Employers are increasingly likely to go unpunished after workplace accidents, according to research by Prospect Union that reveals the number of investigations dropped by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) due to insufficient resources has surged.

The number of mandatory HSE investigations that weren’t carried out because of resourcing issues increased nearly 200-fold between 2016/17 and 2021/22.

This is shown in Prospect’s report, HSE under pressure: a perfect storm, which details the build-up of problems at the HSE after years of underfunding, overwork and underpay.

The research, using HSE’s own figures, shows that in 2016/17 just two mandatory investigations were cancelled because of insufficient resources; in 2021/22 the figure was 389.

Prospect argues that this is indicative of an overall reduction in capacity, which is a direct result of a decade of reduced funding affecting recruitment, pay and morale.

Overall cash funding for HSE fell dramatically from £228m in 2010 to £126m in 2019. There has been a recovery since then to £185m in 2022. The long-term cash decline and overall significant real-terms funding decline (current funding is still 43% below 2010 once one-off ringfenced payments are taken into account) have left the HSE with a staffing and skills crisis that will be difficult to overcome.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, said:

“The COVID-19 pandemic really highlighted that if you want safe workplaces then you need to have an effective regulator in place with sufficient skills and capacity to inspect workplaces and hold employers to account. If appropriate levels of inspections and mandatory investigations are not happening, half of them because of a lack of resources, then that should worry anyone who values safety at work. The bottom line is that if effective investigations cannot be carried out then those who are at fault for an accident may get away with it, depriving victims of justice and making workplaces less safe.

“This is a problem that is mirrored across the public sector and in regulators in particular: Insufficient pay, too much work and the loss of key skills to the better-paying private sector. It’s time for government to wake up – this is something that will only get worse unless they do something urgently.”

Although HSE is an arms-length body, and independent of government, says Prospect, it still operates in a political climate, serving government and ministerial interests. The HSE has to maintain its role of being an effective regulator and keeping workplace health and safety’s profile low during the electoral cycle.

Prospect considers the HSE’s latest ten-year strategy as deregulatory in its approach, reflecting the diminishing organisation it is. The strategy says:

“Our expectation and evidence suggest that most businesses have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to manage safety risk for themselves. The maturity of business and their increased level of understanding of safety risks means that we can look to regulate in different ways.”

Prospect is concerned that this means a departure from previous expectations, and that businesses will be left more and more to self-regulate. They will not be routinely inspected to make sure they comply. Instead, they will be “engaged” through the likes of call centres, digital platforms and social media campaigns. Although current available digital tools are more sophisticated, this approach has been criticised by previous select committee examinations of HSE.

Prospect says:

“If COVID-19 demonstrated one thing in relation to health and safety at work, it’s that the public expects workplaces that don’t comply with the law, or don’t have the appropriate standards in place, will be inspected by appropriately qualified staff. Unfortunately, with only a rump inspectorate, that expectation is continuously being failed. HSE has instead dallied with the use of contractors (companies with experience of debt-collecting, for example) with low levels of training and skills to visit businesses and create an impression of still having a presence on the ground. It’s time for a new campaign to save the HSE and demand a realignment of the HSE, to ensure its independence and activities are in line with public and stakeholder expectations.”

Investigations and inspections
The HSE’s website advises that it targets and inspects dutyholders:

• In sectors which have the most serious risks.
• Where it has information and intelligence that health and safety is a significant concern, such as:
  • • Previous performance;
  • • Concerns raised by workers, the public or others;
  • • Incident investigations; or
  • • Reports of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences.

It states that it is “impossible for us to inspect every one of the estimated 5.2 million businesses in Great Britain. We therefore target those sectors and activities:

• With the most serious risks; and
• Where the risks are least well-controlled.”

When the HSE investigates, it says, it:

• Gathers and establishes the facts;
• Identifies immediate and underlying causes and lessons to be learned;
• Takes actions to prevent recurrence;
• Identifies any breaches of legislation; and
• Considers appropriate enforcement.

An investigation may range from an enquiry by a single inspector about a minor incident or complaint to a large enquiry involving a team of inspectors. Other agencies may be involved, e.g. the police where there has been a work-related death.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader and shadow secretary for the future of work, told the Guardian:

“[Legal workplace protections] must go hand in hand with effective enforcement of the rules and were sensible for workers and businesses. Thirteen years of failed Conservative government has left the UK’s health and safety enforcement regime badly overstretched, and that is putting working people at risk.”

An HSE spokesperson, on the other hand, told the Guardian that Britain “continues to be one of the safest places to work in the world”. The watchdog said it had an “excellent reputation, shown by our growing responsibilities, which include post-Brexit chemical regulations and the creation of the new building safety regulator”.

The spokesperson added:

“We generate a substantial income on top of our government funding, which helps pay for our regulatory work. Our staffing levels have changed as our responsibilities have changed. We are currently seeing significant recruitment into HSE.”