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Planned move risks health and safety

4 July 2008

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union working for the Health and Safety Executive will begin a campaign of industrial action next week over the closure of its London HQ.

So far only 10 staff out of more than 300, just four per cent, have expressed an interest in relocating top Bootle in Merseyside. The business case for the single head office assumed it would be more like 130, or 40 per cent.

Given this loss of vital skills and expertise, and threats of disciplinary action if staff don’t make alternative arrangements, 73 per cent of members voting in a ballot opted to take action short of a strike. The action starts on Monday (7 July).

This comes against a background of job cuts in HSE that has seen total staff numbers fall below 3,000, a year on year reduction in the number of inspections and prosecutions and a report by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies that finds at least twice as many people die from fatal injuries at work than are victims of homicide.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Staff in London HQ play a vital and active role in HSE’s efforts to keep people healthy and safe at work. Their technical knowledge of health and safety and understanding of the political environment, magnified by years of experience in building relationships with other government departments and stakeholders, makes HSE the modern, world recognised and relevant organisation that it is today.

“Already, nearly 100 staff and four senior managers, including both deputy chief executives, have left. We believe the risks to the organisation of losing this vital expertise are now too great, which is why we are calling on the HSE and the government to think again.”

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