TUC Demands New Health And Safety Legislation
In a week which saw two reports published calling for action to be taken to reduce the workplace death and injury toll blightingUK's industry, trade unions demand for the full force of legislation to be used against the UK's callous and deadliest bosses urgently.
Welcoming the report published Monday 13th July by the Work and Pensions Select Committee into workplace health and safety, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
"This is a strong endorsement of the recent report into construction deaths by Rita Donaghy. At this time of recession we need both strong regulation and a strong regulator.
The Government must ensure that funding for both the Health and Safety Executive and for local authority health and safety enforcement is increased to make sure that employers do not risk the health or lives of their workforce.
The TUC also welcomes the strong call for a new health and safety legal duty on directors. Ministers must act now to ensure that directors take more responsibility for health and safety and we hope that there will be legislation to bring this about in the next Queen's Speech."
TUC Risks quotes Mick Holder of the Hazards Campaign as saying that after the publication of two government reports in the past week supporting legal safety duties on company directors, 'ministers must act to make named bosses answerable for corporate safety crimes. Government must urgently agree to the recommendations of both these reports and get on with it!'
Source:TUC / TUC Risks