A leading professional body has joined unions and campaigners in criticising a report by a Tory-linked think tank that calls for health and safety deregulation. The report, 'Health and safety: reducing the burden,' produced by the right-leaning Policy Exchange, 'is marred by a number of conceptual weaknesses,' according to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
In March, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber dismissed the report, saying it was 'as close to being relevant to the needs of the modern workplace as Alice in Wonderland. Anyone who believes that there is a culture of over-compliance needs some basic lessons in the reality of working life'.
IOSH is equally dismissive. It is says references to 'over compliance' aren't based on genuine requirements of safety laws. It adds that the report's authors are 'seemingly unaware' that their call for 'proportionality' on safety regulation is in fact already the legal position.
'Regrettably, this Policy Exchange report does nothing to clear up public confusion or address the root causes of risk and liability aversion,' said IOSH policy and technical director Richard Jones.
Campaign group Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) said the report, which treads similar ground to recent Tory proposals, treats the victims of work hazards with 'contempt', adding: 'The Policy Exchange has not dealt with our burden which we carry all our lives, nor with all the costs of poor health and safety in human and financial terms, and has not bothered to consult those on the receiving end of employers' negligence.'"
