Sep 06 2007
The public sector - plenty of health and safety laws, not enough health and safety
The government still believes that a combination of public sector activity in sensitive areas and plenty of health and safety laws will keep us all safe. It is time it looked at its own record more critically.
I have often mentioned the 6000 people who died in hospital in 2005 where a hospital acquired infection was on the death certificate. Today we need to consider the the cases of Pirbright and the Cumbrian train crash.
The revelation that foot and mouth disease spread from a damaged pipe taking infected material across the site of the government and private sector labs should alarm Ministers. They will doubtless hope they can blame the private sector contractor, but the fact remains that the company is a contractor working for the government on a shared site. At best for the government it is a shared responsibility. The risks taken were to produce vaccines which the government is reluctant to use, preferring the policy of wholesale slaughtering of cattle once the infection leaks out. No-one suggests there was a shortage of rules and laws trying to prevent what happened.
Even more alarming was the news that taking the maintenance of railway track back in house by Network Rail, the government’s own monopolist to run the track, did not keep travellers safe in Cumbria. We have heard less about this because the Unions and the government know that they cannot blame the private sector for this dreadful error. When Network Rail took the maintenance work back in house we were told this should stop these crashes.
In order to have an intelligent debate about safety it is time the government admitted
1. There are more than enough laws and regulations telling people they have to be safe
2. There is no evidence to suggest the public sector is safer than the private sector - the railway experience under nationalisation was not accident free
3. Keeping services safe depends on good executive leadership and well motivated staff, not on elaborate rule books and box ticking.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
I find it incredible when the left talk about the failings of the fabled private sector and how health and safety is sacrificed in the name of ‘Profit’ After all the tangled regulation that has been passed down from government they can’t claim that the private sector cuts corners on health and safety. Accidents occur down to incompetence and often individual human error. Nontheless the left always try to add ideological imput to any tragedy. They claim its always the fault of the bosses or business etc.
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Don’t forget that, according to the radio report I heard at least, the Cumbria crash happened because the safety inspector decided to go home early rather than check those points which, unfortunately, turned out to be broken!
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John, The question to ask of the government is whether a Hazop study of the site and Hazid study have been carried out. If so do a freedom of infromation request and get hold of them, if not - why not ? They are certainly required of much of the process industries.
Reply. Good idea to use F o I.
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