Half of UK workplaces ‘have never had a safety inspection’

Posted 08/11/2010

Almost half of the UK’s workplaces have never had a visit from a health and safety inspector, despite the threat this could pose to employees.

This is the discovery of a poll by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which also showed that nine per cent of respondents reported their last safety inspection as being more than three years ago.

Just 27 per cent said they had received a visit in the last year, while the likelihood of being seen by an inspector was smaller among companies with fewer than 50 employees.

In these organisations, only 16 per cent had been visited during the past year.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber called the news a “scandal”.

“Deep cuts in spending will make it easier for employers to avoid their obligations under the law to protect their staff at work,” he warned.

This comes after new statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive showed that 1.3 million people were suffering from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by their work during 2009-10.