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HSE Faces Haemorrhage Of Expert Staff

Workers are being put at risk because the Health and Safety Executive is haemorrhaging experienced staff, unions have warned.

HSE staff unions Prospect and PCS have warned repeatedly that inadequate wages are causing more experienced staff to leave the safety watchdog. HSE acknowledges high staff turnover is a significant problem, with some sectors including its offshore and nuclear inspectorates particularly badly affected.

In recent months, large numbers of staff have moved into industry or have switched from HSE to government departments, including health, justice and environment.

Chris Hurley, chair of the PCS branch at the HSE's Rose Court offices in London, says this problem is being compounded by the organisation's decision to relocate the HSE head office to Bootle on Merseyside.

She told Environmental Health News (EHN) that hundreds of experienced members of staff had left the organisation because they did not want to move to the new HQ. "Lots of the people leaving have worked for the HSE for 30 years or more. It will take a long time to replace their expertise and knowledge," she said. "There will not be enough experienced members of staff to develop the vital guidance that helps identify and manage risks and dangers in the workplace."

So far only four HSE employees based in London out of a potential 320 have moved to Bootle.

Ms Hurley said morale among the HSE staff left at the organisation's former head office in London had "hit rock-bottom." She added: "The mood is very poor. Staff feel demoralised and undervalued. Management wants everybody out the door as quickly as possible."

In the meantime this week in the House of Commons, Liberal MP Simon Hughes presented a petition asking parliament to urge the Work and Pensions Secretary, James Purnell, to reconsider the closure of the Health and Safety Executives London Headquarters.

With the Public and Commercial Services Union compiling a petition supported by 1,903 signatures to highlight the dire implications of the move for HSE and its employees, Simon Hughes used this petition to request that parliament urges the government to reconsider the move in light of these consequences.

Commenting, he said:"It has been a privilege for Southwark to have the headquarters of the Health and Safety Executive within our boundaries. The HSE does a very important and lifesaving job. There is often a good case for dispersing public service employment out of London and around the UK. But I share the real concerns of the HSE London workforce that the dispersal plans could result in a harmful loss of the experienced and qualified staff that the HSE needs.

I've had a very helpful meeting with HSE staff at their headquarters in Rose Court on Southwark Bridge Road, and went with their representatives to put our case to the junior DWP minister, Lord Mackenzie.

This petition to parliament is now the strongest public call the staff and I can make to ask the Secretary of State to review the plans. The UK needs an effective Health and Safety Executive in the future. We must not put the health and safety of workers and residents in Britain at risk."

Source: TUC Risks / Simon Hughes website



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