HSE needs more funding, say unions

The Unite general union last month called on the government to increase funding for the HSE health and safety watchdog.

The union’s call followed unannounced spot checks on over 1,000 construction sites by the HSE in September. This revealed that almost half the sites failed the checks and were found to have material breaches of health and safety law.

Unite points out that by the end of Parliament, the HSE will have seen its budget slashed by 35%.

Assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said the spot checks are proof that the HSE “needs more capacity and funding”.

Her words were echoed by Steve Murphy, general secretary of the UCATT construction union, who called for more funding for construction inspections.

Murphy pointed out that inspectors are only able to visit “a small percentage of all the construction sites in the country”.

He added: “These findings demonstrate why the HSE needs more resources to conduct this type of inspection in all parts of the country throughout the year.”