Official statistics reveal steep drop in enforcement

A dramatic decline in enforcement action is undermining health and safety in workplaces, the TUC has warned.

Published last month, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report Health and safety offences and penalties 2004/2005 revealed a 35% reduction in the number of prosecutions of employers in the past three years. And the number of enforcement notices served fell by 25% in the last year alone.

And it's not just the HSE that is letting employers off the hook: local authorities are taking fewer companies to court as a result of accidents and injuries sustained at work. In the past ten years, local council prosecutions have dropped by 50%, with a 75% fall in the number of enforcement notices issued.

"At the moment it's very easy for employers who've put their employees' health and safety at risk to escape punishment," said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber. "We have to see more inspectors out there visiting workplaces, more targeted prosecutions of offending employers and more use of enforcement notices.

Barber added that the government should provide the HSE with extra resources "so that it can do its job properly".

The HSE report can be downloaded from www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/off0405/off0405.pdf