IOSH calls for reassurances on high-risk industries
3 May 2011
Cutting inspections in high-risk industries
to “ease the regulatory burden on business” will risk lives, IOSH
warns in its response to a Government announcement on health and
safety.
The Institution wants reassurances that a
number of industries – including construction, agriculture and
manufacturing – will not be dropped from the proactive inspection
and awareness raising regimes.
The call is part of a response to Employment
Minister Chris Grayling’s report Good Health
and Safety, Good for Everyone, released last month, which
outlines how Ministers will take forward recommendations made by
former adviser Lord Young of Graffham.
The report includes plans to cut proactive
inspections by HSE by a third, which means by around 11,000 per
year. The Government also expects local authorities to reduce such
inspections by at least a third (around 65,000 per year).
Proposed areas to be dropped include
agriculture, quarries, health and social care, textiles, light
engineering, electrical engineering, the transport sector (air,
road haulage and docks), education and electricity generation, as
well as postal and courier services.
“We’re concerned that proactive inspections
are to be cut,” said Head of Policy and Public Affairs Richard
Jones.
“It’s important to remember that HSE already
takes a risk-based approach to their enforcement strategy and
enforcement is an important driver for compliance and worker and
public protection.
“We’d like reassurances, given the number of
work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses they suffer, that
construction, agriculture and manufacturing will receive adequate
enforcement, advice and awareness raising.”
It is not IOSH’s only concern with Grayling’s
report.
Richard added: “Given the national failure
data and the costs to individuals, business and the economy, IOSH
feels that occupational health and work-related road risk would
actually benefit from higher levels of enforcement, not lower
ones.”
Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone
comes just five months after the publication of Lord Young’s review
document
Common Sense, Common Safety, which examined the perceived
‘compensation culture’ and impact of health and safety regulations
on businesses.
The Prime Minister and Cabinet accepted all of
the peer’s recommendations, which are now the subject of a series
of consultations involving IOSH.
Following Lord Young’s resignation in November
2010, Chris Grayling has taken on overall responsibility for
implementing the recommendations.
‘Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone’ is
described as the Government’s “next step”, and its plans for
reforming health and safety regulation for Britain’s
businesses.
The Department for Work and Pensions says
there are three key aspects to the reforms. The first is the
Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register to "clamp down
on rogue health and safety consultants", and ensure that
businesses have access to competent and ethical advice.
The Government wants to shift the focus of health and
safety enforcement activity away from businesses that do the right
thing, and concentrate on higher risk areas, dealing with
serious breaches of health and safety regulations while also
shifting enforcement costs from taxpayers to those flouting the
rules.
And it is seeking to simplify health and safety legislation and
guidance, and in doing so ease the burden on business.
In a letter to Mr Grayling, IOSH will say:
We welcome government recognition of the value
of good health and safety advice for productive workforces and
economic prosperity
- We welcome moves to drive out any rogues from health and safety
consultancy, including the launch of OSHCR
- We support new guidance for small and ‘low risk’ employers
- We back moves to charge serious non-compliers for investigation
and enforcement action
- We call for reassurances that proactive inspections, advice and
awareness raising will not be cut from high-risk industries,
including construction, manufacturing and agriculture
- We believe that occupational health and work-related road risk
would benefit from higher levels of enforcement, not lower
ones
- We have concerns that over-simplification of regulations will
lead to the erosion of essential worker and public protection
Richard added: “As economies emerge from
recession, we know accidents can rise. Throw in austerity measures,
inspection cuts and negative portrayal of health and safety and we
have a recipe for potential disaster here.
“Sadly, it’s only fear of enforcement that
keeps some unscrupulous employers in line – talk of less inspection
will just make things worse.”