The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
Ministers are misusing an official government website to push the Conservative’s party political anti-workplace safety line, the TUC has charged.
The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) safety policy webpages “set out their policy on health and safety”, notes TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson, but he adds the content “is clear, concise and simple and is also absolute drivel.” The DWP webpage is prefaced with this statement: “We believe that good health and safety is important, but the burden of excessive health and safety rules and regulations on business has become too great and a damaging compensation culture is stifling innovation and growth.”
Dismissing each point, citing official statistics, government-sponsored research, government committees, independent studies and admissions from high ranking Tories, TUC’s Hugh Robertson said: “This government seems to see government websites as the property of the political parties rather than of the state. They are increasingly being used as tools of propaganda rather than being there to give information. But while you would expect a certain ideological spin on anything this government does, this goes further than that. The claim that there is a burden of excessive rules and a damaging compensation culture is, to put it simply, a complete lie.” He said instead of regurgitating unfounded myths, the government should be “trying to show that, as all the studies show, health and safety helps business… That way they would not only get rid of the misconceptions and myths, but also actually do some good by encouraging employers to protect their workers.”
