Page 9NEWS • VIEWS • INFORMATION • ADVICE‘Shameful’ health and safety claimsPrime Minister David Cameron has pledged to tackle what he described as the ‘health and safety monster’, claiming that employers are being ‘strangled by red tape and health and safety regulation’.Speaking to business leaders, he stated that the Coalition has made a new year’s resolution – ‘to kill off the health and safety culture for good’.The NASUWT is horrified by the Prime Minister’s determination to scrap vital protections that play a critical role in keeping millions of ordinary workers
safe.Mr Cameron has promised to clamp down on the ‘compensation culture’ by changing the law so that businesses are no longer automatically at fault if workers are injured or made ill by their work. The Prime Minister also set out plans to reduce the cost to businesses of personal injury cases by introducing a cap on the fees lawyers can claim and reducing the costs associated with ‘nowin, no-fee’ legal claims. The cost of insurance premiums for business owners will be
investigated.The Prime Minister has told business leaders that health and safety laws are hampering the economy and stifling businesses. He stated that he wants 2012 to be the year when the ‘pointless time wasting’ of health and safety regulation is scrapped. The NASUWT completely rejects the Prime Minister’s comments as it believes that workers need greater protection from illness and injury at work, not less. Mr Cameron appears determined to prioritise the spurious grumbles of the business lobby over protection for millions of ordinary
workers.The Coalition’s reforms will prevent workers receiving justice for injuries received at work and will enable negligent employers to continue to put workers’ health and wellbeing at risk, the NASUWT believes. The reality is that the average business spends only 20 hours a year on the administration of health and safety compliance and the number of health and safety regulations has halved since the Health and Safety at Work Act was introduced in 1974. Figures show that at least a quarter of a million workers are injured at work each year and 20,000 people die of work-related
illnesses.This costs the British economy over £30 billion a year. The NASUWT predicts that the UK will pay a huge financial and human cost as a result of the Government’s shameful failure to protect workers’ health and safety. The Union will be doing all it can to fight against the demolition of these critical
protections.Visit
www.nasuwt.org.uk/HealthAndSafetyDefend health and safety on Workers’ Memorial Day - Union workplaces are safer workplacesThe NASUWT is supporting the biggest-ever national workplace health and safety event on 28 April.Workers’ Memorial Day is designated as a national day of activity to defend health and safety from the unprecedented attack currently being mounted against workplace safety by the Coalition Government. The TUC will be promoting activities nationwide on 28 April and the NASUWT is urging members to take part or set up their own event. Further information on Workers’ Memorial Day and resources including posters and leaflets are already available at
www.tuc.org.uk/wmd.A lobbying guide will also be produced to support members to press their MP for action to reverse this assault on workers’
rights.Visit
www.nasuwt.org.uk/WorkersMemorialDay2012Legal challenge on pay deductions in sixth-form collegesFollowing the national day of strike action on 30 November, a number of sixth-form colleges adopted the Sixth-Form College Forum advice to deduct pay for participation in the strike at a rate of 1/260th of annual pay, rather than at the rate of 1/365th, which the NASUWT believes is the correct
formula.The NASUWT is preparing to challenge these decisions to ensure that no member loses disproportionate amounts of money as a result of taking part in lawful industrial
action.The Union is in the process of formulating a legal challenge on behalf of members to seek to rectify this
situation.Visit
www.nasuwt.org.uk/IndustrialActionParents to rate schoolsOfsted has launched ‘Parent View’, a new website inviting parents to give their views of schools in England. The site, which invites parents to rate their children’s school on its performance on a number of issues such as pupil behaviour and bullying, is open to abuse. The consequences of a negative response from parents could be serious for schools, with Ofsted stating that it will use the results to help determine whether a school needs to be inspected. While parents will have to supply an email address to use the website, they will be able to comment without identifying themselves. The NASUWT is concerned that Parent View could be misused by parents with a grudge against the school or a particular
teacher.Visit
www.nasuwt.org.uk/Inspection
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