Government response to MPs HSE report "disappointing"
July 11, 2008
The Government's response to a major report from MPs on the work of the HSE has been condemned as "disappointing" and "complacent" by Mike Macdonald, a lead negotiator for the Prospect union.
The report from the Commons Select Committee on Work and Pensions identified damaging funding shortfalls at the HSE and called for increases in inspector numbers, inspections and health and safety prosecutions.
In its response to the report, the Department for Work and Pensions dismissed the Committee's claim that a recent increase in fatalities in the construction industry was directly attributable to a lack of HSE resources.
The response was described by Prospect as "disappointing but not surprising".
"We had hoped that ministers would heed the clear recommendations from the committee that further funding is needed to back frontline inspectors, not least because of the recent 28% rise in construction site fatalities", Mr Macdonald said. "The union has argued for many years that there is a clear correlation between inspection and improvements in health and safety performance, and it was refreshing to see that recognised by the Work and Pensions Committee.
"For the Government to again refuse point blank to investigate increasing funding for proactive investigation, a policy we know works, is, at best, complacent," he added. Mr Macdonald's comments were echoed by Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of the construction union UCATT.
"Self regulation does not work in dangerous casualised industries such as construction", Mr Ritchie said. "By talking about the importance of giving 'advice and guidance', ministers and HSE chiefs give the impression that they think it is more important to stuff education material into envelopes than inspect sites."
Among other key issues addressed in the Select Committee's report are the interpretation of European health and safety law, the regulation and accreditation of the health and safety profession, the relocation of the HSE's headquarters to Bootle in Merseyside, and the board-level impacts of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
The Select Committee also voiced concern over the HSE's data collection on occupational ill health, which the HSE has acknowledged as incomplete. In particular, RIDDOR was highlighted as "not fulfilling its role".
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