HSE resource shortage putting workers at risk, claims report

Workers are being put at risk because the Health and Safety Executive has a
serious shortage of resources, claims a joint report by the Centre for
Corporate Accountability and Unison.

Timed to coincide with European Health and Safety Week, the report shows a
serious decline in the number of workplace inspections – a 41 per cent drop
over the last five years.

David Bergman, director of the Centre for Corporate Accountability, said:
"The failure to investigate such a large number of major injuries and
dangerous occurrences – and to prosecute in such a small number of cases – has
serious implications for future prevention and ensuring proper accountability
of those who have committed offences."

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Hugh Robertson, Unison’s head of health and safety, said: "The answer
lies in more resources. We need the HSE to be proactively supporting employers,
but we also need more inspections, more investigations, and more prosecutions
of criminal employers."

www.unison.org.uk