New legislation that would make certain self-employed workers exempt from health and safety law has come under further scrutiny in the House of Lords.
Under the Deregulation Bill as it stands, self-employed people would no longer be covered by the Health and Safety at Work Act, unless they are involved in specified occupations and sectors regarded as high risk.
The move has come under fire from opponents including the union BECTU, which represents workers in the media and entertainment industry, many of whom are freelance. BECTU said that apart from activities like electrical work, building scenery or handling explosives, the proposed list left out the entire entertainment industry.
It said: “Thousands of safety laws will no longer apply to freelancers facing the industry’s biggest hazards – falls from height, slips and trips, and accidents involving vehicles and moving equipment.”
“The prescribed list, which includes agriculture, construction and mining, omits the entertainment industry because of its low incidence of fatalities and injuries, which, according to the HSE, proves that there’s no need for legislation for freelancers.”
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is also among organisations calling for the measure to be scrapped.
During the discussion of the Bill in the Lords on 3 February, Labour peer Lord McKenzie of Luton put forward amendments to introduce an independent review of the plans. He said: “A raft of professional organisations concerned with occupational health and safety, including IOSH…have all criticised the approach, saying that it will cause dangerous confusion, increasing the risk of work-related injury, illness and death. “
Another Labour peer, the former union leader Lord Jordan, warned: “The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 transformed the safety landscape for all people at work. For the first time, it told everyone at work, ‘You are responsible for safety’.
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“The government’s proposals concerning the self-employed are a step backwards, telling some people, ‘Don’t worry, you are not responsible if someone gets hurt’.
“The danger with the proposed list is that self-employed individuals who are not on it will be exempt even if the jobs that these individuals do are in actual fact rather dangerous and unsafe. In other words the proposed government list may increase injury and death in the workplace.”
Government spokesman Lord Wallace of Saltaire said ministers were still considering the issue as, following a public consultation that closed several months ago, they had not “reached an entire consensus”.
Following confirmation that the government was still considering the consultation findings, Lord McKenzie withdrew his amendment without a vote but said it could be tabled again if the government’s position remained unchanged when the Bill has its third and final reading in the Lords on 4 March. It has already gone through its Commons stages.
Richard Jones, IOSH head of policy and public affairs, said: “We urge the Government to heed the serious concerns raised by peers, business, professional bodies and trade unions and to drop these misguided proposals.”
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