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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."
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."
