News from the TUC

Young Review is a 'grave disappointment'

The TUC has branded as a 'grave disappointment' a government-backed report calling for a relaxed system of accident reporting, measures to address a compensation culture the government itself accepts does not exist and changes to the risk assessment process that do already exist. A 10 Downing Street news release welcoming Lord Young's 15 October David Cameron-commissioned report, 'Common sense, common safety', said the prime minister and the Cabinet 'have accepted all of the recommendations put forward by Lord Young, who will continue to work across departments to ensure his recommendations are carried through.' The prime minister said: 'Good health and safety is vitally important.' But, embracing Lord Young's call for safety deregulation, he added: 'We simply cannot go on like this. That's why I asked Lord Young to do this review and put some common sense back into health and safety. And that's exactly what he has done.' He said he hoped the review would prove to be a 'turning point', with a new system being introduced to replace 'unnecessary bureaucracy'. Under the proposals, all accepted by government, the current personal injury compensation system would be dismantled and risk assessment requirements on 'low risk' industries would be revised - although the proposals for immediate action go no further than those provided already in Health and Safety Executive (HSE) risk assessment tools. The government-backed report calls for ministers to 'go back to the European Commission and negotiate a reduction of burdens for low hazard environments.'

Don't base policy on myths and preconceptions

Safety standards at work could be sacrificed if the government implements Lord Young's recommendations on reform of the UK health and safety system, the TUC has warned. Commenting on the David Cameron-commissioned review of health and safety, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The review's recommendations are predictable but a grave disappointment all the same. The report contains not a single proposal that will reduce the high levels of workplace death, injuries and illness. Every year in the UK over 20,000 people die prematurely as a result of their work and at any one time over two million people are suffering ill-health because of their jobs.' He added: 'Yet instead of looking for ways of preventing people being killed and injured, the report uncritically accepts the myths and preconceptions surrounding health and safety, and focuses on dealing with a compensation culture which the government accepts does not exist. Health and safety is not a throwback to a previous century, or an issue that only affects heavy industry. It is just as much an issue for offices and shops - workplaces that Lord Young dismisses as 'low risk', despite the evidence of high levels of work-related ill-health in these sectors.' Mr Barber said the report 'is a missed opportunity to improve the UK's workplace safety record and by failing to challenge the myths around health and safety it could actually make things much worse.' The call for accidents to be reportable after more than seven days rather than the current three days plus 'does not meet the minimum legal requirements accepted across the European Union', commented TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson.

A bad seven days for health and safety

Cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and to local authority budgets announced in the spending review will make it easier for rogue employers to take unacceptable risks with the health and safety of their workforce, the TUC has warned. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'In the last seven days health and safety has been hit by a triple whammy. The Young Review, which last week seemed to rule out any commitment from the government to the occupational health agenda, was followed this week by deep cuts to spending which will make it much easier for employers to avoid their obligations under the law to keep their staff safe and well at work. This week the HSE saw its budget cut by 35 per cent and that, combined with a 28 per cent cut in local government funding, will have a damaging impact on safety in workplaces up and down the UK.' Mr Barber added: 'Workers need their safety and health protecting now more than ever. More than a million workers are currently suffering from an illness or injury caused by their work, and last year over 30 million days were lost due to work-related sickness absence. This time off work cost employers £3.7 billion last year, yet much of this could have been prevented if they took better care of their staff. Cuts of this magnitude cannot be achieved through 'efficiency savings' but will mean job losses for large numbers of frontline staff. That will mean fewer visits to workplaces, less enforcement of safety law, and reduced health and safety guidance for employers. As a result, more people are likely to be made ill by their jobs, and killed or injured at work. All in all it's been a bad seven days for health and safety.'

Business glee at the safety reforms

While the unions representing the workers on the rough end of Lord Young's safety reforms have been dismayed by the new government-approved plan, the business lobby by contrast has been united in its praise for the measures to pare back safety protections. Alexander Ehmann, head of regulatory affairs at the Institute of Directors (IoD), said: 'Lord Young's sensible recommendations are long overdue. Low risk businesses have been over-regulated on health and safety for too long.' He added the proposals 'go a long way to lightening the load on offices and businesses across the country. The IoD is encouraged by Lord Young's approach and calls on the government to look at deregulation in that other critical area of over-regulation - general employment law.' John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: 'Lord Young is right. We need a can-do, not a can-sue culture.' He added: 'Lord Young's report should put common sense back into the system, reduce bureaucracy, and improve our approach to managing risk.' Steve Pointer, from the manufacturers' organisation EEF, said: 'Manufacturers will welcome this report. Practical action to protect employees from harm is important but, health and safety has become too focussed on completing paperwork and protecting the public from every possible risk.' Dr Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: 'Lord Young's recommendations are both sensible and overdue. Businesses have long said that health and safety rules cannot be applied to hazardous environments and offices in the same way - and that there are too many burdens involved in allowing employees to work from home. These recommendations have the potential to reduce business costs and time-consuming bureaucratic burdens by managing risk in a far more sensible way. They will also give companies greater confidence to create jobs.' He added: 'Lord Young's recommendations must be implemented swiftly and in full so that businesses, and the UK economy as a whole, can begin to benefit.' And Tom Ironside, director of business and regulation with the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said the 'review is a win for common sense. Not all workplaces are the same and this report recognises that the precautions needed in an industrial setting are different from those in a low-risk environment like a shop.'

Dangerous double standard for 'low risk' work

The government risks introducing a dangerous double standard on safety if it implements reforms proposed by Lord Young, unions and campaigners have warned. Hope Daley, UNISON's head of health and safety, said: 'Despite the review, Lord Young shows no awareness of the problems caused by occupational ill-health and no real understanding of the level of injury or ill-health in schools, classrooms or offices. Schools and offices have very high levels of stress-related illness, and many people suffer from arm, back and neck injuries. Between them these are responsible for around threequarters of work related sickness absence.' She added: 'This report is really only interested in freeing business from bureaucratic burdens and disregards the value of workers' health and safety.' John Hannett, general secretary of retail union Usdaw, said: 'Shops are not the most dangerous of workplaces but there are over a million shopworkers who can tell Lord Young they are certainly not 'non-hazardous'.' Preliminary findings of an Usdaw survey show over 1m shopworkers were victims of violence or abuse last year. Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) facilitator Hilda Palmer accused Lord Young of 'aiming to divide workers by some arbitrary hazardous/non-hazardous line and so destroy the universality of health, safety and welfare law which protects all workers in all workplaces from injury and ill-health.' She also rubbished Lord Young's figures on the numbers affected by work-related injuries and ill-health, pointing out that every year up to 1,500 workers are killed in work-related incidents and up to 50,000 die every year due to illnesses they had developed because of their work.