1 INTRODUCTION
1. It is only necessary to open a newspaper
or watch a news bulletin in the days, weeks and months following
a major accident or incident to realise that the issue of health
and safety touches all of us in our daily lives and, wrongly or
inadequately implemented, can bring the lives of those closest
to us to an end or cause serious injury.
2. In undertaking this inquiry the Committee
is not responding to any single event, although several major
incidents did occur during the short lifetime of the inquiry.[1]
But away from the headlines there are some disturbing statistics.
For example in 2002/03, 226 workers were fatally injured, there
were 28,426 reported major injuries and 126,004 reported over-3-day
injuries. [2] Moreover
these figures do not include death and injuries arising from occupational
road accidents.
3. The Government is aware of the seriousness
of the situation and in June 2000 launched its Revitalising
Health and Safety Strategy Statement (Revitalising).
This set targets to reduce the number of working days lost from
work-related injury and ill health, reduce the incidence of fatal
and major injury accidents and reduce the rate of work-related
ill health.
4. The Committee resolved to see whether
these ambitious targets were likely to be met, while reaching
a judgment on the adequacy of the resources provided. The inquiry
was announced on 14 January 2004 with the aim of examining 'the
work of the Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety
Executive, and the effectiveness of current arrangements to promote
high standards of health and safety.'
5. As a result of the announcement we received
66 written submissions and took oral evidence from 27 organisations
over 7 sessions. The response was in itself an indication that
the subject needed the kind of detailed examination provided by
a Select Committee.[3]
The oral evidence sessions included employers, trade unions,
professional bodies, organisations representing victims, central
and local government and the Minister for Work.[4]
During the course of the inquiry we undertook brief study visits
- to Madrid, to look at the Spanish health and safety system,
to Bilbao, to visit the headquarters of the European Agency for
Safety and Health at Work and to the European Commission in Brussels.
We also visited, and took evidence in, Scotland, to look at how
HSC/E had responded to devolution. We are very grateful to all
those who submitted memoranda, to those who gave oral evidence
and to those who helped the Committee in its work.
6. The inquiry set out to examine the work
of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) and the effectiveness of current arrangements
to promote high standards of health and safety. Within HSE, we
focused principally on the work of the Field Operations Directorate.
However we decided that it would help the inquiry and our understanding
of the issues, if we focussed on health and safety in two sectors
of employment. We therefore agreed that our inquiry would include
case studies of two problematic sectors: the construction industry
and health and social care.
7. Throughout the inquiry the Committee
has benefited greatly from the expert assistance of our three
Specialist Advisers: Professor Jouni Jaakkola of Birmingham University,
Professor Philip James of Middlesex University Business School
and Professor David Walters of Cardiff University. The subject
of the inquiry was new to the Committee and was an area in which
some of us had no previous experience. We are therefore hugely
grateful to the Advisers for identifying issues and people meriting
our attention and explaining the more technical topics to us.
1 The explosion at the plastics factory at Grovepark
Street Glasgow on 11 May 2004 (www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/extras/00020600.aspx)
the death of 19 cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay on 5 February
(new.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk news/England/Lancashire/3465109.stm-36k);
and the death of three agricultural workers in Norfolk on 12 July
(http://news/bbc.co.uk/hi/england/norfolk/3886925) Back
2
HSC, Health and Safety Statistics Highlights 2002/03, National
Statistics. Examples of major injuries include: fractures (except
to fingers, thumbs or toes), amputations, dislocations (of shoulder,
hip, knee and spine) and other injuries leading to resuscitation
or 24-hour admittance to hospital. Over-three-day injuries are
injuries that lead to workers being absent from work or unable
to do their usual job for over three days. Provisional statistics
provided by HSC who that there were 30,000 reported major injuries
and 96,733 over-three day injuries in 2003/04, see Volume II,
(Ev 38). Back
3
Responsibility for HSE and HSC transferred from the Department
for Transport, Local Government and the Regions to the Department
for Work and Pensions in 2002.The Environment. Transport and Regional
Affairs Committee produced a report on The Work of the Health
and Safety Executive in 2000. Back
4
A full list of witnesses is at page 108 Back
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