Prevention better than cure, says new parliamentary group

News | HSP
17.01.2008

A new all-party parliamentary group has been formed to lobby on accident prevention issues.

RoSPA president Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen will chair the group, which aims to raise the profile of accident prevention and provide a voice for the families of the 12,000 people killed in accidents each year and the millions more who are injured.

The group's focus will cover occupational safety, road safety and home safety.
 
Baroness Gibson has written to the Prime Minister requesting the appointment of a minister with responsibility for accident prevention.
 
She said the government's current fragmented approach - with one department responsible for occupational safety and another for road safety - meant that nobody was looking at the picture as a whole.

Baroness Gibson told HSP: "There is already a very good all-party group that does a lot on health and safety at work in relation to asbestos and that kind of issue - they've put a lot of pressure on the government in terms of responses to health and safety.

"We're working with them and some of their members are part of this group. But our main emphasis is going to be on prevention ... Our aim is obviously to keep our eye on legislation and intervene where we feel there's an opportunity to prevent accidents, but also to share knowledge and expertise with MPs and peers."

The group expects to meet three or four times each year.