In recent weeks there have been workshops to inform business about the Millennium Bug problem, and the "Bug Buster" training is well subscribed.

This should mean that most people are at least aware of Year 2000 issues. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of coverage also means that some people are getting blas about the whole thing.

Most companies will be in the process of sorting out the IT issues, and hopefully have gone on to assess the wider business consequences of not taking action to address the bug. One area which may be overlooked, but which does have major impact, is health and safety.

The Health and Safety Executive has announced that its inspectors will be including formal assessment of risks arising from the Millennium Bug in their workplace inspections. Not only that, but they state that if they consider software failure poses a significant risk they may take enforcement action if the company does not show that it has, or intends to take, suitable action to counter this.

The HSE have tried to let companies know what sort of action needs to be taken. They have produced two brochures design-ed to help small companies through the risk assessment process. One is Health and Safety and the Year 2000, and the other Contingency Planning for a Safe Year 2000.

Paul Twiddy is information manager with Business Link Bradford and District

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.