'Rare safety inspections threaten lives'
The lives of workers in the UK and members of the public are being put at risk because not enough visits are being made by health and safety inspectors, the British trade union organisation TUC claimed today.
Two out of five union safety representatives said their workplace had never been inspected by a health and safety official or by the local authority environmental health department.
One in 10 of the 4,500 union officials surveyed said it was more than three years since their office or factory had last been officially inspected.
London was the worst region for inspections, while central government departments and financial firms were most likely never to been visited by a health and safety official, according to the TUC.
When an inspector did visit a workplace, union safety reps were often ignored, according to the report.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Sadly a visit from a safety inspector is still all too rare an occurrence for the overwhelming majority of employers.
“Regular inspections are an ideal way of keeping firms on their toes but, at the current rate, they could wait years for an inspector to call. In the meantime, workers and members of the public are being put at risk.
“The fear that an inspection might happen is sufficient to make most employers get their safety act together. But the threat is not enough to mend the ways of the bosses who are the most reckless with their employees’ safety.
“If we are serious about improving the UK’s poor workplace safety record, the government must allocate extra resources to the Health and Safety Executive and local councils to enable them to increase the number of inspectors able to visit companies on a regular basis.”
Manufacturing firms and workplaces in the energy and water sectors were most likely to have been checked in the past year, according to the poll.
