Workers put at health and safety risk
16 November 2004
A PRESTON solicitor specialising in helping victims of accidents at work believes new research shows workers and members of the public are being put at risk by a lack of workplace health and safety visits.
MWR Solicitors in Preston, says the latest TUC (Trades Union Congress) report reveals that 39% of workplaces with union safety reps have never been visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or an environmental health officer.
The TUC findings showed that 11% of workplaces surveyed had not been inspected for more than three years.
However when an inspector has called, many have failed to speak to union safety reps. Nearly 40% of safety reps reported that when an inspector visited their workplace they had not been spoken to during the visit.
Morag Robertson, solicitor at MWR, believes that a lack of workplace visits could put both employees and members of the public at risk.
She said that most employers do get their safety act together with the threat of an imminent inspection however the statistics showed that visits were becoming an increasingly rare occurrence.
Morag said: “It’s unfortunate that financial restraints are having a knock-on effect on Health and Safety standards.”
The TUC report also showed that 49% of manufacturing companies, and 47% of workplaces in the energy and water sectors, were the most likely to have been checked during the last year.
However, 70% of central government departments, and 61% of financial sector firms, were the most likely never to have been inspected.
Companies with larger workforces of more than 1,000 employees are more likely to have had an inspector visit in the past 12 months, with 40% of safety reps reporting visits, compared to 24% of firms with less than 100 workers.
