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United in Government Call for End to Dangerous Deregulation

23 June 2017 | Updated 01 January 1970
 

The UK Government has been urged to scrap its approach to deregulation of health and safety legislation in the light of the Grenfell Tower blaze.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, over 70 major organisations and figures from the UK’s safety and health profession have jointly called for a political sea-change in attitude towards health and safety regulation and fire risk management following the tragedy.

The collective has also pressed the Government to complete its review of Part B of the Building Regulations 2010 – the regulations which cover fire safety within and around buildings in England – as a matter of urgency.

The letter is signed by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), Park Health & Safety, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and the British Safety Council.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA), International Institute of Risk & Safety Management (IIRSM), National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH), Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Unite the union have also given it their backing, alongside senior health and safety professionals.

'We believe it is totally unacceptable for residents, members of the public and our emergency services to be exposed to this level of preventable risk in modern-day Britain', the letter states.

'At this crucial time of national reflection and sorrow, we urge all politicians to re-emphasise the need for effective health and safety regulation and competent fire risk management. These are fundamental to saving lives and sustaining our communities.

'We believe it is vital that this disaster marks a turning point for improved fire safety awareness and wider appreciation that good health and safety is an investment, not a cost'.

 

Part B

In calling on the UK Government to complete its review of Part B of The Building Regulations 2010, the signatories added: 'Together, we offer our organisations’ support in undertaking the review – we all have valuable links to experts in this area who can advise on best regulatory outcomes. In the meantime, we welcome the Government’s commitment to act and to implement the interim findings of the forthcoming public inquiry.

'You have it in your power to remove immediately a further risk to people at work and outside of the workplace – unwise deregulation – which threatens public and worker safety.

'We, leaders in health and safety in the UK, call on you to scrap the Government’s approach to health and safety deregulation and think again'.

 

The open letter, in full, is as follows:

Dear Prime Minister,

There have, understandably, been strong public reactions to the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower and its tragic consequences – the largest civilian loss of life from a single event in the UK since the Hillsborough disaster.

The occupational safety and health community is deeply saddened and disturbed by the Grenfell Tower fire and all the lives it claimed. We believe it is totally unacceptable for residents, members of the public and our emergency services to be exposed to this level of preventable risk in modern-day Britain.

Central Government and the Kensington and Chelsea local authority share responsibility for building standards and their enforcement locally, as well as for the funding and management of the maintenance of social housing. These responsibilities must be backed up with good, essential regulations.

However, for many years, Ministers and others with influence over them have called for, including in health and safety, regulations to be axed as a matter of principle. Arbitrary rules were imposed to establish deregulation of health and safety, such as a requirement to abolish two health and safety regulations (and more recently, three) for any new one adopted.

This mind-set has meant that, even when it was recommended and accepted that mandatory fitting of sprinklers would make homes or schools safer, this was rejected in favour of non-regulatory action. In practice, this approach favours inaction.

Good, well-evidenced and proportionate regulations in health and safety, based on full consultation, are developed and adopted because they save lives and protect people’s health and wellbeing. They are not “burdens on business” but provide essential protection for the public from identifiable risks.

At this crucial time of national reflection and sorrow, we urge all politicians to re-emphasise the need for effective health and safety regulation and competent fire risk management. These are fundamental to saving lives and sustaining our communities.

We believe it is vital that this disaster marks a turning point for improved fire safety awareness and wider appreciation that good health and safety is an investment, not a cost.

We call on the Government to accelerate and confirm the timeframe for completing its review of Part B of The Building Regulations 2010 and to include a focus on improved safety in the forthcoming Parliament.

Together, we offer our organisations’ support in undertaking the review – we all have valuable links to experts in this area who can advise on best regulatory outcomes. In the meantime, we welcome the Government’s commitment to act and to implement the interim findings of the forthcoming public inquiry.

You have it in your power to remove immediately a further risk to people at work and outside of the workplace – unwise deregulation – which threatens public and worker safety.

We, leaders in health and safety in the UK, call on you to scrap the Government’s approach to health and safety deregulation and think again. This could be announced immediately, it does not need to await the results of a public inquiry, and is the least that the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire deserve.

Also supported by:

Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH)

Anne Godfrey, Chief Executive

Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA)

Peter Crosland, Civil Engineering Director

International Institute of Risk & Safety Management (IIRSM)

Siobhan Donnelly, President

Phillip Pearson, Chief Executive

National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH)

Teresa Budworth, Chief Executive

Trades Union Congress (TUC)

Hugh Robertson, Senior Health and Safety Officer

Unite the union

Susan Murray, National Health and Safety Adviser

Stephen Asbury CFIOSH

James Barnes BSc (Hons) LFOH

Karen Baxter CMIOSH

Roger Bibbings MBE

Joe Brannigan LLB (hons) DipLP PgDip Construction Law CMIOSH

Melanie Boucher, MSc CMIOSH

David Brown RSP FIIRSM DipNEBOSH MIOSH MILM

Professor Neil Budworth MSc CFIOSH FIIRSM HonFFOM

Dr Tim Carter

Iris Cepero, Editor, Safety Management magazine

Professor John Cherrie PhD CFFOH

Arnold Clements BSc, MSc CMIOSH CEng MEI

Philip J Cullen BSc (Hons) CMIOSH

Declan Davis CMIOSH

Brian Donnachie BA (Hons) CMIOSH

Phil Dyson-Hurrell MIIRSM

Coenraad Fourie

?Lisa Fowlie MSc BSc CFIOSH FIIRSM

Shelley Frost BSc (Hons), Post Grad DipOHS, Executive Director – Policy, IOSH

Professor Alistair Gibb PhD CEng MICE MCIOB, Loughborough University

Melodie Gilbert

Dr David Gold PhD CMIOSH, Chair, IOSH Fire Risk Management Group

Robert Hackett

Neil Hancox CMIOSH, Managing Director, Safety Intervention Services

Anne Harris

Cllr Ali Hashem

Andy Hawkes, Deputy President, IIRSM

Angela Hayden CFIOSH

Clinton Horn CFIOSH

Andrew Hoskins MSc CMIOSH FIIRSM PIEMA

Chris Hughes BSc, LTT Consultancy

Ian Hughes MSc BSc (Hons) Cert Ed Dip2OSH SPDipEM CMIOSH

Kelvin Hughes CMIOSH

Dr Roberta Jacobson OBE

Clive Johnson, Council Member, IIRSM

Ann Jones MBE CFIOSH

Wayne Jones, Chair, Cardiff & South East Wales Occupational Health and Safety Group

Wendy Jones

Martin Lovegrove CMIOSH MIIRSM PIEMA

James McDonald BSc CMIOSH MREHIS

Denis Murphy CMIOSH MIIRSM RMaPS

Cllr Caroline Needham

John O’Keeffe CMIOSH

Shirley Parsons MSc CMIOSH

Louise Phillipson

Stu Pollard BSc, PgCert CMIOSH

Ian Rabett CMIOSH

Dylan Roberts

Angela Rudkin Tech IOSH

Mike Salmon MSc, CFIOSH

Jonathan Schifferes MA

Jim Senior CMIOSH

Phil Sidman MIFE, MIFPO

Karl Simons MSc MIoD CMIOSH

Dr Susan Tannahill CMIOSH

Mohammad Torabi BSc MSc MA CMIOSH

Ceiran Trow CMFOH

Graham Twigg MSc CMIOSH PIEMA

Michelle Twigg MSc CMIOSH

Alex Vaughan

Dr Emma Wadsworth, Cardiff University

Professor David Walters, Cardiff University

Louise Ward BSc (Hons) CMIOSH

Selina Woolcott BSc (Hons) DipOHS CMIOSH

Picture: Major organisations wrote to the Government prior to the Queen's speech this week ending June 23, calling for an end to deregulation of health and safety legislation in the light of the Grenfell Tower blaze

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 23 June 2017

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