The Chartered body for safety and health professionals has called for the Conservative government to “get health and safety done” by committing to the protection of workers’ rights and future-proofing the UK’s world-leading health and safety system following yesterday’s general election.
IOSH calls on the government to provide assurance on health and safety for the 2020s; maintain its focus on eradicating human trafficking and modern slavery; and deliver upon its sustainability commitment by ensuring safety and health is at the heart of its proposed ‘infrastructure revolution’ and creation of two million new, high-quality jobs in clean growth.
Richard Jones, IOSH Head of Policy and Regulatory Engagement, said: “The UK ends this year and starts the next year and decade with a new majority Conservative government. It ran on a ‘get Brexit done’ slogan and has pledged high standards of workers’ rights.
“But as, concerningly, UK divergence could also allow a lowering of standards, IOSH calls on the Prime Minister to strengthen and future-proof the UK’s world-leading health and safety system and commit to get health and safety done.
“The 2020s need to see the UK substantially raise its performance on occupational safety and health, from improving mental health at work, to preventing long-latency diseases like occupational cancers; and from securing building fire safety to strengthening protections for the most vulnerable workers. It’s about ensuring long-term commitment and real action on health and safety that delivers a successful and sustainable future for all.”
IOSH pushes for urgent progress on all the key OSH public-policy areas, including:
- Occupational health service reforms and subsidies
- The right to request health-based modifications at work
- Mental health at work improvements
- Modern working practices reforms
- Better transparency on preventing modern slavery in supply chains
- National ‘post-Grenfell’ reforms on building regulation and fire safety
The IOSH Manifesto, Towards a safe and healthy world of work, highlights key OSH themes for UK and other Governments to help ensure a safe, healthy and sustainable future: https://www.iosh.com/media/6559/iosh-manifesto-2019.pdf
IOSH’s white paper, Tackling modern slavery together, outlines the role of governments, employers, professionals and the public in eradicating modern slavery: https://www.iosh.com/media/5672/iosh-modern-slavery-whitepaper_sept2019.pdf
IOSH