Media Reports Further On Tory Attacks On Health And Safety
Once again the Tory attacks on Health and Safety legislation has been highlighted in the media.
Not known for grabbing the hod, filling it with bricks and climbing ladders and scaffolding, Chair of the NW BTU H&S Co-ord, Derek Maylor, nevertheless keeps abreast of health and safety within the construction industry and has brought to our attention this news item in Health & Safety At Work magazine posted this week under the headline:
Tories Stick To Plans For Firms To Sidestep HSE Inspections
The Conservative Party will press ahead with a scheme to let companies bar HSE inspectors from their premises if it wins the election expected in May.
The Conservative shadow business minister John Penrose says consultation with industry bodies has shown positive support for the proposal to allow “low risk” businesses to commission independent health and safety audits and, if they pass, to refuse entry to enforcement inspectors afterwards except in emergencies.
The idea was first floated by shadow business secretary Kenneth Clarke last October as one way to reduce the compliance burden for business.
In an interview with the journal , Penrose said consultees, including those in the construction industry had responded positively to the proposal.
“If a Conservative Government is elected, then we will take these plans forward," Penrose confirmed.
He said the HSE would have to decide how to classify businesses as low-risk and that more consultation with industry and unions, who have been critical of the proposal, would be needed to see how to make the plans work.
A Conservative government would oversee the establishment of a network of approved auditors before legislation was scheduled to formalise the scheme.
"What we will need to do is decide what qualifications you have got to have to be approved,” Penrose told Construction News, “and ensure they are suitable to do this kind of work. If it doesn't add up then we will need to make sure more people are trained."
But don't look to the HSE to denounce the Tory policy:
According to the article , HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger speaking at HSW and IIRSM’s annual conference last November described the proposal for third-party safety audits as “quite interesting from the HSE’s point of view”, but added that the idea of inspectors being excluded from company premises “would need some discussion”.
However, this weeks HSP News reports that Prospect, the union that represents HSE inspectors, is concerned that the importance placed on ensuring the calibre of any independent consultants is likely to result in inspectors being targeted to fill these positions, thereby stripping the HSE of its expertise, trained at the public expense.
The union also believes the proposals will not only jeopardise safety but actually increase the burden on business. Its HSE branch chair Neil Hope-Collins said: “These proposals will open the floodgates for an army of private consultants, trained at public expense, to be unleashed without ministerial accountability on British industry.
“They will be free to charge business a fortune for advice that would constitute an inferior service to that currently provided for free by HSE. My members struggle to see how this reduces the burden on business, or saves public money in any way whatsoever.”
Prospect negotiator, Mike Macdonald added: “Occupational health and safety law is not black and white. The experience of our members shows that someone without statutory responsibility is more inclined to err on the side of greater controls just to make sure. This is because they are trying to second-guess an inspector's judgement of legal compliance and therefore are likely to impose a greater burden on the business."
Construction union UCATT also lambasted the proposals. General secretary Alan Ritchie fumed: “The ignorance and the stupidity of the Conservatives is staggering. Safety on construction sites, where many different companies are working at any one time, can change rapidly.
“Under these plans if workers or members of the public had safety concerns, the HSE would be prevented from acting until an accident occurred. The HSE’s role should be primarily about preventing accidents before they occur.”
IOSH also believes the plan would be a “retrograde step”. John Lacey, chair of its Construction Group, said the plans seem to be based on “two big misconceptions: firstly, that the HSE doesn’t take a risk-based approach to inspection now, which of course it does; and secondly, that audits are ‘safety guarantees’, which of course they aren’t!”
Derek Maylor also referred Unionsafety to the Tory website;
"The Tories website lists categories under which their policies appear. Health and Safety is not mentioned in this list and so it is hard to find specific H&S policies because they have none.
You can however find that it is buried within the heading of 'Business' and is mentioned within a list of actions they will take to deregulate business as much as possible:
* Reducing the burden of regulation with a 'one-in, one-out' rule for new regulations, introducing regulatory budgets and sunset clauses to give businesses more freedom and greater flexibility.
As previously reported by Unionsafety, this means self regulation along with the power to refuse to allow HSE inspectors on site."
Chris Ingram, Unionsafety Editor, commenting on the Tory plans said:
" The main aim of this website is to support the work of the NW BTU H&S Co-ord in promoting and defending health and safety at work and the rights of workers to a safe and health working environment, and as such the website will continue to highlight attacks upon health and safety whatever the source.
This Tory policy is rather like making it lawful for criminals to reject any investigations from the police and instead regulate themselves and decide upon their own guilt in relation to the criminal law!"
Source: NW BTU / HSW Magazine / HSP
