HSE accused of secrecy, distortions and misinformation
February 6th 2008 Alan Ritchie, general secretary of construction union UCATT has warned that a culture of secrecy and misinformation at the Health and Safety Executive is risking workers safety.
Giving evidence to the Department for Work and Pensions select committee Mr Ritchie was due on Monday to describe how the HSE has recently blocked inquiries to ascertain the current death toll of workers, despite this information previously being available.
He was also to suggest the HSE deliberately distorted the take up of voluntary guidance on director’s duties, saying that when the HSE released its latest voluntary guidance in October last year, it claimed that voluntary take up of director level health and safety duties stood at 79% when UCATT says in fact the real figure was just 44%. The union says the higher figure only related to very large organisations.
A further concern of UCATT's relates to the HSE’s failure to maintain accurate information on its conviction databases. The union says the HSE directed academic researchers to use this information and then complained that the research was inaccurate when published.
Finally, according to UCATT's website, he was to highlight a lack of transparency at the HSE which could be placing at risk construction workers coming into contact with asbestos. The HSE’s next campaign on asbestos will highlight the dangers faced by construction workers. Controversially the campaign has downgraded the dangers faced by carpenters (traditionally the construction trade thought to be at greatest risk).
The HSE has said the downgrading is due to new research, which has allowed for a reassessment of those most at risk. After three months of requesting this evidence from the HSE, no information has been provided to UCATT, to justify this policy, the union has said.
Prior to the evidence session, Alan Ritchie, said: “We have genuine concerns that affect workers safety. You do not make workers safer by distorting and hiding the truth. We have tried working constructively with the HSE but these issues are getting worse. The HSE should be our allies in making construction sites safer. However their obstructive attitude is allowing killer bosses to literally get away with murder.”
Last year 77 construction workers were killed at work a 31 per cent increase on the previous year. Due to HSE’s restrictions on supplying information it is not known exactly how many workers have been killed this year. The figure is at least 52 with two months of the reporting year remaining.
Mr Ritchie, added: “UCATT’s difficulties are not with the HSE inspectors who do a good job in difficult circumstances, with tight budget constraints. However it is clear to me that the problems stem from the HSE leadership. They are pursuing polices which are not in the best interests of construction workers.”
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