The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
A proposed law the justice secretary Chris Grayling says will “slay the health and safety culture” has been condemned by the TUC and labelled “a turkey” by Labour.
In an interview to the Daily Telegraph, the Cabinet minister claimed that the Bill, which went before the House of Commons this week, was to address cases where a “person does something dumb, hurts themselves and sues the employer anyway.”
The Telegraph and then the Daily Mail printed his comments uncritically.
But the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill (SARAH), also called the Hero’s Bill, would in fact tell a court what it must consider in determining a claim in negligence or breach of statutory duty.
The TUC says even the government admits this has nothing to do with the “health and safety culture”. Other government arguments to justify the Bill, including claims a fear of litigation prevents volunteering and deters community heroes, are equally bogus, it says.
According to TUC’s Hugh Robertson: “Of course Grayling knows that he can make sweeping and completely misleading statements with no fear of anyone in the media actually picking him up on it because there is clearly no interest in achieving any kind of balance amongst some of the newspapers, and of course stories about unions stopping workers being killed does not sell papers.”
Speaking in the Commons debate, Labour’s Sadiq Khan said the Bill has been variously described as “complete gobbledygook” and “a turkey.” He added that the government’s own figures showed volunteering was up and workplace compensation claims had fallen dramatically. “And let’s be clear - this Bill is targeted at negligence and not at health and safety at all,” he said. “So when the Lord Chancellor claims, as he does, that this Bill will finally slay much of the ‘elf and safety’ culture, he must be honest and admit he is being disingenuous, to say the least.” He said Grayling could have brought forward a bill to protect the rights of victims. “Instead, we have the SARAH Bill. A turkey of a Bill. A vacuous Bill. Without doubt the most embarrassing and pathetic Bill the Ministry of Justice has published since the department was first formed.”
