Minister takes workers for a deadly ride

While safety minister Chris Grayling felt no need to comment on a sharp increase in workplace fatalities in his first year at the helm, or this month's £1 fine for criminal safety failings linked to a worker's death, or even the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) failure to investigate 95 per cent of all reported major injuries, one thing did compel him to take up the ministerial pen. And that was the decision by holiday firm Butlins to instruct staff to stop customers crashing into each other in dodgem cars. Jeremy Pardey, Butlins resort director at Bognor Regis, said the company made the decision because there have been injuries in the past, including broken bones, due to people bumping into each other. But in his letter chastising Butlins managing director Dermot King, Grayling called on the company to 'make it clear publicly that its decision to ban bumping in dodgems has no basis in health and safety rules and that it has absolutely no obligation to take what I suspect will prove to be an extremely controversial decision.' He added: 'Given the public interest in this issue I am releasing this letter to the media.' The April 2011 letter got a second airing this week, when HSE included the dodgems story in a list of the 'Top 10 bizarre health and safety 'bans'.' HSE also broke with its usual practice, after discussions with the DWP press office, and this week posted the minister's letter to its website. In a letter to Chris Grayling, campaign group Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) said the minister has got his priorities seriously - dangerously - out of kilter. Pointing to the failure of the minister to speak out on serious workplace safety issues, a FACK spokesperson said: 'He must stop his attacks on our legal framework, recognise the real cost of workplace health and safety failures to society and who is responsible.'