CWU Conference 2011 Health and Safety Fringe Meeting
Vigilance Needed To Keep Us Safe At Work
Labour's health and safety spokesman Lord Bill McKenzie (pictured with Dave Joyce) described Coalition government plans to weaken workplace safety regulations as "frightening" at a packed CWU conference fringe meeting attended by over 150 delegates on Monday 23 May.
Lord McKenzie warned:
"Reductions in workplace inspections, large-scale cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and a new "categorisation" of industries placed the UK's reputation for having one of the best safety records in Europe at risk".
"Cuts to the HSE were draconian," Lord McKenzie explained, "while identifying
whole industrial sectors as low-risk, medium-risk or high-risk was "a folly," particularly as this classification will determine whether or not workplaces will receive pro-active inspections in the future. This approach looks at the accident record of an industry as a whole rather than at specific jobs,"
He added:
"And the concept
of having huge areas of work with no pro-active inspections is frightening. Health and safety at work is a moral, legal and business issue."
The shadow minister continued "Moral, because everyone who goes out to work should have the right to return home safely afterwards. It's obviously a legal issue when one looks at the body
of legislation that exists, and it's a business issue - and this is where I feel the Tories get it wrong - because companies with better health and safety systems invariably have better business systems too."
"The first comprehensive health and safety at work legislation was back in 1974, an Act of Parliament that," Lord McKenzie recalled, "was introduced with some consensus, but I do feel that consensus is now coming to an end." As an example, he highlighted the potential dangers of the forthcoming Lofstedt Review - which the government has commissioned to investigate possible changes to the law - and the changed political environment, within which jokes and "myths" about health and safety are becoming commonplace among senior politicians.
"This is a very difficult time and there is pressure on the trade union movement to be particularly vigilant," the shadow minister continued. "I want to work with you to keep the health and safety cause alive. We mustn't let the government slip this
under the radar."
CWU national health, safety and environment officer Dave Joyce (pictured) thanked Shadow Health and Safety Minister Lord McKenzie for attending and he opened the fringe meeting with a hard hitting summary of comparisons between the Safety record of past Labour administrations and the unprecedented
attacks on workplace safety by the present Tory/Lib.Dem Coalition Government.
Dave said: "Of course, Labour didn't get everything right, but under this terrible Tory/Lib.Dem coalition, there's a policy of attacking health and safety with mythical Daily Mail-style stories and straw-man arguments."
Dave added: "No-one voted for the slashing of their basic right to a safe place to work. But that's what we're getting from the coalition government with these savage cuts and the weakening and removal of safety laws.".
Dave said "As a Trade Union affiliated and closely linked with Labour, during the 13 years under Labour we had our fair share of criticisms on Health and Safety - we didn't get the new rights and protection for Safety Reps promised in 1997, nor better enforcement of RIDDOR after the 2005 review. The infamous October 2007 House of
Lords Pleural Plaques judgment wasn't reversed and we never got the introduction of positive Directors Health and Safety legal duties as promised in the 2000 'Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy.'"
"However!", Dave continued "It was Harold Wilson's Labour Government that introduced the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974 and the Jim Callaghan Labour Government that introduced the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations in 1977. Two of the most important pieces of Health and Safety Legislation ever
introduced. Since then deaths at work have fallen by 75% - a good part of which is as a direct result of the impact of the empowerment of Trade Union Safety Representatives by Labour BUT under this present Tory/Lib.Dem Coalition - years of progress now face being thrown into reverse."
Dave then recounted "Under the last Tony Blair and Gordon Browne Labour Government and during Bill McKenzie's tenure as Minister we saw many positive things, such as:-
The Banning of White Asbestos in 1999.
The Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 -introduced following the death of twenty-three workers killed at Morecombe Bay in 1998.
The Control of Asbestos Regulations in 2006.
The Worker Safety Advisor Challenge Fund, which ran from 2004 to 2007,
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 for companies and organisations found guilty of serious safety management failures leading to fatalities with unlimited fines, remedial orders and publicity orders penalties.
The merger of the Health and Safety Commission and the HSE in 2008
.
New Safety Reps Legal Guidance introduced in 2008.
The Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 which increased the range of penalties and provided courts with greater sentencing powers including imprisonment for most health and safety offences.
Setting up of the HSE’s Worker Involvement Unit in 2009 which trained 2,400 new Safety Reps in a year.
The Tower Cranes Safety Regulations and registration scheme - introduced in February 2010 in response to concerns about crane safety after Eight people were killed in several crane collapses.
Official Recognition of Workers Memorial Day in 2010.
In 2010, the introduction of the Pleural Plaques victims compensation payments and establishment of the ‘Insurer of Last Resort’ scheme for victims of dissolved companies and untraced insurers along with a government Insurers Tracing System, increased statutory payments made under the Pneumoconiosis Etc.(Worker’s Compensation) Act
1979 and the Mesothelioma Act 2008 plus a £3,000,000 asbestos disease research fund."
Dave added: "Bill also set up the Rita Donaghy review in 2008 to look into the underlying causes of fatalities at work and which along with the DWP Select Committee recommended the introduction of Directors Health and Safety Duties - which received a positive response from the Labour Government in March 2010 - A recommendation that
sadly the Labour Government didn't have time to act on and following the May 2010 General Election was handed over to our new government and which was very quickly consigned to the Dustbin by the Tory/Lib-Dem Coalition. A Coalition Government with a policy of "Ending Labour's Health and Safety culture."
Dave concluded:
"This is a Coalition Government which has in their first year of Office - launched an unprecedented attack on Health and Safety with:-
- 35% Cuts at the HSE
- 28% Cuts on Local Authorities and their EHO Departments
- 11,000 HSE Safety Inspections Cut
- 65,000 EHO Safety Inspections Cut
- 200 sets of health and safety regulations to be reviewed, weakened or abolish under 'The Lofsted Review'
- Their "Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone" major reform plans for health and safety regulation of Britain’s businesses in which Royal Mail and British Telecom have been placed in the government's new 'Low-Risk' Category 3 - meaning that proactive HSE and LA Safety Inspections will no longer take place in the communications industry."
"The CWU will be at the forefront of resisting these attacks and it's good to know that the Labour Party will be fighting alongside us."
CWU Conference Health, Safety and Environment Section
Later that day the CWU Conference Health, Safety and Environment Section debated and passed an important Motion from the North East Region Health and Safety Forum (Motion 84) opposing government plans to weaken RIDDOR and calling for the tightening up procedures for the reporting and recording of accidents
at work.
The motion instructed the NEC to "co-ordinate the gathering of information from reps on management failings to ensure accidents are properly reported." A further Motion (85) from the union's Eastern Region Health and Safety forum called for the NEC to campaign to raise awareness and jointly with employers
to actively encourage employees to become blood and organ donors.
Motion 86 was accepted calling for a campaign for cleaner computer workstations.
Motion 87 was accepted, noting that work-related stress remains a major health problem for members and calling for a reinvigoration of employers commitment to
stress policies and procedures and to implement them fully within the workplace.
Motion 88 was accepted, reiteration Union and TUC Policy that 'at work' RTAs should become reportable under RIDDOR.
Source: Dave Joyce
