Safety chief urges councils to address falling resources and rising injury rate

HSC Press Release C057:02 - 11 December 2002

Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), today praised the majority of local authorities (LAs) for their efforts to improve health and safety in LA-enforced workplaces, but told council leaders and chief executives that urgent action was needed if they were to contribute fully to achieving the targets set by the Government's Revitalising Health and Safety programme.

Mr Callaghan was addressing around 200 senior managers from LAs across the country at the Health and Safety Executive Local Authority Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA) annual conference - "Health and Safety Enforcement - Helping LAs Deliver" - where he also launched the HELA Annual Report 2002 and the HELA National Picture 2002, which showed a worrying decline in resources allocated nationally to health and safety enforcement by LAs. It also showed a reduction in inspection and enforcement activity.

Mr Callaghan commented:

"I challenge chief executives and leaders of councils to act now to reduce this decline in trained and competent staff allocated to health and safety, and to enable local authorities to play their part in reducing the number of deaths and injuries in the premises for which they are responsible.

"A more balanced risk-based approach to allocation of resources is needed. This requires education of the public, service managers and politicians, particularly elected members, to better understand the difference between hazard and risk. This is needed to appreciate the simple economic benefits - as well as the morality - of reducing and controlling health and safety risks, thereby providing safer workplaces and a healthier workforce."

Bill Callaghan also commented on the programme of audits, agreed by HSC a year ago to enable them to closely monitor local authorities' management of health and safety enforcement. He said:

"The first year has focused on those local authorities identified as possible poor performers. This approach will continue, and, if a council fails to reach the required standard, HSC will intervene. A report of this intervention would be presented to ministers and be made public. The HSC will take positive action."

Mr Callaghan also announced that HELA itself would be subject to review:

"As part of the process of seeking more effective ways of engaging LAs, the HELA Committee has agreed that it should undergo a fundamental review. There have been a number of substantial changes in local government and in HSE since the last review, and the general consensus is that it is time to look again."

In conclusion, he praised the majority of LAs for their continued hard work, but said:

"I would also ask you to work with me to tackle those that do not have the same commitment. This will require tenacity, perseverance and mutual support amongst the 400-plus local authorities, HSE/HSC, government and other stakeholders."

Notes to Editors

1. Revitalising targets

The Revitalising injury indicator (rate of reported fatal and major injuries adjusted for reporting levels) for the mainly LA-enforced sectors reduced by 17% between 1996/97 and 1998/99 from 237.5 to 196.5. However, the rate increased by 6% in 1999/00 to 207.6 and despite remaining relatively stable in 2000/01 is expected to increase substantially in 2001/02 (to 239.3). This increase is due to the large increase in the major rate compared with the estimated small improvement in reporting of non-fatal injuries overall.

(Note: The Labour Force Survey (LFS) does not allow calculation of separate reporting levels for major and over-3-day injuries. Past research suggested that reporting of major and over-3-day injuries did not differ significantly. Potentially this picture may be changing, and if so the uprating factor has been too high for the major injury element.) If major injuries as a proportion of all non-fatal injuries remained the same as in 2000/01, then the provisional Revitalising indicator would be 214.1, indicating a possible overstatement in the region of 13%. A fuller assessment of the impact of the Incident Contact Centre (ICC) on reporting levels will be made when the results of the 2002/03 LFS are available next year.

2. Local authority accident and enforcement statistics

• LA health and safety resources continue to decline and as workloads increase (in terms of premises per Full Time Equivalent (FTE) inspector) there has been a corresponding reduction in overall enforcement activity (including visit rates and formal notices). However, there is continuing evidence of better targeting by LAs, to premises of highest risk, an increase in handling requests for service, and the rate of visiting per FTE inspector has been maintained. More LAs have indicated using agency staff to carry out health and safety duties, 21% in 2000/01 compared with 15% in 1999/2000.
• Over the past five years there has been a rising trend in the number of reported fatal injuries to members of the public. Overall, figures for individual industry sectors generally fluctuate year on year with no rising trend, although there has been an increase in residential care homes in 2001/02 (from 6 to 16). In contrast, across all industry, non-fatal injuries to the public, excluding suicide or trespass on railways, increased by 41% between 1996/97 and 1999/00 and have decreased by 33% over the last two years.
• The trend in fatal injuries to employees over the past 10 years is downward. Set against that trend, the decrease in 2001/02 is not statistically significant. Across all industry, the rates of fatal injury to employees in 2000/01 and 2001/02 are above those expected had the downward trend of the 1990s continued.
• Rates of reported major and over-3-day injury to employees have generally decreased in each of the past five years. However, 2001/02 provisional figures show a substantial increase (18%) in the major rate and a marginal increase (1%) in the over-3-day rate. Across all industries, the rates of major and over-3-day injury decreased between 1996/97 and 2000/01, but with a greater drop in the major rate. In 2001/02 the rate of major injury remained similar, while the rate of over-3-day injury fell by almost 6%.
• LFS rates of non-fatal injury have increased marginally since 1998/99 and are expected to increase again in 2001/02. The overall picture for non-fatal injuries to employees suggests a small improvement in reporting in 2001/02 but potentially a greater relative improvement in reporting of major injuries compared with over-3-day. Across all industry, reporting levels are expected to be lower again in 2001/02, however the relative change in major versus over-3-day injury rates is also apparent.

3. HELA awards for innovation

The winners of this year's HELA Awards for Innovation were announced by Bill Myers, Joint HELA Chair, and presented by Bill Callaghan at 10:45am. The overall award winner is Barking and Dagenham. Other awards were presented to Bradford Metropolitan District, Great Yarmouth Borough, Kirklees Metropolitan Borough, York City, Suffolk County and , Chichester District councils.

Copies of the HELA Annual Report 2002 are available from HSE Local Authority Unit, 9SW, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS, or visit our website at www.hse.gov.uk/lau

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