Labour politicians challenge Government

4 October 2012

IOSH this week called on Labour politicians to challenge the Government over ill-judged cuts to health and safety regulations.

The Labour Party Conference held at Manchester Central, from Sunday 30 September to Thursday 4 October, gave the Institution the chance to voice its concerns to the main opposition party.

IOSH is worried that Ministers are going too far, too fast with their cuts to health and safety regulations, and it wants politicians of all parties to push the business case.

Richard Jones, IOSH head of policy and public affairs, said: “Although the Labour party isn’t currently in power, they can offer a check and balance for occupational safety and health by challenging the Government’s decisions when it comes to issues we feel so strongly about.”

The Institution met with a number of MPs and Shadow Ministers at the conference including Catherine McKinnell , Shadow Exchequer Secretary, Anne McGuire, Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, Russell Brown, Shadow Defence Minister, Iain Wright, Shadow Business Minister  and Stephen Timms, Shadow Employment Minister.

Richard added: “After discussions with a number of Labour MPs, it was clear that they supported IOSH’s concerns surrounding the unnecessary removal of much needed health and safety regulation, such as the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations, some RIDDOR reporting requirements and exempting certain self-employed. They also shared our worries about the speed and scale of change, cuts to proactive inspections and loss of important Approved Codes of Practice.”

During her meeting with Richard and public affairs adviser Andrew Baldwin, Anne McGuire MP said: “The caricature of health and safety is ridiculous. What worries me is that the Government is fuelling the caricature.”

This support for health and safety continued during IOSH’s meeting with Shadow Defence Minister Russell Brown, who said: “I always try to preach health and safety to everyone. It’s an excuse in the eyes of some.”

When referring to how health and safety is treated at present, Mr Brown said: “I really worry about what the current Government are going to cut back on. They’re actually creating a problem that doesn’t exist, it doesn’t all add up.”

Health and safety became the centre of a heated row between the GMB union and construction giant, Carillion, on Monday 1 October.

GMB staged a “grim reaper” protest at the Carillion exhibition stand, accusing the company of being complicit in the illegal blacklisting of thousands of workers, including health and safety representatives, hence potential IOSH members.

Regional Secretary for GMB, Paul Maloney, demanded compensation and a formal apology from Carillion, for those health and safety representatives who were blacklisted and Lisa Benbow head of corporate communications from Carillion gave her side of the story in an interview on the IOSH AudioBoo Channel.

Richard Jones said: “Naturally, we’re against any form of blacklisting. In this particular instance, there are clearly two sides of the story, so we’ll have to wait and see what develops over the coming days and weeks.”

You can see more from IOSH’s time at the Labour Party Conference on the IOSH blog, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter. And follow IOSH on our social media channels next week, when we will be talking to members of the Conservative party to get their views on health and safety.