Monday 28th April, 12.30pm, Sudell Cross, Blackburn
International Workers Memorial Day has become a significant annual event in the Trade Union calendar. It is an occaision for us to pause and reflect on the price too many workers still pay simply in order to make a living or follow their careers, and to recommit to fighting for safer workplaces and stronger worker protections.
It has become a part of our culture and one of the ways in which we express the solidarity that lies at the heart of our Trade Union committment.
Has the argument for workplace Health and Safety is one that has already been won? Certainly the picture has much improved from when the Health and Safety Executive began its work 50 years ago, in January 1975. In that year there were over 600 deaths at work in Britain.
But the latest figures still show that 138 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2023/24, most of whom (88) were employees of companies, whilst the rest were self-employed. 604,000 workers sustained a self-reported non-fatal injury in the workplace during the same period, an increase on the year before.
The number of workers reported to be suffering from work-related ill-health during 2023/24 was 1.7 million –similar to 2022/23, which hit an all-time record of 1.8 million.
And there are workplace harms that go under the radar. No one counts, for instance, the number of work-related suicides.
Britain sees itself as having been a pioneer in general Health and Safety legislation, but some argue that we have not maintained that leading position. In their 2020 paper “International health and safety standards after Brexit”, Dr Andrew Moretta and Professor David Whyte – both of the University of Liverpool – found that in terms of support for international health and safety standards, the UK government was on a par with the governments of Saudi Arabia, North Macedonia and Cameroon. Each of these countries has ratified just six of the 36 up-to-date health and safety Conventions put forth by the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO) – fewer than one in five.
And last year’s Report for the Commission for Healthier Working Lives, “Exploring the interactions between job quality, industries and health”, found that British workplaces rank among the worst in Europe for workplace demands, control at work and job strain. Three fifths of the workforce report having to work to tight deadlines and two fifths at high speed, both of which are among the highest rates in Europe. Just one third of workers say they have control over how they work – the lowest rate in Europe.
According to an article on the Lancaster University “Work Foundation” website this February (“Health and Safety Gone Mad?”) “…..the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), experienced substantial funding cuts. Budgets fell from £228 million in 2010 to a low of £126 million in 2019. Funding subsequently increased to £185 million in 2022, but this still amounts to a 43% real terms funding cut since 2010. Staffing at the agency has also been reported to have fallen by 35%.
“This has had a significant impact on the HSE’s ability to conduct its enforcement duties. Prospect has reported prior to 2010, HSE conducted more than 25,000 annual inspections; in its 2022/23 business plan HSE’s inspection target was 14,000. Additionally, the number of mandatory HSE investigations that were not carried out due to issues with resourcing, increases 200-fold between 2016/17 and 2021/22”.
Rory O’Neill, from “Hazards”, notes “A Hazards freedom of information request to HSE found in both 2014/15 and 2015/16 there were over 600 successful prosecutions each year. In 2022/23 and 2023/24 this had fallen to fewer than 300 each year”.
The Trade Union “Prospect” did much to highlight these issues with their publication “HSE under pressure: A perfect storm”.
“Hazards” says: “Inspections and enforcement matter, as they can identify risks before they turn to harm, can identify and assist well-intentioned but poorly performing employers and can ensure justice for those harmed by their employer’s criminal disregard for health and safety. But there’s another positive outcome. Naming and shaming through prosecutions, penalties and the associated publicity has a sobering effect by encouraging erring employers back on a safe path”.
Few people will openly criticise the ideal of workplace Health and Safety, but given what we have already seen happen to the HSE it seems only sensible to question where the “bonfire of regulations” advocated by “red-tape cutting” Primrose League type nationalists is intended to go.
We get some sort of indication when we hear Reform UK Party Leader, Nigel Farage, describe the provision of ergonomic chairs by Lancashire County Council as “waste”. In the United States, the Trump Presidency presents itself in a similar fashion, as reducing onerous public spending and oversight on the grounds that they infringe upon individual liberty and hinder economic growth and competitiveness. According to “The Independent” on 1st April “The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is…..on the chopping block, impacting than a thousand workers. The agency and others are being stitched together under one centralized entity that HHS leadership says will “improve coordination of health resources……..The United Mine Works of America said that the government had announced the potential closure of as many as 34 Mine Safety and Health Administration regional offices “with no provisions as to how the agency will be able to continue its mission of keeping miners safe on the job”.
We make no apology, then, for saying that Workplace Health and Safety remains a cause we must campaign around.
Join us on Monday 28th April, at 12.30pm, by the “Memorial Tree” at the Sudell Cross end of Northgate, Blackburn, as we gather to mark International Workers Memorial Day 2025.