The HSE’s plans on ‘worker involvement’ have been attacked by unions for failing to address the issue of specific legal duties on employers to deal with safety representatives. The criticism came after the HSE presented a paper on the findings of its worker involvement exercise to the HSC at a public meeting in Aberdeen on 15 March.

The paper outlined suggestions for involving workers in health and safety management, but provoked anger from trade union Amicus and the TUC’s Hazards Campaign.

Their main greivance, was that despite 91 per cent of respondents agreeing there should be a duty on employers to consult safety reps on risk assessments, and 96 per cent saying there should be a duty on employers to respond to representations from safety reps, the HSE did not recommend changes be made to current health and safety law by the Commission.

Expressing dissappointment at union reaction to the paper, the HSE told SHP: ”The HSC reaffirmed its strong support for safety reps at the meeting. The paper made it clear that, while 91 per cent of respondents thought a duty to consult safety representatives would be useful, this figure masked a much less enthusiastic response from employers, of whom only 42 per cent were in favour. For example, the CBI objected strongly to the proposal for a legal duty to consult safety representatives.

“It is true that a far greater number of respondents were in favour of a duty to respond to safety representatives, though again, employers’ representative organisations, such as the CBI, were against this being a specific legal duty. There was no consensus on either point.

“A consultation exercise is a not a vote, with the greatest number of replies in favour of a particular option ‘winning’. Looking only at the numbers of respondents with a particular view would have been an insult to the hundreds of people who took the time to respond. Instead, HSE read each response carefully, taking note of the shades of opinion they expressed.

“Without evidence that the changes proposed would lead to health and safety benefits that outweigh the costs, HSE is not in a position to propose that the Commission recommend changes to ministers”.
A recent survey in Hazards magazine found that the top problem facing union safety reps was the difficulty of getting employers to act on safety concerns. The survey also discovered that safety reps feel there is a lack of support from the official safety enforcement agencies.For more information on the consultation, visit: www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/

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