HSE's new hard line pushes prosecutions up 20 %

News | HSW
01.12.2006

Prosecutions by HSE inspectors have risen more than 20% in six months, since an internal review discovered almost 10% of investigations meriting prosecution were not pursued.

Speaking at the launch of the 2005-06 work-related injury and ill-health figures (see opposite) HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger said the review had been prompted by the decline in prosecutions since the beginning of the decade - in 2005-06 inspectors brought 1,012 cases, down 23% on the previous year.

Podger said the continuing falls in prosecutions and notices might simply reflect improvements in safety management by employers, but concerns at the HSE had led them to commission an analysis of a sample of 126 investigations to see if they had produced appropriate outcomes. Podger said the review had turned up no instances where inspectors had been over-zealous, but had highlighted 12 cases "where prosecution should have been pursued when it was not."

He denied that inspectors had ever been instructed to adopt a lighter touch on enforcement in line with the government's promises to reduce the burden on business or in anticipation of the outcome of the McRory review of penalties.

Podger said that the audit had led to messages to staff at the beginning of the year emphasising the importance of appropriate enforcement. The result was that since March, the number of enforcement notices has risen by 20% and prosecutions "even more so".

"We do see signs of a reversal of the trend towards an ever-downward spiral," said Podger.

The former fall in formal enforcement activity has drawn criticism from trade unions. Noting last year's drop, the TUC expressed fears that recently announced job cuts at the HSE (see HSW August/September, page 4) might make any upward swing in prosecutions and notices short-lived. The executive has said the losses of between 250 and 350 jobs will come from support staff first but has not ruled out cutting the number of inspectors.