for Aspire Housing.

Nichola Harrison, H&S expert and housing association board member

Nichola is Chair of the Lambeth and Southwark Housing Association Board and a non-executive director for Amber Housing. As well as extensive non-executive experience within the housing sector, Nichola is currently Global H&S and Environment Director for Malvern Panalytical, a B2B organisation manufacturing precision measurement instrumentation.  She has had a varied career in health and safety, mainly focusing on the built environment and is a Chartered Fellow of IOSH.  Previous experience includes Competent Person for Paradigm Housing Group and Shepherds Bush Housing Association as well construction experience with Balfour Beatty, Capita and EMCOR UK.

Liz Skelton, Director of Health and Safety, Guinness Partnership

Liz is Director of Health and Safety at the Guinness Partnership, chair of the G15 Health and Wellbeing Group and teaches at University of London Birkbeck.  A business psychologist and health and safety practitioner, she has a passion for wellbeing and has developed award winning strategies for organisations in the public and private sector including Ernst and Young and Dixons Carphone.  Liz provides evidence based, practical and people centred solutions that complement business objectives.

Ashley Hook, Chief Executive, mhs homes

Ashley, a chartered surveyor, has been Chief Executive of mhs homes since 2009 and prior to that was their Housing Director. He has a strong background in regeneration and housing and has worked for a number of housing providers and public authorities.

Before joining mhs homes, Ashley was Head of Housing at the London Borough of Lewisham and was responsible for the management of 35,000 homes and all strategic housing services.

He is a member of both the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Chartered Institute of Housing and has a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning. As a Chartered Director, he also has considerable boardroom experience and is currently a trustee director of the BRE Trust and a non-executive on the RICS Nominations Committee.

Ashley is a keen charity fundraiser and frequently participates in endurance sports. In 2020, He swam the 11-mile length of Windermere to raise over £6,500 for CALM, a brilliant charity tackling the shockingly high level of suicide in men.

David Gibson, Partner and Head of Employment, Burnetts

David has extensive experience in advising on employment law across a range of sectors including charities, transport, housing associations, football clubs and retail. He offers a practical, solution-driven service that quickly identifies problems and ensures business can run smoothly and efficiently. David has also presented a number of seminars looking at the changing nature of work and the future planning that is required to ensure that the new challenges we all face are approached in a practical and comprehensive manner.

David’s services include the preparation of key employment documents, dealing with common issues in relation to performance and disputes in the workplace, advising on exit strategies both for employers and employees, corporate advice on share sales and TUPE and training on emerging legislation and equality issues.

David has delivered lectures at the Universities of Newcastle and Northumbria on emerging issues and can provide bespoke training to organisations to enable them to take proactive steps to ensure they are equipped to meet the challenges of the new world of work.