Health and Safety Legacy

Economic wizard Vince Cable has outlined his own idea for a legacy of
the Paralympics. By ditching Health and Safety checks he aims to make
sure plenty of people are disabled in the future.

We all know the tabloid jokes abour Health and Safety regulations,
tabloid stories about clowns being forbidden big shoes and children
being banned from playing conkers. However, most of us expect to buy
food that won't make us ill, or to work in a safe environment but it
is the "red tape" the government wants to destroy that ensures this is
so.

Unsurprisingly Alex Eichmann, head of regulatory policy at the
Institute of Directors, said: "The Government's efforts on
deregulation are welcome. Excessive regulation costs time and money,
both of which businesses would rather spend on developing new
products, hiring staff and building up British business both here and
abroad."

He failed to mention what a good idea "deregulation" of the banks
turned out to be.

It is ABC to any union Health and Safety rep that if a company can
maximise its profits at the expense of the health and safety of its
employees it will do so.

The only guarantee that employers will exercise a "duty of care" for
employees is a strong union organisation. Union health and safety
officers will have to take on the role which the Health and Safety
Executive has so shamefully abandoned.