HSE ‘needs proper support to enforce new guidance’

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE)must have proper support if it is to enforce new guidelines on safe working through the coronavirus pandemic (see TUC: new guidelines not tough enough, right) and manage the transition back to work safely, specialists’ union Prospect has demanded.

After prime minister Boris Johnson claimed the safety watchdog would be doing “spot checks” of workplaces to ensure compliance with the new rules, the government announced an additional £14m would be made available to the HSE.

But Prospect says this is a fraction of the money the HSE has lost in government cuts in recent years. It is just 10% of the real-terms funding cut the HSE has experienced over the past 10 years and there are now fewer than 500 main grade inspectors in the UK.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-boris-johnson-work-places-covid-secure-checks-a9520021.html

https://prospect.org.uk/news/hse-needs-proper-support-to-enforce-new-safety-regime