CHARTER SHOULD COVER WORKPLACE VICTIMS, SAYS TUC

The TUC is calling for the Victim's Charter to include the victims of workplace crimes, particularly where breaches of health and safety law have led to injury or illness. The charter, originally issued in 1990, sets out the standards of service which victims of crime can expect. The Home Office is currently consulting on how to improve it. The introduction of new statutory rights for victims and the creation of a victim's ombudsman are among the proposals.

There are over four thousand prosecutions for health and safety breaches in Britain every year, and many involve injuries to working people. However the victims are rarely properly involved in the process.

The TUC believes that extending the Victim's Charter to cover workplace injury and illness would signal the importance of such crimes, which are all too often seen as mere technical breaches of regulations, or only accidentally leading to injury or illness.

The proposed new Charter sets out seven principles that should be followed when dealing with the victims of crime. They include providing accurate and timely information, compensation and reparation. It would also give victims the opportunity to say how they have been affected by the crime.

The TUC is keen that victims should be able to tell the courts how they have been affected by their injury or illness, believing this could lead to the courts making more use of their existing powers to levy heavy fines on those found guilty of health and safety breaches.