The following has been supplied by the TUC:
The retirement in May 2012 of the chief medical adviser for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has left its Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS) close to collapse, a top HSE trade union rep has warned. Simon Hester, a frontline HSE field inspector and chair of the union Prospect's HSE branch, made the warning in a 22nd May letter to The Guardian. 'Twenty years ago EMAS was an internationally respected source of occupational health expertise employing 60 occupational health doctors and 62 nurses. It is now down to 2.2 doctors, only one of whom is full-time,' he wrote. 'Successive years of cuts and 'reviews' (three in the past five years) have effectively destroyed by stealth an organisation committed to the well-being of the nation's workforce.' Citing official HSE figures, he warned well over a million people are currently suffering from ill- health caused by or made worse by their work, 'all relying on medical help from an ever-stretched NHS, the vast majority suffering from preventable illnesses. If the government truly believes prevention is better than cure it must reverse the cuts to HSE and rebuild a service that can help protect the UK workforce.' HSE's ability to respond effectively to workplace health and cancer problems has been damaged by the demise of its medical wing, campaigners have warned.
