Committee to investigate health and safety bodies

A House of Commons select committee is to examine the effectiveness of the UK's main health and safety bodies, it was revealed this week.

The Work and Pensions Committee announced an inquiry "to examine the work of the Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety Executive and the effectiveness of current arrangements to promote high standards of health and safety."

The Health and Safety Commission (HSE) is the Government body responsible for health and safety policymaking, strategy and research, with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) providing practical support through its enforcement, inspection and advice.

The news follows fierce criticism in recent months that the HSE is facing a "funding crisis", leading to fewer inspections and poorer enforcement of safety regulations.

Responsibility for the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and the HSE was transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in June 2002.

Sufficient resources?
The Commons committee said that now was an "appropriate time" to look at the HSC and HSE's contribution to health and safety, following the publication in October 2003 of a draft document for consultation, outlining the HSC's future strategy to 2010 and beyond. The final document is expected to be published later this year.

Among the questions the committee will seek to answer is whether the HSE is sufficiently well-resourced to meet its various responsibilities? It will also examine to what extent is there "good coordination" between the HSE and those other parts of central and local government.

Prospect, the union representing almost 2,000 inspectors, scientists and other professionals at the HSE, has been leading a campaign highlighting what it calls a "funding crisis" at the Executive.

The union has claimed that almost 10% of inspector's jobs are to be lost in the near future, reducing the number of investigations and inspections carried out by around 10,000 each year.

A spokeswoman for Prospect told the NetRisk that it welcomed the announcement of the committee inquiry and that it, along with other unions, would be submitting evidence.

Other issues
The Commons committee will also examine the current legislative framework. In particular it will ask whether the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and subsequent legislation at national and European level, has been successful in improving standards of health and safety.

It will also look at whether the UK is on course to meet the targets set out in the Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy. The strategy was launched in June 2000 by the Government, with the aim of "injecting impetus into the health and safety agenda".

The investigation will question whether the HSE is "getting the balance right" between prevention and enforcement and whether it is "sufficiently proactive" to address developing hazards at work such as stress and passive smoking?

Other issues such as appropriate penalties for health and safety offences, the level of understanding of health and safety legislation and whether enough emphasis is place on 'health' in 'health and safety' will be addressed.

Johnny Thomson