Government Launches Website Dedicated To Eradication Of Health And Safety Regulation

In a press release issued today 7th April, the government have officially launched its appalling attack on health and safety in an attempt to slander all health and safety legislation as mere RED TAPE!

Unionsafety reported in July last year on the setting up of the Your Freedom website, which has since been closed and replaced with this newer and more targetted website. Aimed specifically at legilsation which affects business, it targets health and safey legislation specifically as expected.

Hoping to utilise public ignorance of the issues involved and the ideological hatred that small and medium business in the UK has for all health and safety legislation, the government have now launched this new website: Red Tape Challenge!

The public, big and small business are invited to identity legislation that it thinks is red tape and suggest its abolition or merging with other forms of legislation.

Under the heading of General Regulations, health and safety is highlighted in particular: “Some regulations affect all sectors, from rules on health and safety to those on employment.” And the invites comment.

Clicking on the link to the relevant page then gives you a list of workplace environments in which health and safety legislation can be abolished:

• Major hazard industries
• Higher risk workplaces
• Dealing with hazardous chemicals and materials
• General health and safety in the workplace
• Fire safety

It then identifies and lists all 131 items of health and safety legislation that it suggests can be abolished completely or merged into one another.

Chris Ingram, web editor of Unionsafety commented:

"No doubt the next few months will find a media salivating over the idea of being able to fill their news columns with total misrepresentation of health and safety and whip up the public and business clammer for deregulation and abolition of health and safety rules and regulation. We can expect the great institutions such as the BBC and ITV to do the same in their news reports."

He continued: " All those concerned with health and safety need to respond immediately to the website and the public debate in order to balance out the debate and educate the majority who will be the first to complain when they find that they are being blamed by their employers for their own injury and deaths at work and loss of lively hood without compensation. For that is the true aim of this Tory led coalition government!"

The interesting and perhaps worrying thing is that you can also read the responses from people, who clearly have not read any of the legislation, and merely have the uneducated opinion that all health and safety legislation is a waste of space and is indeed red tape!

Given that the website has only just been launched today, it is worryign that so many people have already access it to criticise health and safety in the workplace, and to attack the basic right of everyone to have a health and safe working environment. Most people have forgotten the reason why trade unions first started: to combat the appalling injury and death brought on by the industrial revolution. It seems the tories are intent on taking workers right back to those dark days.

Here are just some of the examples of comments on the website on its first day:

On Ladder Safety:

Phil East said on April 7, 2011 at 10:06 am

Feedback:
If someone can’t use a ladder properly that’s their own fault. I’d like to see all ladder regulation removed.

On Office Environments:

Craig said on April 7, 2011 at 12:31 pm

Feedback:
The only people who seem to benefit from H&S are no-win no-fee lawyers!

The “employee” would be responsible for their own safety at home (otherwise known as “using common sense”), so why not at work? I agree that working conditions should be up to standard, but employers shouldn’t be expected to protect people from their own stupidity either. For example, you shouldn’t need to tell people that the contents of a take-away coffee “might be hot” – if they’re that stupid they wouldn’t have read the warning label anyway!

In my experience in an office environment, H&S just gives jobsworths something to do – I’ve tripped over several “Wet Floor” signs before seeing them, but I’ve never slipped on the wet floor! My house doesn’t contain any warning signs, and I’ve never performed a single risk assessment, yet none of my guests have ever had any problems!

On Risk Assessments:

p johns said on April 7, 2011 at 1:13 pm

Feedback:
RISK ASSEMENTS FOR A TYPICAL NON HAZZARDOUS WORKPLACE SUCH AS AN OFFICE; Should all be scrapped and staff should not be able to waste our time and money on petty claims, for example if they hurt thier back moving some boxes. All detracts from the business purpose and leads to us employing less staff as we want less anxiety in our own lives, something OUR children deserve.

On Health And safety Law:

Mike Anderson said on April 7, 2011 at 1:13 pm

Feedback:
51 pieces of legislation? This is clearly ridiculous…..

Look the logic should be simple: if you do something dangerous or negiligent that causes someone else injury you should pay compensation. That should include an employer that asks an employee to do something dangerous, but it should apply equally to two strangers on the street. There should be *no difference* in liability for a business and a private individual.

Ultimately, it should be up to individuals to look after their own health and safety. If they are unhappy with the health and safety risks in a particular workplace (e.g. inherently dangerous activities such as coal mining or construction) then they should find a different career.

On PAT testing:

Colin Bell said on April 7, 2011 at 12:54 pm

Feedback:
PAT testing is truly ridiculous. Every year, all comapnies as well as private landlords have to gain PAT certificates for all portabel electronic devices. This was presumably brought in when people had to connect plugs themselves. Now every single electric appliance has a non tamper plug. So what do we do, we have 100′s of laptops, printers and kettles tested when there is no longer any reason to do so whatsoever. Next year the very same items are needlessly retested. As a small landlord you have the same sissue. It is ridiculous red tape costing who knows how much and for no purpose whatsoever.

Sadly, there was only one comment worth of any mention in response to those above:

Gwyneth Deakins said on April 7, 2011 at 10:41 am

Feedback:
This is about the sixth time in the last 30 years that the Government has tried to reduce the ‘burden’ of H & S legislation. Whatever it was reasonable to reduce or alter has been done a long time ago. H & S legislation is there for a good purpose and there still exist plenty of employers who will happily endanger their workers if it saves them a bit of money. In any case, the swingeing reductions in HSE staffing mean that it is unlikely that H & S legislation could be either altered or enforced for a very long time to come.

As suggested in the previous news item on this subject of red tape and the governments attempts to justify slashing and abolition of health and safety regulation, it is imperative that the government website is monitored and responses are posted to every single stupid and ignorant comment in support of abolishing legislation such as Ladder Safety and Asbestos management; to mention just two!

Please visit frequently and add your comments to the governments Red Tape Challenge website and send them in to Unionsafety to publish

source: NDA

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