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April 8, 2011

Former safety minister questions ‘low-risk’ sector inspection policy

Lord McKenzie of Luton, health and safety minister under the previous government, has raised concerns that the HSE may no longer undertake reactive inspections for what the Government has classed as ‘lower-risk’ sectors.

The Government’s new framework for health and safety, which it set out last month in Good health and safety, good for everyone, proposes that there will no longer be proactive inspections for ‘lower-risk’ areas – which include electrical engineering, transport and education – nor for areas classified as ‘high concern’ – such as agriculture, quarries, and health and social care – where inspections are deemed unlikely to be effective.

The framework document goes on to state that, in areas such as construction, waste and recycling, and high-risk manufacturing, proactive inspections will continue. It also confirms that in both these sectors, as well as the areas of ‘high concern’, the HSE will continue to undertake reactive inspections “for enforcement purposes, or to follow up complaints when such an intervention appears to be necessary”. However, the document attributes no definitive statement to ‘lower-risk’ sectors, saying simply: “The basis on which HSE follows up complaints from workers and the public about health and safety, and investigates incidents, will be unchanged.”

Speaking in a debate on health and safety in the House of Lords earlier this week, Lord McKenzie (pictured) sought clarification on whether the HSE would continue to undertake reactive inspections in ‘lower-risk’ workplaces. He also asked for confirmation that the basis on which the Government had made its sector-classification decisions had also considered evidence relating to propensity for ill health in the sectors, as well as accidents and fatalities.

In reply, Lord Freud, under-secretary of state for work and pensions, said health is “part of the statistical base that will alert the HSE”, and confirmed that “the HSE will respond whether it is a lower-risk [sector], or a higher-risk, and that is exactly as I understood the section of the document to which the noble Lord referred”.

However, his answer failed to satisfy Lord McKenzie, who stressed: “The comment [in the document] seems to relate to the first two areas – areas of concern and areas of high risk – but not those of low risk.”

Lord Freud promised to clarify the situation in “a full letter” to the peer, before concluding: “I am confident that our health and safety changes are a force for good, ensuring that civil justice and health and safety law are applied sensibly. The emphasis should be on addressing real risks and preventing death, injury and ill health to those at work, and those affected by work-related activities.

“I have said before that we will not make the UK a safer place by wrapping everyone in cotton wool and avoiding all risk; we will do it by delivering a health and safety system that is fair, balanced and proportionate.”

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