member Jorge Ortega.
The issue of violence at work was very high on the agenda of the conference, with a training workshop, speakers on the subject and debate on the resolution.
The conference also considered the important issue of health and safety under a Labour Government.
Lord John Hendy KC began his speech by looking at the effectiveness of current legislation, primarily the Health and Safety at Work Act. Fatal injuries have fallen by around 85% since the early 70s, (but this is mainly because of the decline in heavy industry). But HSE stats do not include ill health self-reported by workers. The 2024 Labour Force Survey showed that 1.8 million workers felt they were suffering from new long-standing forms of illness that they believed had been caused by or made worse by work. The vast majority of these health conditions compromise MSK (musculoskeletal) disorders and cases, of stress, depression and anxiety and so are intimately connected to the way in which work tasks and processes are designed and controlled.
Lord Hendy explained the Health and Safety at Work Act’s failure as being down to a lack of collective worker voice (only about 25% of workers are now
covered by collective bargaining – it was 80% between the end of Second World War and the 1980’s) and the adoption by enforcement agencies a seeing enforcement as a ‘matter of last resort’ philosophy. At the same time, the safety management systems of many larger organisations, have been criticised for focussing too much attention on controlling worker behaviour, rather than removing risks at source.
Lord Hendy said that it was hoped that the Labour Government’s Employment Rights’ Bill would provide an opportunity for updating health and safety at work law. But contrary to the commitment in Labour’s A New Deal for Working People, the Bill has not brought the HSE into the Single Enforcement Body and the Bill does not deal with health and safety at work.
However, the document accompanying the bill, Next Steps to Make Work Pay , does promise, in line with the New Deal commitment, to review ‘health and safety guidance and regulations’. It does not say that the 1974 Act will be reviewed, and it does not say that there will be more resources. Additionally, it gives no timescale for the review.
That review – when it comes - will be the place for the trade union movement with RMT in the lead to demand a radical overhaul of legislation and enforcement in this field.
