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Workplace health ‘must be a priority for Labour’

The Hazards Campaign has launched a campaign charter for occupational health and safety aimed at an incoming Labour government.

The charter calls for a change in the law to recognise the crime of corporate homicide, for which company directors could be held personally liable; introduction in the UK of European measures to protect workers’ health, such as the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty and the Working Hours Directive; and stricter enforcement of existing UK health and safety legislation.

In addition, the Hazards Campaign wants to see better control of hazardous chemicals, including a ban on lindane, organophosphates and others, and a ban on asbestos containing products.

David Dury, convenor of the working group which drafted the charter, said: ‘Many of the demands are already Labour Party policy. The job now is to ensure that they become priorities for an incoming Labour government.’

The charter argues that current legislation is less effective than it could be because enforcement agencies —principally the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities—are under-resourced.

‘Year on year cuts in HSE funding have resulted in companies being inspected only once every 17 years, on average’, said Mr Dury.

The Hazards Campaign calls for adequate funding for enforcement agencies, togather with a review of their current relationships and the introduction of legislation which would allow individuals to take out private prosecutions against employers if necessary.

Hazards activists are also concerned that increased job insecurity and coercive management practices have led to a rise in work-related stress. Employers should recognise work-related stress in risk assessments, and it should also be recognised as an industrial injury for the purpose of sickness benefits, they argue.

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Hazards Campaign: 0114 276 5693