Member Article

MPs and Peers support health and safety manifesto

MPs and Peers have shown their support for the launch of the British Safety Council manifesto, Working Well.

At the launch they listened to corporate members of the British Safety Council, who spoke about what they did in practice to ensure workers are kept healthy and safe.

Alex Botha, chief executive of the British Safety Council, said: “The British Safety Council attaches great importance to the work of many Parliamentarians who campaign tirelessly to help keep our workplaces healthy and safe.

“We all need to work together to help shift the debate on health and safety. Now is the time to talk about the real benefits, particularly business ones, of well managed, sensible health and safety. It’s not about the silly stories, the bad press.

“It’s about the steps that can be taken to ensure workers are kept safe and lives saved. It’s not rocket science.”

Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith & Fulham commented: “It’s aspirational. It’s not telling people what to do, it’s not detailed, it’s not pettifogging, it’s about cultural change. It’s about saying health and safety is everyone’s job.

“That, to me, sums up what is best about health and safety in this country; the whole principle of the Health and Safety at Work Act and that’s what the British Safety Council is about, and that’s what the manifesto is about too.

“Whether we are talking about industrial disease or whether we are talking about health and safety at work generally, we’ve got to ensure, in the interests of not just the individual or society as a whole, but in the interests of the economy, that health and safety is still a priority.”

Andrew Miller, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston added: “Health and safety is the hidden success story of the last 40 years, since the coming into force of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974. Yes we have silly stories, we have to debunk those stories and we have to bring safety to the forefront in every workplace.

“The London 2012 Olympic construction projects, where probably for the first time there has been no work related fatality in the lead up to a major games is a fantastic success story and one we should be proud of.

“We need to see messages that come from this work translate into every work place, right down to the corner shop. And yes, we can do it.”

Steve Rotheram, MP for Liverpool Walton, also said: “These are five sensible steps that everybody should find very palatable, sign up for and then try and do what we all can individually and certainly collectively in a place like the House of Commons to see whether we can push forward that agenda.

“Those who say that its health and safety gone mad, really have damaged the whole push forward we’ve made in the last 50 years in this country towards making things much safer.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .