OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY IN SCOTLAND : AN OVERVIEW: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES IN SCOTLAND Andrew Watterson Occupational and Environmental.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTHAND SAFETY IN SCOTLAND : AN OVERVIEW: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES IN SCOTLAND

• Andrew Watterson• Occupational and Environmental

Health Research Group• University of Stirling • Scotland

Outline

(1) General occupational health and safety problems

(2) The Scottish context(3) The record according to HSE and CCA and the related challenges(4) Possibilities

(1)GENERAL OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY PROBLEMS

“Of course there are accidents occasionally…one can’t avoid

them…sickness benefit, half wages, incapacity, the management

regrets.. Between death and disfigurement, unemployment and the

streets..the girls stood, as the hands of the clock moved from eight..to

six”

(It’s a Battlefield. Graham Greene 1971:28-9]

The state of play in UK occupational health in the UK - “Securing health together” : recent official policy viewBy 2010 interested parties will work together to achieve the following targets:

a 20% reduction in the incidence of work-related ill health

a 20% reduction in ill health to members of the public caused by work activity

a 30% reduction in the number of work days lost due to work-related ill health

everyone currently in employment but off work due to ill health or disability is, where necessary and appropriate, made aware of opportunities for rehabilitation back into work as early as possible; and

everyone currently not in employment due to ill health or disability is, where necessary and appropriate, made aware of and offered opportunities to prepare for and find work.

HSE apparently consider health, safety, productivity and health inequalities are all priorities yet:-

• days lost through work-related illnesses are rising

• ‘minor’ issues such as stress and musculo-skeletal problems have an impact on efficient working

• HSE are for closer worker involvement on OH&S ( Sandra Caldwell Director HSEHD. IOSH Conference 2003)

• HSE announce in 2003 the non-replacement of their Medical director thus breaking the link with Sir Thomas Legge from early 1900s. Snashall the previous HSE Medical Director had been a part-time appointment

• Past problems with UK (and Scottish) occupational health and safety

• Large scale toll of workforce in disease and accidents• Lack of political commitment of staff, resources and

enforcement to raise occupational health and safety standards

• Lack of focus in past on labour trend changes and workplace organisations that impact upon occupational health and safety , neglect or ignorance of problems created by psychosocial and physical stresses, aggressive and poor management.

• Lack of time in governmental and business services for the subject

(2)

THE SCOTTISH CONTEXT

The Scottish economy in the 21st Century

a. Workforce sizeb. Employment breakdown

Scottish figures – demographic and employment• Total population – c 5 million

• Economically active – 2,543,000 (seasonally adjusted ILO figure –

2,39,500)

( references: Scottish Economic Statistics 2003. Scottish Executive Fact sheet 2003)

Breakdown of employment by sector June – August 2003. %

• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing – 1.4• Energy and Water - 1.9• Manufacture - 12.0• Construction - 5.6• Distribution, hotels - 23.2• Transport - 5.7• Public admin, health, education - 27.6• Banking, Finance, Insurance - 16.9• Other - 5.7• (ref: Scottish Executive Fact Sheet 2003)

Breakdown of Scotland’s employment by employee by sector 2001• Sector Employees

Enterprises• Agriculture,forestry,fisheries – 62020 25055• Mines - 46440 2145• Manufacture - 307980 14735• Construction - 142120 38165• Retail and trade - 241600 24320• Hotels and restaurants - 177,630 16995

(Reference: Scottish Economic Statistics 2003)

Scottish facts and figures Enterprises - 2001

• Total enterprises – 243,000

• These break down as follows:• O employees = 149,000• 1-49 employees = 88,305• 50-249 employees = 3500• 250 + employees = 2345

(Reference: Scottish Economic Statistics 2003)

Scottish facts and figures – service sector

• 1.8 million employees work in Scottish ‘service’ sector

• ( 80% of all Scottish jobs)• 6 times as many employees in

service industries as in manufacture

( ref : Scottish Executive Fact Sheet 2003)

This raises major issues for enforcement – in both policy and resources

Percentage of employee jobs which are part-time by sector, 2001

Distinctive ‘battlefield’ features in Scotland?• Typical range of employment and enterprise

activities • - whisky; offshore oil industry• Fishing? Tourism? Forestry• Challenges of rurality and remoteness and

access to information, advice, enforcement action – questions of social and legal justice

• Cultural issues? Attitudes of government and employers rather than culture of workplace health and safety a critical factor:

• - reward construction and engineering companies that kill workers with honours and PFI contracts!

Research on record of occupational health and safety in Scotland

• The Scottish Safety Anomaly 2000 (Woolfson and Beck) revealed worsening occupational fatality trends in 1980s and 1990s in Scotland as a % of those for Britain

• The Agius observation 1998. “ Occupational fatalities, injuries and disease in some sectors and outcomes in Scotland compare unfavourably with perceptions of what is acceptable, or indeed with statistics from elsewhere

• Specific: examples - problems in the offshore oil industry (Woolfson and Beck) still remain

• Almost feudal attitudes and health and safety responses on some larger estates unchallenged and unchecked by HSE

• Accident Problems in fishing industry which Aberdeen medical researchers want addressed by targeted prevention interventions.

(3)

THE ENFORCEMENT RECORD IN SCOTLAND ACCORDING TO HSE AND CCA AND THE CHALLENGES

SCOTLAND’S RECORD ON WORKPLACE

INSPECTIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS based on CCA 2003 analyses of HSE statistics

• Scotland’s record in the early 2000s was good in some areas but poor in others

• Between 1996 and 2001, Scotland saw the highest increase in investigations and advice but the 3rd largest decline in inspections

TABLE Average fines per HSE prosecution action conviction 1997/8-2001/2Scotland and GB

Country1997/8 1998/9 1999/2000 2000/2001 2001/2

Scotland 3937 2701 3900 4878 4155

GB 4189 4423 5514 5472 7055

[Source: HSE statistics 2003]

TABLEAccident reporting levels by HSE Division based on RIDDOR in %

Industry England Scotland Wales GB

Agriculture 31 17 (-) 9 26

Extraction and utilities

100 61 (-) 100 100

Manufacturing

56 53 (-) 86 57

Construction 46 49 (+) 45 47

Services 38 42 (+) 44 39

All Industry 42 43 (+) 53 42

[Source: HSE statistics 2003]

TABLE Estimated prevalence and rates of self-reported illness caused or made worse by work 2001/2

Country estimate Prevalence95% CI

thousands

Rate per

10095% CI

Ever employed

central lower upper central lower upper

Scotland 174 156 191 4.5 4.0 4.9

England 2019 1957 2082 5.4 5.2 5.5

Wales 135 118 151 6.2 5.5 6.9

GB 1228 2261 2394 5.3 5.2 5.5

[Source: HSE Statistics 2003]

TABLE . Numbers of Reported and Investigated Industrial Diseases by HSE Area (1996/7 – 2000/01)

1996/972000/01

Nos Rep Nos Inv % Inv Nos Rep Nos Inv % Inv

West Midlands 153 66 43.10% 194 133 68.60%

North West 82 41 50.00% 194 132 68.00%

North Midlands 112 7 6.25% 174 111 63.80%

N/thn Home Counties

50 13 26.00% 86 52 60.50%

N & W Yorkshire 100 34 34.00% 119 72 60.50%

East Midlands 66 13 19.70% 63 37 58.70%

Marches 90 10 11.10% 77 45 58.40%

South 92 8 8.70% 155 82 52.90%

East Anglia 112 4 3.60% 117 60 51.30%

Merseyside 120 7 5.80% 44 22 50.00%

South East 89 8 9.00% 94 45 47.90%

South West 182 50 27.50% 167 79 47.30%

Greater London 77 21 27.30% 92 32 34.80%

Scotland East 87 24 27.60% 118 34 28.80%

Wales 87 32 36.80% 119 34 28.60%

Greater Manchester

43 11 25.60% 144 29 20.10%

Scotland West 55 9 16.40% 87 16 18.40%

South Yorkshire 164 11 6.70% 116 20 17.20%

North East 162 28 17.30% 236 34 14.40%

(Source CCA Analysis 2003)

Mesothelioma. Age standardised death rates per million by region, time period and sex. Scotland and GB figures [ with ranking out of 11 regions in ( ) ]

Country Males Females

1992-4 1995-7 1998-2000 1992-4 1995-7 1998-2000

Scotland 45.84 (2) 49.90 (2) 50.52 (3) 6.85 (2) 6.74 (5) 8.98(2)

Wales 26.34 30.46 28.92 5.11 2.71 4.75

GB 36.49 40.59 46.27 5.08 5.94 7.63

[Source: HSE Statistics 2003]

Local authority enforcement visits for 346 local authorities

Local authority Ranking – best first

Clacks 6

Inverclyde 13

North Ayrshire 219

Perth and Kinross 237

Midlothian 257

Scottish BordersDumfries and Galloway

265307

Record for HSE Scotland East and West occupational health and safety investigations, prosecutions out of 19 HSE Areas in UK for specific years ( high ranking is good, low is poor) (1)

• Amputations investigations Scotland West – 15• 2000/1

• Burns investigations Scotland East - 18 2000/1

• Dangerous occurrences • investigations 2000/1 Scotland East - 19

• Industrial diseases Scotland East - 14 investigations Scotland West – 17 2000/1

• Prosecuting worker deaths Scotland West – 16 1996/7

• Prosecutions for major injuries Scotland West -15 1996/7

Record for HSE Scotland East and West occupational health and safety investigations, prosecutions out of 19 HSE Areas in UK for specific years ( high ranking is good, low is poor) (2)

• Dangerous occurrences Scotland West – 17

1998/9

• Sentences following deaths Scotland East - 14

of workers 1996/7 – 1998/9 Scotland West – 19

• Sentences following major Scotland East - 17

injuries to workers Scotland West - 19

1996/7 – 1998/9

• Overall ranking Scotland East - 13

Scotland West - 19

(4)

THE POSSIBILITIES

• In Scotland, activity such as SHAW in workplaces exists

• SME initiatives exist• Scotland has a small if in parts a

distributed population with both potentially better and worse communication networks

• Lack of full disclosure of information on hazards and risks relating to workplaces

• Lack of commitment to occupational health and safety in the recent past and inaction in terms of corporate accountability

• Unbalanced approach to risk management that has led to a neglect of hazard identification and removal as a the first step in successful health and safety strategies

• Inability to action effective precautionary principle strategies to control such problems as pollution form endocrine disrupters, asbestos and other carcinogens and reproductive health hazards

• Failure to link effectively workplace and wider environmental hazard identification and removal.

• RESULT – data discussed above. We may have progressed but we have a long way still to go both on workplace safety and health

SOLUTIONS (1)

• Pooling resources to raise SME health and safety standards

• Pressing for HSE implementation and extension of revitalising health and safety targets

• Carry forward plans on social exclusion, environmental justice, and socio-economic influences on health and safety

• Ensure enforcement of OH&S in local authorities, not cutting HSE field inspectors or budgets for getting publications to workers

SOLUTIONS (2)

• Join up thinking further on occupational health and safety

• end reserved status and link HSE to SEPA?• Empower worker representatives in new

health boards and hospitals to raise agenda on public health linked to workplaces and pollution

• establish occupational health clinics along the lines of SOHP and BSTs in Denmark

SOLUTIONS (3)

• Use available resources in workforces and trade unions more fully to advance health and safety practice

• Adopt wider and more active HSE advocacy roles not only at national but also at local and workplace levels.

• We have heard the rhetoric about the HSE being a champion in the field. We await the evidence in Scotland