Health and safety report branded 'disappointing'

15 October 2010

Lord Young's report 'common safety, common sense' is disappointing, says GMB
 
John McClean, GMB national health and safety officer, said "We have arrived at the current regulatory regime along a road built on the blood, broken bones and deaths of workers and the public and attempts to undermine or trivialise this is not just a mistake it is also insulting.
 
The proposal to limit the personal injury compensation to victims of road traffic accidents at £25,000 will need some explaining to victims of negligent drivers perhaps disabled for life. We can see what is in this £25,000 limit for insurance companies and city institutions that own them but cannot see what is in it for the public or workers.
 
Overall this review is very much a missed opportunity. Many of Lord Young's recommendations have already been implemented, and the review fails to tackle the key issues. But there are some positives.
 
GMB is pleased that Lord Young recognises the value of the Health and Safety at Work Act, and the importance of the HSEand Local Authorities in enforcing the Act. The government should take full account of this in next week's spending review.
 
GMB welcome regulation of 'claims farmers' whose actions only steal from those already suffering. 
 
GMB welcome moves to clarify risk assessment and consent issues in schools.
 
GMB support combining health and safety inspections with food safety inspections, so long as non-food workplaces continue to be inspected by Local Authority officers.
 
Much of the review however, fails to deliver. In particular:-
 
GMB disputes the idea that shops, offices and schools should be subject to lesser scrutiny. There are serious injuries caused by violence, slips & trips and transport accidents that must be tackled, not ignored. Workers in these sectors should enjoy the same protections as in every other sector.
 
Fining councils for banning events will be counterproductive and a waste of resources during a time of heavy cuts in Local Authorities.
 
A single set of regulations covering the whole range of workplace hazards is unworkable. The risks are too disparate to be covered in one place.
 
Changing the accident reporting criteria from 3 days to 7 days will only serve to take a huge number of injuries out of the official statistics.
 
Unfortunately, none of the recommendations in this report will have the slightest impact on the thousands of work-related deaths and injuries in the UK each year."
 

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