Pictured above: Stephen Nye
The UK is being given a timely reminder this week of the
devastating impact that workplace deaths and serious injuries have
on the lives of countless families.
Workers' Memorial Day is taking place across the UK on 28th
April 2011, which leading industrial accident lawyer, Stephen Nye,
from Birmingham law firm, Irwin Mitchell, says will highlight the
potential problems caused by cuts to key Government safety
departments.
Nye said the true impact of significant cuts to the HSE and
Environmental Health departments remained to be seen - but workers,
and their families needed more support, not less.
"Workers' Memorial Day is a stark and chilling reminder of the
hundreds of lives that are lost needlessly each year and of the
knock-on effects as families across the country are left
devastated," Nye added.
"Yet it comes at a time when funding for the HSE is being cut to
the tune of around 35 per cent, alongside further cuts to
Environmental Health departments."
"The health and safety message has, gradually, been hitting home
in workplaces across the country and although death rates have
still been too high, they have been improving."
According to the HSE, total workplace injuries have fallen by an
annual average of 4.4 per cent over the last five years. Between
March 2004 and July 2008, total workplace injuries fell from
387,443 to 319,999, a fall of 4.4 per cent.
However, according to an HSE press release as recent as June 30,
2010, 11 workers were killed in London alone between April 2009 and
March 2010, a figure Nye says is 'simply unacceptable'.
He said: "Any loss of life as a result of negligence is simply
unacceptable and on Worker's Memorial Day it emphasises the
importance of treating health and safety as a top priority.
"The HSE will now be far less able to carry out inspections and
proceed with prosecutions against those who ignore the rules and
put workers lives at risk. Can we really expect safety standards to
improve, and the death and injury rate to fall, when employers who
break the rules, are becoming far less likely to be punished?
"It will increasingly be the case that companies are being
expected to self-regulate, which is never good enough. While most
employers are responsible and take the safety of their staff
seriously, it must not be left to chance that they will all stick
to the rules and regulations.
"There is also the concern that less scrupulous or rogue
employers will spot the opportunity to cut even more corners on
safety and yet more innocent lives could be lost at work.
"However, now, as we gather to remember those who have died at
work, it is more urgent than ever for employers to treat safety as
the highest possible priority."
He urged the Government to press on with plans to form an
Employers' Liability Insurance Bureau (ELIB) which would protect
workers left ill or seriously injured, in cases where no insurer
could be found.
He added: "Our cases often highlight the problems caused when
insurers cannot be found and setting up an ELIB would provide
invaluable support to people left injured or ill. It would, of
course, still be considerably preferable if nobody was injured or
made ill at their workplace, but an ELIB would help those with
nowhere to turn when the worst happens."