The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) marks its 50th anniversary today (31 July), prompting calls from the TUC for the new government to build on its success.
The Act, which gained Royal Assent in July 1974, introduced mandatory health and safety measures across UK workplaces for the first time.
While the TUC believes the HSWA has made major progress in saving lives, it wants more government funding to prevent work-related deaths, highlighting that there has been an average of more than 100 each year in Britain for the past decade.
Specifically, the trade union body is urging the government to restore “adequate funding” to the Health and Safety Executive.
The TUC is also calling for the government to take action to speed up asbestos removal from all workplaces, protect the role of trade union health and safety representatives, and allow unions to enter and organise workplaces that lack union representation, and foster a culture of positive industrial relations so that both employers and workers benefit from a collaborative approach to improving health and safety.
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TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The Act made it a duty for every employer to protect the health and safety of staff. Thousands of lives have been saved since then. It shows how valuable government can be when put at the service of working people.
“All deaths, injuries, and illnesses at work are preventable. But workplace inspections and prosecutions have plummeted because of Conservative cuts. And more than a hundred people died from work-related injuries last year.
“We need fresh funding and fresh thinking. Government, unions and employers must work together to raise workplace safety to the next level. Every worker deserves to be safe, wherever they work and whatever they do.”
First published in 1972, the Robens Report led to the establishment of a health and safety authority, now the Health and Safety Executive, as well as the HSWA itself.
Based on data from both the report and official statistics since 1974, the TUC estimates that since the legislation became effective there have been around 14,000 fewer fatal injuries at work.
Sarah Albon, HSE’s chief executive, said: “The Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 received Royal Assent 50 years ago today on July 31, 1974. The Act led to the creation of HSE on January 1, 1975. It transformed the workplace in Great Britain, meaning far fewer people are killed, injured, or made ill by work activity 50 years later. Indeed, today Great Britain is one of the safest places in the world to work.
“Half a century later the principles set out in this ground-breaking piece of legislation are as relevant as ever. The Act is still at the core of our work to protect people and places, and together with our coregulators we use it to enforce safety standards and bring to justice those who break the law. We remain committed to making sure people are safe and healthy wherever work is taking place.”
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