Campaigners warn 'cuts will kill'

The following has been supplied by PCS HQ:

Unions and campaigners have warned a government attack on workplace safety will kill. At a 2 March Trade Union Co-ordinating Group meeting in the House of Commons, health and safety advocates drove home the dangers of cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and moves to downgrade workplace safety protection.

Paula Brown, who chairs the HSE branch of the union PCS, said the 35 per cent cut in the watchdog's budget would lead to thousands fewer inspections of businesses and warned HSE office closures and the axing of the HSE infoline, which takes 800 to 1,000 calls a day, were part of the cuts package.

Families Against Corporate Killing (FACK) spokesperson Hilda Palmer said poor health and safety practices cost society billions a year, with business only bearing a small fraction of the costs. 'Instead, the lion's share is 'cost shifted' by business, which creates the risks, to the public purse, victims and their families,' she said. And RMT general secretary Bob Crow warned the 'ConDem cuts will kill', adding: 'Those commentators and politicians who try to trivialise and denigrate health and safety enforcement would be the first to run to their lawyers and the press if it was one of their relatives killed in a preventable accident at work or on public transport.' The union leader said: 'I will tell you what happens when corners are cut on safety regulations - you end up with the carnage of Potters Bar and Hatfield and our trade union will fight tooth and nail to stop our industry from being dragged back to that cavalier approach to maintaining safe standards.' Giant 'We didn't vote to die at work' posters and others accusing prime minister David Cameron of being the real 'job killer' were brandished by protesters outside the House of Commons.