Just who does HSE protect?

Hazards Magazine, OCT – DEC 2007 accused the HSE of failing to perform adequately.

It stated that HSE’s desperately poor safety enforcement record just took a turn for the worse. Now 9 out of 10 major injuries don’t result in an investigation, HSE inspections have hit a new low and the last two years have seen the worst enforcement performance on record. Hazards editor Rory O'Neill says only dangerous employers now have reason to feel safe.

He claimed that there was hardly any enforcement and that this was borne out by the statistics.

FATALITIES UP 241 worker deaths in 2006/07 compared to 217 in 2005/06, an 11 per cent increase.

FATALITY RATE UP 0.8 workers killed per 100,000 in 2006/07 compared to 0.72 per 100,000 in 2005/06, a 10 per cent increase.

INSPECTIONS DOWN 41,496 HSE inspections in 2006/07 compared to 54,717 in 2005/06, a 24 per cent decrease.

INSPECTION RATE DOWN HSE enforced workplaces in 2006/07 could expect an inspection on average once every 14.5 years, compared to once ever 7 years in 2001/02.

INVESTIGATIONS DOWN the proportion of major injuries investigated by HSE fell to 11 per cent in 2005/06 from 13 per cent in 2004/05.

PROSECUTIONS REMAIN LOW 1,056 offences prosecuted by HSE in 2005/06 compared to 1,320 in 2004/05, a fall of 20 per cent. Convictions dropped by 10 per cent. Provisional figures for 2006/07 show a minor improvement in prosecutions and convictions, but the last two years remain the worst on record.

NOTICES REMAIN LOW 6,593 enforcement notices issued by HSE in 2005/06 compared to 8,471 in 2004/05, a fall of over 22 per cent. Prohibition notices were down by 18 per cent and improvement notices by 24 per cent. The provisional total notices figure rose to 8,071 in 2006/07, but the last two years remain the worst on record.

These figures were taken from the HSE's own statistics.
www.hse.gov.uk/statistics

There are serious concerns the enforcement crisis at HSE will worsen, as further funding cuts bite. HSE has already lost over 250 jobs since April 2006 and faces a further 100 job losses in the second half of the financial year. HSE is grappling with the news that the anticipated 15 per cent budget cut by 2011 to meet Treasury efficiency targets may in fact be larger still.
Chancellor Alistair Darling’s announcement that HSE’s parent department DWP would take a 5.6 per cent hit year on year from 2008-2010 was 12 per cent more than the 5 per cent cut it had been led to believe was on the cards.

Since 2002, HSE has lost over 1,000 posts as a result of government spending cuts; HSE union Prospect says the organisation now employs fewer than 3,250 staff, down from over 4,000 when Labour took office.

But as HSE struggled this year to cope with a crippling funding crisis it was pushed into areas of work with no relevance to workers’ health – including taking the lead on and footing the £100,000 bill for the investigation into this summer’s foot and mouth outbreak linked to the Pirbright laboratory near Guildford. Foot and mouth is a non-fatal disease of animals presenting no risk at all to humans.

Mike Macdonald, negotiations officer with HSE inspectors’ union Prospect, said cash-strapped watchdog “cannot meet its public expectations to advise, inspect and enforce workplace health and safety.” He added: “Better funding for the HSE would be good for workers concerned about their safety, employers seeking advice and the taxpayer who meets the costs of higher benefit and insurance because of rising accident rates.”

To read the full report please click on the link below
http://www.hazards.org/enforcement/whodoeshseprotect.htm