Ignore This Review On The Future Of The HSE At Your Peril! David Cameron made it clear well before he became prime minister that if he got into power, he would rage war on health and safety at work protection legislation, and what he saw as “the health and safety monster” which was simply an "albatross around the neck of British businesses". These words were echoed by him in January of 2012 when he stated that his New Year’s resolution was to "kill off the health and safety culture for good". Clearly, the LibDems in the coalition government support his aims, as confirmed by is words to the Daily Telegraph on 5th January last year: "This coalition has a clear new year's resolution: to kill off the health and safety culture for good.” So in 2013 we see Cameron’s final battle in his war on health & safety and intention to ‘kill it off completely’ A review into the HSE, its role and whether or not it remains to be a necessary body, that gives ‘value for money’, and whether or not it is a burden on business; was announced in parliament on 25th April, via a Written Ministerial Statement. Unsurprisingly it received absolutely no coverage by major TV and Radio news media, but applause from the right-wing anti workers rights newspapers. The review document has now been published with a closing date for submissions of 25th July 2013! A ‘call for evidence’ seeks the input of stakeholders to a review of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as a Non-departmental Public Body (NDPB) and is being led on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by Mr Martin Temple, Chair of EEF- the Manufacturers Organisation and Freeman at the Company of Cutlers. The vested interest and direction of the intentions behind the review cannot be starker and more glaringly obvious than with the choice of big business as leader of the review! He, and the right-wing media are starting the pressure on the review toward an outcome that suits them, and one which removes the protection of workers by H&S law enforcement in much the way the US system does; even before the review has even started. Martin Temple's Company of Cutlers colleague, David Grey, Junior Warden at the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, was quoted on 6th June in the Yorkshire Post as saying at a media lunch at Cutlers’ Hall in Sheffield on the previous day: “employers and employees should share responsibility for safe working.” This shows quite incredible ignorance of Health and Safety regulations and the Health and safety At Work Act which makes that clear in section 7),(a),(b). The article goes on, quoting him as saying: “At the moment our companies have to write all our health and safety processes risk assessment as though we were employing three-year-olds. Derek Maylor Chair of the NW BT Unions Health And Safety Co-ord told Unionsafety: "The co-ord is fully aware of the Government's aim in destroying as much of the existing workplace health and safety protection as possible and what we have seen so far, means that all those concerned about health and safety in the workplace need to be vigilant and ensure evidence is provided in response to this review of the HSE." He concluded: "We need a strong HSE able to fulfill its original function of protecting employees at work from injuries and death. So many governments have compromised the HSE's ability to be effective in doing this, ever since its formation over 30 years ago following the Roben's Report into workplace health and safety. The co-ord will do it's part in providing evidence to support not only the HSE as it is now, but such evidence will argue for the firming-up of the HSE role in enforcement of the law, prosecuting the bad employer and supporting and helping those majority of employers who take the health safety and welfare of their workers seriously." Chris Ingram, Unionsafety web editor commented: But, worse still will be an outcome that determines that the HSE needs no longer to be a 'Non Departmental Public Body' and that like a lot of legislation which has been 'handed over to industry' by the HSE's review of current H&S legislation; will become an employer's body policing themselves on the enforcement and interpretation of H&S legislation" Dave Joyce, the CWU's National Health, Safety & Environment Officer wrote in LTB272/13: "The CWU strongly disagrees with any suggestion that the HSE's functions are unnecessary or that it should be closed down as an unnecessary public body or privatised and delivered independently of the public sector." The review document details the process for the gathering of evidence and procedure for examining it: “The Review will be in two stages. In the first stage of the Review, Martin Temple, and his Review Team, will consider whether the functions delivered by HSE continue to be necessary, and whether an NDPB remains the best way of delivering those functions.” Annexe D of the documentation entitled, Functional Analysis, identifies that amongst the HSE's Business Plan Objectives is to: "Negotiate and secure the best possible outcome in Europe for British industry" Perhaps that in itself tells us more about the destiny of the HSE than anything else! See also: Now The HSE May Be Axed Following A Government Review Into Its Existence And Necessity Source: DWP / Yorkshire Post / Daily Telegraph / EEF / Unionsafety |