The following has been
supplied by the TUC:
Employment
minister Chris Grayling has told employers he believes 'unneeded' workplace
safety regulations 'stifle' economic growth. Speaking at an Enterprise Forum
meeting in London
last week, he said: 'That's why we are cutting health and safety bureaucracy.
We're making good progress and I am determined to cut the number of health and
safety regulations in half.' The minister responsible for workplace safety
added: 'Of course we have to protect people against death and serious injury in
the workplace and we won't do anything to risk this but if we stifle their
employers with unneeded rules and regulations those people won't have a job in
the first place.' Critics again refuted government claims about safety
regulation being a job killer, pointing out that good safety enforcement makes
business sense. Each 'accident' death at work costs over £1 million. Each
occupational cancer death - and TUC
estimates there are over 15,000 each year - comes at a cost to society of over
£2.5m. Families Against Corporate Killers co-ordinator Hilda Palmer rubbished
Mr Grayling's comments as 'ideological claptrap' based 'on no evidence
whatsoever.' She said: 'Too many regulations don't kill people, too little
regulations do and the government is failing to protect workers from serious
safety risks.' The minister also trailed the publication of a new Health and
Safety Executive guide intended to help businesses avoid unnecessary safety
tests on portable electrical appliances.
