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Health and safety report
ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on the work and pensions select committee's report on 'The role of the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive'.
Comment from:
Stakeholder response: Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
To send a comment to APIL, click here
A spokesperson told ePolitix.com: "APIL welcomes the comprehensive report of the work and pensions committee into the role of the HSE. The committee makes many valid and important points about the need for more frontline inspections, the HSE to receive adequate funding, and the need for legislation to increase the maximum penalties available for breaches of health and safety law.
"APIL, too, recognises there is a problem with misperceptions of health and safety and has produced an 'Accident or Negligence' leaflet to clarify the issues surrounding health and safety. APIL also supports the committee's call for the link between employer's liability insurance premiums and standards of health and safety as we have long campaigned for this link to be strengthened.
"APIL appreciates the committee's call to review the issue of statutory directors' health and safety duties but believes that three years is too long a timescale for reviewing the effectiveness of the voluntary guidance, especially as the committee itself states that it is 'not convinced' the voluntary approach is effective in prioritising health and safety.
With 241 people killed at work last year, any review must occur sooner if a health and safety culture is to be embedded in every workplace."
Amanda Stevens, APIL president, said: "This is a very positive and detailed report. I am pleased that the committee has taken on board some of our suggestions, particularly the need for increasing the maximum penalties available for health and safety offences. We do believe, though, that the issue of statutory directors' health and safety duties is too important to be left for three years and we would urge a review after a shorter period of time."
Stakeholder response: British Safety Council
To send a comment to the BSC, click here
Brian Nimick, chief executive, said: "The British Safety Council (BSC) welcomes publication of this report and notes the real interest in and support of Parliament for the work being done to reduce injury and ill health at work. We look forward to the government's response to the report’s recommendations.
"There are a number of big issues, for example, concerning the adequacy and effective utilisation of HSE's resources, that require imaginative and sustainable solutions. The BSC welcomes a wider debate on the measures now needed to tackle the unacceptable level of fatalities, injuries, accidents and ill-health in the workplace and what we need to do - not just the HSE - but all duty holders and key stakeholders, to make good health and safety a reality.
"The BSC and its members will continue to play a crucial role in that work. This is not only about helping the HSE and businesses to meet their health and safety responsibilities, but also to remind employers that good safety is good business - a safe and healthy workforce can make them more productive and profitable, saving them £7.8bn a year or £250 a second.
"Our recent annual survey into the attitudes of 250 companies and 1,000 employees towards health and safety delivered some clear and urgent messages echoing concerns voiced by the Work and Pensions Committee in its report.
"The BSC's charitable work also supports the findings of the W&P Committee's report, for example, on embedding health and safety training within the education system: the BSC is funding a national entry level qualification for potentially 500,000 schoolchildren a year, to ensure that they are aware of workplace hazards before they begin their work experience placements or summer jobs.
"70,000 young people are taking the qualification in the first academic year, and 1,260 schools have registered (representing a quarter of the UK's secondary schools).
"We are particularly glad to note that the Committee agrees with us about the over-cautious approach that some employers can take towards the interpretation of their health and safety obligations, leading to 'elf and safety gone mad' stories in the media. This is due in part to fears of civil litigation and issues with insurance companies.
"Recognition by policy makers, enforcers and the insurance industry of their responsibilities to support rather than hamper business is a crucial step towards changing the public perception of 'silly safety' measures to one of 'sensible safety' practice which reduces ill-health and saves lives in the workplace.
"Further, insurers should incentivise premiums to better reward those employers who effectively control risks to health and safety."
Stakeholder response: Unite
To send a comment to Unite, click here
Bud Hudspith, Unite national health and safety officer, said: "A toothless Health and Safety Executive has been starved of resources and the power to penalise those who disregard the safety of workers and the public. It is struggling to cope with the changing world of work and is allowing the rogues to evade the law too easily.
"Workers are paying the price in deaths, injuries and disease at work, and we are especially concerned about the safety risks faced today by construction, offshore and migrant workers.
"The HSE needs more inspectors but there must also be a step-change in enforcement with legally binding health and safety duties on company directors and senior managers. Only then will many companies take health and safety seriously and genuine efforts be made to reduce deaths, injuries and disease at work."
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