"Plan to involve workers", Lord Hunt tells local authorities

E162:05 14 December 2005

Lord Hunt, Minister responsible for health and safety at work, today called on local authorities to ensure that they make worker involvement a key element of their health and safety work programme for 2006/7. His announcement heralded the launch of the Health and Safety Commission's (HSC's) local authority phase of its Worker Involvement Programme.

Speaking at the joint LG Regulation (formerly LACORS) (Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services) and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) national conference held in Westminster today, Lord Hunt recognised the important role that local authorities play in improving occupational safety and health. Lord Hunt said: "Local authorities are responsible for enforcement in over 50% of work premises with almost half the employed workforce and the decisions you make on risk have a major impact."

HSE believe that the people best placed to make workplaces safer from harm are the staff and managers who work in them. Supporting this, Lord Hunt said: " Our ambitions for lower rates of injury and ill-health cannot succeed without the participation and vigilance of those who work with the risks and their representative organisations, the unions.

"An actively engaged workforce is one of the foundations that supports good health and safety. I would urge workers to engage with their employer in pursuit of healthier and safer workplaces."

Lord Hunt also called on all local authorities to "put worker involvement on their plans of work for health and safety activities for the coming year which, working through the partnership arrangements, will contribute enormously to making worker involvement a reality."

The Worker Involvement Programme will be working with HSE regional Partnership Managers to encourage local authorities to put worker involvement into their plans of work. A variety of tools will be developed in the coming months to help local authorities in making worker involvement central to the management of health and safety in their sector.

Notes to editors

• The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) sees workforce involvement in health and safety as a key strategic issue and central to improving health and safety standards in the UK. It has issued a collective declaration to emphasise the importance of workers: A Collective Declaration on Worker Involvement [PDF 76kb]
• To support the development of their vision of worker involvement the HSC has launched the Worker Involvement Programme. Further information on the programme can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/workers/involvement/index.htm
• LG Regulation (formerly LACORS) (the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services) provides advice and guidance to help support local authority regulatory and related services. It was set up in 1978 to coordinate the enforcement activities of trading standards officers. Since 1991 LG Regulation (formerly LACORS) has also worked on food safety and is currently responsible for a range of other regulatory and related services. Further information is available on the LG Regulation (formerly LACORS) website at www.lacors.gov.uk/pages/trade/lacors.asp
• The Health and Safety Partnership Conference 2005: Local Authorities and HSE Working together - Now and the Future , was held on 14 December 2005 at the QEII Conference Centre, Westminster, London. Lord Hunt gave the keynote address. The focus for this year's event was the current and future opportunities and challenges for the LA/HSE partnership. The conference brings together elected local council members and enforcement officers from the HSE and local authorities.

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