COMMUNITY STRATEGY 2007-2012: HEALTH AND
SAFETY AT WORK (6775/07)
Letter from the Chairman to Lord McKenzie
of Luton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Work and Pensions
Your Explanatory Memorandum (EM) on the above
Communication was considered by Sub-Committee G (Social and Consumer
Affairs) at its meeting of 29 March 2007.
We welcome the overall focus of the Strategy
on improving the implementation of existing legislation and simplifying
where possible. We are of the view, however, that good implementation
of existing legislation and application of good practice should
lead to a significant reduction in work-place accidents without
the need for a specific EU-wide target. Such a target has, however,
been proposed by the Commission. Your EM states that different
Member States would make different contributions to any target,
based on an assessment of national priorities. We would appreciate
a further explanation of your thoughts in this regard.
We are pleased to note the inclusion in the
Strategy of mental health in the workplace. As you will be aware,
Sub-Committee G has been undertaking an Inquiry into the Commission's
Green Paper on Mental Health. The final Report will be published
shortly.[123]
We will be particularly interested to read the Government's response
to the Report in the light of the Commission's call in the Strategy
for national strategies to incorporate specific initiatives aimed
at preventing mental health problems and promoting mental health
more effectively.
Finally, the Commission has stated that one
aspect of the strategy is the need to support SMEs in the implementation
of relevant legislation. We would be grateful for information
from you on the likely nature of this support.
We will hold the Communication under scrutiny
and we look forward to further information from covering the points
made above prior to adoption of the Council Resolution.
29 March 2007
Letter from Lord McKenzie of Luton to
the Chairman
Thank you for your letter of 29 March on this
Communication. I am delighted to hear that the Committee shares
the Government's view that there is much to welcome in the Commission's
new Community strategy on health and safety at work.
The Committee asked for the Government's views
on how different Member States would contribute to the 25% accident
reduction target. It may help the Committee to know that, in a
presentation to the Council's Social Questions Working Party on
21 March, the Commission indicated that its target of a 25% reduction
in the incidence rate of accidents at work was intended to be
seen as an aspiration and not as anything more definite. Furthermore,
it accepted that the only way in which an EU-wide target could
work was through Member States setting their own targets, since
it is not the Commission that has to take the action required
to reduce accident rates, but national Governments and the social
partners. This presentation therefore reinforced the Commission's
Communication, particularly at section 5, where it says that "The
degree to which the Community strategy is successful will depend
on the Member States being committed to adopting coherent national
strategies ... These strategies should be defined on the basis
of a detailed evaluation of the national situation ...".
Britain has used national targets to help improve
health and safety at work for nearly seven years now. In June
2000, the Government and the Health and Safety Commission (HSC)
set national targets, which were to:
— Reduce the number of working days
lost per 100,000 workers from work-related injury and ill health
by 30% by 2010;
— Reduce the incidence rate of fatal
and major injury accidents by 10% by 2010;
— Reduce the incidence rate of cases
of occupational ill health by 20% by 2010; and
— Achieve half the improvement under
each target by the halfway stage (2004).
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concluded
that, at the halfway stage, the working days lost reduction target
was possibly met, the reduction target for ill health was probably
met, but the target for reducing the incidence rate for fatal
and major injuries was not met. The current assessment is that
we are on track to meet the days lost and ill health 10 year targets,
but we still have some work to do on accident rates. Not only
do the targets play an important role in engaging key health and
safety stakeholders in improving national health and safety performance,
but they also allow HSC to track progress against its workplace
health and safety strategy to 2010 and beyond.
The Committee will readily see that achieving
a 25% reduction in workplace accident rates over 5 years in Britain
would be extremely challenging, not least because the UK has one
of the best workplace health and safety records in the EU. Member
states all start from different positions. It is only sensible
that different member states make different contributions to achieving
the target.
I note the Committee's comments on the Strategy's
call to incorporate specific initiatives on mental health into
national health and safety strategies. We look forward to the
forthcoming Report from Sub-Committee G on the Commission's Green
Paper on Mental Health. The Government will respond to that in
due course.
The Committee asked for the Government's views
on the likely nature of support for SMEs. The Commission suggests
in its Communication (at section 4.1) that support for SMEs needs
to take several forms, but it particularly notes instruments such
as good practice guidance written in simple language that is easy
to understand and easy to put into practice; simple tools to facilitate
risk assessment; and advice on the promotion of workers' health.
In the UK, we already have several examples
of how the Government and the devolved administrations are providing
workplace health advice to SMEs, through:
— HSE's "Workplace Health Connect"
service, specifically aimed at SMEs;
— The Scottish Executive's Health at
Work Awards, delivered through the Scottish Centre for Healthy
Working Lives;
— The Welsh Assembly Government's Corporate
Health Standards; and
— NHS Plus, which provides advice on
occupational health.
In addition, HSE is developing a strategy for
more effective communication and engagement with small businesses.
This will include a strong emphasis on ensuring we provide suitable
information and advice to small businesses to help them comply
with their regulatory requirements.
I hope this reply answers the Committee's questions
satisfactorily.
12 April 2007
123 "Improving the mental health of the population":
can the European Union help? 14th Report of Session 2006-07, HL
Paper 73. Back
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