TUC calls for more health and safety

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has written to MPs to call for more rigorous enforcement of health and safety laws by a safety watchdog.

Parliament's Work and Pensions Select Committee review of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Health and Safety Commission (HSC), chaired by Bradford Labour MP Terry Rooney, was contacted by the body.

Reorganisation, more funding and less staff cuts are all areas which the TUC has suggested improvements in.

Speaking to Aberceder.co.uk, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "We are confident that the select committee will look at the real issues facing the HSE which relate to a lack of resources and a need for more priority to be given to enforcement."

She added that the HSE "must concentrate on developing a strong regulatory regime and that silly notions of overregulation and risk aversion are nonsense".

The TUC represents around seven million, employed people in 70 trade unions.

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