IER Health And Safety Briefing Published

As previously reported, Professor Steve Tombs and Dr David Whyte have produced a report into the current state of health and safety enforcement in the UK. Written for and published by the Liverpool based Institute Of Employment Rights, the booklet is available to order direct from the IER.

Following the publication, a press release in the form of an IER briefing has been issued, in which the authors give some details of the evidence that they present in the full booklet, with regard to the collapse in enforcement and prosecution by the HSE.

The briefing introduction places the report in context:

"This is a dangerous time for workplace safety. In popular and political debate, a virtual consensus has been created that businesses are over-regulated, over-burdened and completely tied up in red tape – health and safety, in short, has ‘gone mad’. But a review of the evidence on safety law enforcement shows this new ‘common-sense’ to be
entirely ill-informed – the reality, in fact, as this briefing demonstrates, is quite the opposite."

Referring to the coalition con-dem Government's review of health and safety in the UK, the introduction continues:

" It is in this context that this briefing explores the available evidence on the extent to which businesses are subject to over-regulation in respect of health and safety. This evidence points unequivocally to the opposite conclusion: in fact, the previous government’s desire to reduce the 'burdens' on businesses has emasculated the regulatory system designed to prevent death and injury at work.

This situation is reflected in the following trends over the past decade:

• a 69% fall in the numbers of inspections made of business premises;
• a 63% decline in investigations of safety incidents at work; and
• a 48% reduction in prosecutions

This collapse in inspection, investigation and enforcement has dramatically reduced the chances of businesses being detected and prosecuted for committing safety offences. This is hardly the deluge of red tape or the burden of regulation that permeates public debates about health and safety at work."

The full briefing is available from the E-Library Database and can be found by selecting 'Health and Safety Legislation' form the drop down list of categories on the search page here and selecting 'IER Briefing On Health And Safety Gone Mad'

You can also order the full booklet by clicking on the pic above.

Source: Unionsafety / IER

 

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