HSE chiefs back at the Select Committee

I sat through HSE chief Exec Geoffrey Podger and chair Judith Hackitt's reappearance before the Work and Pensions Select Committee yesterday and at the end of a couple of hours wasn't really sure why the committee had bothered calling them back.

It may be that there were too many members missing (only 4 of the 11-strong committee were there), but there wasn't much probing. They asked about some of the most important issues: the HSE's new strategy; deaths at refurbishment sites; HSE morale; construction inspectorate numbers; devolving the nuclear inspectorate; the expected impact of the Health and Safety Offences Act on fines (if anyone wants a summary of the questions and answers on these, email me).

But the committee members didn't seem to pursue them very hard. Podger's claim that almost seven years of falling numbers of HSE prosecutions - there was a small rise in 2003/04 - didn't represent a downward trend went pretty much unchallenged, for instance. There was a lot of tentative tugging at loose ends and then moving on.

Given the HSE's dismissive response to the Select Committee's 97 recommendations in its special report on the HSE's work last year, I'd expected them to be a bit more challenging.

Louis

Long time, no write

I've been neglecting this, been very busy, but that's no excuse. Some highlights of the past couple of months:

HSE strategy launch
Then secretary of state of work and pensions James Purnell introducing the strategy in a distracted manner (he resigned the next day). Also Judith Hackitt's thousand-yard stare at the Q&A when Health and Safety Bulletin editor Howard Fidderman asked her why the only employer featured on the video to promote the strategy was Corus, whose health and safety record in recent years has been ... chequered.

RoSPA Congress
Bizarre sight of Tom Mullarkey interviewing HSE chief exec Geoffrey Podger in the manner of Ali G. Mullarkey was trying to make Podger touch fists with him and say "booyakasha!" Podger, wisely, refused to join in.

Safety & Health Expo in Birmingham
Lively, but predictably far quieter than in previous years. About 1/3 down on exhibitors and I'd guess the same on visitors. Difficult to tell how much of this is recession and how much the impact of competition from alternatives such as the Western Publishing regional shows in Sandown, Bolton and, soon, Edinburgh.

First corporate manslaughter charge
Everyone has already covered the ground about the defendant being a small company, so not really the kind the new law was intended to catch, see here. But a secondary wrinkle is the fact that if the prosecution succeeds, without any finalised guidelines on sentencing the judge might decide to follow the last draft guidance and set a fine at 5% of the company's annual turnover. That would be under £20,000, almost certainly lower than if the case had proceeded under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

I'll not leave it so long in future.

Louis