Prime Minister plays Scrooge over health and Safety

Prime Minister plays Scrooge over health and  Safety 

The Prime Ministers threat to cull the health and safety culture brings us frighteningly close to the days of Charles Dickens in the year we celebrate his 200th birthday. The PM and his advisors must be so closeted in the privileged corridors of Parliament that they really are living two centuries ago.
Was the PM playing the Christmas panto baddy perhaps, or does he really think the lives of hard working people are so dispensable? 

If the PM is sincere then his is a nightmare vision of the future for working people akin to that of Ebenezer Scrooge before he is visited by three ghosts in Christmas Eve. A future where Health and Safety regulations are meaningless and rogue employers are rewarded for putting their staff in harms way.
The removal of the threat of legal action against employers who flout H&S regulations, as David Cameron promises, will increase avoidable accidents in the work place. It makes me shudder to think what would happen if Health and Safety standards are lowered below where they currently are.
Of course accidents happen, but compensation is not paid out for accidents it’s paid out for negligence. Judges are there to police this and Parliament should not interfere.
The Prime Minister deliberately forgets that those injured do not choose to be hurt. Negligence on the part of the powerful can shatter the lives of ordinary people. It is in the interest of all of us that we have proper protection in the form of Health and Safety regulation, enforced with vigour.
I’ve been a personal injury solicitor representing injured clients for over 20 years. I have seen far too many lives destroyed by needless accidents and Mr Cameron’s comments fill me with dread.
In the time of Charles Dickens the workplace was dark, dangerous and unforgiving. His writings highlighted the terrible experience of ordinary working people in the 19th Century. His was a warning for future generations not an invitation to return to the bad old days.
The Prime Minister should wake up in 2012 with a new resolution to protect the vulnerable and the innocent from negligent and greedy.  We need our Health and Safety law’s left alone and the Government should focus on punishing those that flout them.

Angela Fitzpatrick
Is a Solicitor and Head of Personal Injury at Claim Today Solicitors and has specialised in Claimant personal injuries claims for over 20 years. 
Angela.fitzpatrick@dbslaw.co.uk