25 per cent cut in health and safety inspectors

Figures obtained by Unite, via a Freedom of Information request, reveal that since 2010 there has been a 25 per cent reduction in the number of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors. In 2010 there were 1,311 frontline inspectors by 31 December 2016 that number had reduced to just 980.

The cut in inspectors follows Unite’s revelation earlier this week, also acquired via an FOI that it takes three years four months on average from a fatal workplace accident until those responsible are brought to justice.

The HSE has been in the frontline of the Conservative’s obsession with cutting so called ‘red tape’. The organisation will see its funding cut by the end of this parliament to nearly half (a 46 per cent reduction) of what it was in 2010 and a series of safety laws have also been scrapped.

Unite acting general secretary Gail Cartmail, said: “HSE inspectors play a vital role in keeping workers safe. It is clear that the HSE is being denied the resources to undertake its role properly.”