Government Can't Leave Safety At Work To Emloyers

The government's insistence that workplace safety laws hold back the economy and that safety enforcement is a diversion business could and should do without is 'a cynical - and ultimately deadly - lie,' a new report has charged.

The new issue of the safety journal Hazards magazine examining the government's safety strategy notes: 'Your life just got a little bit cheaper. Safety regulations and enforcement are out of favour, and for more and more workers, this could mean they are out of luck.'

It adds 'this immoral government strategy will exact a high human and economic cost.' The report is critical of ministers for giving business the inside track on policy making. It says this privileged access comes both in face-to-face meetings and increasingly in policy initiatives like its Focus on Enforcement, where only a business viewpoint is sought.

Hazards says while safety minster Chris Grayling is happy to hold regular sessions with business lobby groups to hear their safety wishlist, relatives group Families Against Corporate Killers is still waiting a year after requesting an audience.

The journal notes: 'The government would prefer to limit the business of consultation to business,' and points to the May 2012 Focus on Enforcement consultation which asked just those British chemical firms covered by the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (COMAH) - those with the potential to cause the worst devastation if they go bang - how they'd like their safety enforced (Risks 556). 'No-one else - certainly not the workers or local residents who would be blown to smithereens - gets a look in,' it concludes.

Source: TUC Risks

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