REGULATORY SURRENDER: DEATH, INJURY AND THE NON-ENFORCEMENT OF LAW Steve Tombs and David Whyte Health and Safety: A New Agenda at Work? Institute of Employment Rights Liverpool, 13th July, 2010

Regulation Goes to Market  New Labour’s second term of office crucial in consolidating its ‘better regulation’ agenda (most notably through the Hampton, Macrory and Rogers Reviews)  Market-based and ‘risk-based’ principles became institutionally central to regulation – yet degrade the role of enforcement

Regulating Safety: strategy, policy, scrutiny  HSE has continually sought to accommodate ‘burdens on business’ agenda uncritically  HSE has anticipated and developed the Hampton agenda  HSE has engaged in institutional denial regarding any contradiction between the government’s ‘burdens on business’ strategy and its role as regulator

HSE and Local Authority H&S Prosecutions

HSE Enforcement Notices

HSE Investigations as a Percentage of RIDDOR Reports

HSE Inspection Records

RIDDOR Investigation by Incident Type

RIDDOR Reported Deaths Resulting in Prosecution

Key Trends in Enforcement Data A Collapse in Prosecution?  a rapid decline in HSE enforcement action generally is apparent from 2002/03  a collapse in RIDDOR prosecutions appears to begin in 2002/03  some indications that the collapse is prosecutions is replaced by a rise in enforcement notices from around 2004/05 - though these remain at significantly lower levels than in the early years of New Labour in office Declining Inspections and Investigations:  inspectors conduct one third of the inspections compared to 10 years ago  there has been a decline in investigations of all kinds of incidents

Where Next for the Regulation of Safety?  Regulation in general is to likely come under further attack – and this may be particularly targeted at safety regulation  HSE’s consistent capitulation to the ‘better regulation’ agenda has weakened its ability to resist a government that exhibits even more contempt for trade union demands for regulatory protection than its predecessors  The failed strategy of HSE’s senior management has left its organisation vulnerable to further ‘reviews’ of regulation  The absence of routine inspections, declining levels of investigation and a diminishing threat of prosecution make managements less likely to respond to workers’ demands to comply with the law  How much energy should trade unions should still be investing in a body which is unable effectively to do that with which it is charged, and which has proceeded along a route to that position with tripartite agreement?