09-01-2008
Increase health & safety funding urges FSB
Government funding for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) needs to be increased if the escalation in the number of construction deaths, which has risen from 60 to 77, is to be reversed, warns the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
It laid out its position in written evidence to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry into the operation and work of the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Richard Diment, Director-General of the FMB says, “Any action that saves a life is worth taking. It is therefore incredulous that at a time when the Government is wanting to cut the number of deaths on construction sites ... a series of cuts to HSE staff has to be made in order for the HSE to say within budget. HSE has already had to make staffing cuts in 2003-4 and a further 250-350 posts are to be lost by 2008 via natural wastage.”
Diment continued, “What is the point in the Government introducing yet more health and safety legislation such as the new Corporate Manslaughter Act when it doesn’t provide the resources to enforce what legislation it already has in place. It makes a nonsense of the whole process.”
