Does HSE need more inspectors?
160. The Committee received evidence on enforcement activity
in two of HSE's priority programme areas - construction and the
health service. In the context of the construction industry, the
National Audit Office (NAO) found that there was one HSE inspector
for every 3,333 construction sites.[265]
The NAO described the strategic approach taken by HSE to maximise
the effectiveness of its work in the construction industry. Steps
taken included working with other stakeholders in the supply chain
(such as clients and designers), supplementing its usual site
inspections with blitzes concentrating on particular risks, and
initiatives targeted at workers, such as Safety and Health Awareness
Days. Nonetheless, both employers and unions in the sector told
the Committee they considered HSE to be under-resourced in terms
of being able to carry out the level of inspections needed in
the industry, The Construction Confederation, for example, told
us that HSE only had sufficient resources to be reactive after
the event and needed another 50 inspectors to be able to devote
more time to those sites where there was the highest risk of accidents
happening.[266]
161. The NHS Confederation told us that it did not feel
HSE was sufficiently well resourced to meet its objectives within
the NHS.[267] In 2003/04,
HSE had carried out 201 inspections within the health service,
where nearly 1.3 million staff are employed in many thousands
of workplaces. Concerns about lack of resources for enforcement
were echoed by the Royal College of Nursing and Unison.[268]
162. Evidence also suggested that HSE inspectors were
under considerable pressure. Mr Gary Booton of EEF told us that
inspectors appeared to be 'under time pressures not to dig into
what has happened
but simply to say, 'Right, there is one
more job, one more to tick off.' [269]
Mr Steve Kay of Prospect said that in order to be able to focus
limited resources on priority areas, inspectors were being told
to ignore other areas unless they became matters of evident concern.[270]
This pressure on inspectors' time has been recognised by the head
of the Field Operations Directorate (FOD), who has noted that
increasing the contact time inspectors have with duty holders
was a continuing concern in FOD.[271]
163. One of HSE's responses to this has been to pilot
new approaches, using visiting administrative staff working alongside
inspectors in frontline roles, to deliver key health and safety
messages.[272] There
are now some 60-70 such administrative staff and their work enables
inspectors to spend more time targeting the duty-holders most
in need of HSE attention. Prospect, the union representing HSE
professional staff, was, however concerned at untrained and unqualified
staff having a 'quasi-inspection role when what is needed is a
trained and qualified person to exercise their judgement.[273]
164. Mr Bill Callaghan, Chair of the HSC, did tell the
Committee that HSC had put a 'strong case to ministers for more
resources' in respect of occupational health support and communications
but was more equivocal when asked whether HSE needed more inspectors.[274]
Mr Gareth Williams of the Department for Work and Pensions said[275]:
"if you ask the HSE, as you did, had they more resources,
where would they put them, the answer would not be inspectors,
it would be around the advice and communication and prevention
upfront. Even if you sought to improve that ratio with the additional
funding to that order of magnitude, you still would not cover
every company, you would still only inspect them on a limited
number of occasions and the advice would depend on the day you
turned up."
165. However, the fact that even if the number of inspectors
increased, you would not cover every company, is not an argument
for not increasing the number of inspectors. The recent literature
review on the effectiveness of HSE's interventions found some
evidence that higher levels of enforcement would prompt organisations
to make further health and safety improvements.[276]
Furthermore, evidence shows that face to face contact is the most
effective way of providing information and advice, particularly
for small firms[277]
and inspectors are ideally placed to do this.
166. The Committee believes that the number of inspectors
needs to be increased in order that HSE can increase the number
of incidents investigated and the number of proactive inspections.
A further question is what level of increase HSE should be aiming
at. EEF, the manufacturers organisation, argued that[278]:
"We simply do not know whether the appointment of say
50 more health and safety inspectors would lead to improvement
x in health and safety performance and therefore secure saving
y for all concerned."
167. A number of other organisations provided us with
suggestions as to the level of increase HSE should aim at. Prospect
argued that the number of inspectors should be doubled so that
each workplace can be inspected at least every five years and
so that each new workplace is inspected in its first year of operation.[279]
It estimates that the cost of an additional 700 inspectors in
the Field Operations Directorate 'would rise to something like
£48 million after 6 to 7 years.'[280]
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health suggested that
as the majority of existing inspectors was focused on safety,
additional inspectors were needed to concentrate on health issues.[281]
It proposes doubling the number of inspectors in HSE (at
an eventual cost of some £77.3 million a year) and employing
an additional 150 full-time investigators to concentrate on work-related
road safety (at an estimated cost of £7.25 million pa.)
168. The Centre for Corporate Accountability suggested
that HSE should have sufficient resources to[282]:
- Adequately enforce section 3 of the Health and
Safety at Work Act, in relation to responsibility of employers
not to expose the public to health and safety risks;
- Investigate all major injuries falling into certain
categories, all dangerous occurrences, all cases of industrial
disease reported to it;
- Inspect all workplaces in certain hazardous industries
(manufacturing, agricultural workplaces, for example) at least
once a year and all workplaces at least once every five years;
- Investigate all deaths in a prompt manner;
- Introduce independent legal oversight for prosecutions;
- Employ a number of family liaison officers to
work with families at the time of death; and
- Increase resources available for monitoring local
authority enforcement activity.
169. As previously stated, the Committee
believes that a substantial increase in resources is needed for
inspection (see paragraph 82).
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