Union warns on HSE bizarre bans list

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has introduced a cautionary note to the recent publication by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of a list of the 10 most bizarre situations for which companies and other organisations have used “health and safety” concerns to cancel activities or events in the past year.

In a statement responding to the publication of the list, the TUC urged the HSE not to use myths as an excuse to cut back on workplace safety.

Commenting on the bizarre bans, Brendan Barber, the General Secretary of the TUC, said, “Health and safety law is all about preventing illness and injuries at work and controlling the workplace risks to employees. Every listing in the HSE top 10 relates to public safety or insurance issues and has nothing to do with health and safety as it applies to workers.”

Mr Barber said the failure to find one example from a workplace shows “that the idea that the UK has an 'over-zealous' health and safety culture in Britain is a total myth”.

He added, “The opposite is in fact the case. Many employers fail to do even a basic safety risk assessment and so are putting the safety and well-being of their staff in jeopardy.”

Quoting official statistics which indicate that 1.2 million people currently at work have health problems caused by their jobs, Mr Barber said, “The problem is not employers using health and safety as an excuse but the Government using myths like this as a reason for cutting back on regulation, enforcement and guidance.”

Article from British Safety Council