Final Nails In The Coffin Of Health & Safety In UK Driven In

With Employment Minister, Chris Grayling, making the long awaited major announcement on the Government's war on  health and safety, the nails of the coffin on health and safety legislation both in the UK and in Europe are starting to be driven home.

In short, there will be an independent review of all health and safety legislation, the number of inspections will be cut by a third by focusing more tightly on so-called high-risk sectors and those who manage risks badly, whilst companies found to be putting people at risk will be charged for the cost of their inspection and follow-up action.

Together with a 35% cut in the HSE budget, and it is easy to see that we now have a free for all in which employers no longer have to protect their workforce, and the chance of having to pay for injury and death caused by sloppy health and safety practice will be non-existant.

Welcome to American style health and safety, where derugulation allowed the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster to happen!

Grayling confirmed that Professor Ragnar Lofstedt, of Kings College Centre for Risk Management, has been appointed to lead the independent review looking at health and safety legislation with a particular remit to tackle duplication and what he will deem as unnecessary legislation.  He is due to report back to the government in the Autumn. 

European legislation is very definitely within the scope of the review, with Chris Grayling claiming that EU legislation is far too often disproportionate.   

The government intends to attack health and safety not only in the UK but in Europe with the report being made to both the UK government and European Commission. Not that they have asked for it!!

There is no doubt that deaths and injuries at work will start to mushroom as health and safety is cut by employers as a way of reducing costs and maximising profit. The government's argument is that health and safety legislation is stopping employment, and so with massive de-regulation employers will be free to higher and fire at will, cause sickness and injury and simply sack injured employees and pay no compensation for causing their injuries through bad practice.

Furthermore, the Tories are allowing employers to opt out of providing health and safety training and job training by removing the right of the employee to request proper training.

Commenting today (Monday 21st March) on the launch of the government strategy for the future regulation of health and safety, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

"Employers need to know that there is the possibility of a safety inspector visiting, otherwise there will be no incentive for them to ensure they are protecting their workers. Removing proactive inspections from a large number of workplaces mean that employers can get away with ignoring the law until they kill or seriously injure someone. This is in no-one's interests and will mean an increase in deaths and injuries, leading to a rush to the bottom as cowboy companies undercut responsible employers by cutting back on safety."

He added, " The proposals are not only bad for workers' health and safety, they will also be bad for the economy as the health service and benefits system have to deal with the aftermath of more injuries and illnesses caused through unsafe work. 'The strategy is not about better regulation, it is about deregulation and is all part of a bigger plan to reduce the rights that workers have to safety and fair treatment."

Further information see: Professor Ragnar Lofstedt, of Kings College Centre for Risk Management

Source: TUC / Guardian

 

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