Are 40 new HSE inspectors enough?

Craig Stuart
Member - 85 posts

Trade Unions would certainly want to see more Inspectors taken on and more powers given to them. Unfortunately, the HSE's authority has been watered down of late and has moved to much more of a 'monitoring' role. This can be best seen by looking at the recent prosecution figures that do not reflect in any way the steady increase in workplace deaths. You may wish to look at the website of the campaign group 'Hazards' - www.hazards.org - where there are other examples of HSE failings.

David Price
Member - 80 posts

it is a fact that the Health & Safety Ex have a very limited manpower when it comes to carrying out ad hoc inspections, In the good old days a visit from the HSE was feared by most if not all companys. Now days however the chance of getting a suprise vist from them is about as much chance as winning the lottery.

If the Govenment really wanted to clamp down on breaches in relation to H&S then it is more power and more inspectors that are needed not just more inspectors who seem to have addopted an advisory role.

If the HSE is not careful people who really don't care about H&S will just see them as a hinderance and not a help, it is a well known fact that H&S compliance in most cases is only carred out by those companys who can afford it, and the little guy down the road probably doesn't even know what a Risk Assessment is and nor does he want to know.

There are a lot of companys who spend thousands every year ensuring that they comply just in case an accident happens, and there are others who spend nothing because unless an accident does happen they have saved themselves a lot of money, as the fines that are issued never seem to reflect the seriousness of the accident, and the HSE cannot issue a fine that would put a company out of business.