The appalling betrayal of coal miners by solicitors, who exploited their compensation claims, means the system will have to win back people’s confidence, says Bob Towse, head of technical and safety at the HVCA.
TWO solicitors who fleeced the government's compensation scheme for injured coal miners have done untold damage to hundreds of people's lives and seriously harmed confidence in the legal system.

We naturally assume lawyers representing harmed workers will do their best to ensure the victim receives fair compensation. It is, therefore, shocking when it emerges someone in such a position of trust was working only to enrich themselves.

This country has sadly followed the US in developing an ambulance chasing culture that promotes the belief that no-one pays for the compensation that solicitors encourage victims to pursue. The reality is that business pays through ever increasing insurance premiums.

The government set up the miners' compensation scheme because of British Coal's poor safety standards. Yet, while one of the Yorkshire-based firm's owners became the country's highest paid solicitor, one miner's widow received just £217 of the thousands she expected in compensation for her husband's death.

Of course, the best solution is to avoid accidents in the first place, but where a compensation scheme exists it must have the full confidence of the employees it is supposed to compensate.

Confidence is going to be even more important during the coming few years as we seek to drag the country out of the economic slowdown and firms will have to work even harder to win the trust of their employees.

That is why the Health and Safety Executive's new national strategy - subtitled Be Part of the Solution, is even more timely.

Challenges

The HSE says it was prompted to develop a new strategy by the 'slowing of improvement in Great Britain's health and safety performance' as well as the changing industrial landscape, which has led to an increase in the number of small businesses and the self-employed.

Although the industry has made great progress in the technical aspects of health and safety training, it is not possible to provide a 100% safe environment.

The next big task is to focus on how people behave in potentially hazardous situations. Some workers will always take chances to try and get a job finished more quickly or to make a task easier if they do not have an ingrained safety culture.

It is a bit like the chicken crossing the road...if you always assume someone else is going to take responsibility for your safety, you won't bother to look left or right but will just step out - the chances are you won't make it.

Too often that is the attitude we see on building sites. Workers need to be trained to think in a safe way automatically, and that is what a new series of HVCA courses will address.

The changing nature of our industry is also throwing up new challenges to accepted health and safety practices. Different risks are posed by new sectors - such as the growing renewable energy market.

The HSE has identified a need to 'regain the health and safety brand from those who misuse it to proliferate bureaucracy and as an excuse for other things'.

Solicitors who exploit injury claims of others for their own monetary gain are rather an extreme example but there is huge harm done daily to the cause of essential health and safety by those who use their interpretation of legislation as a reason to refuse perfectly reasonable requests.

The HVCA will, on behalf of its members and the industry as a whole, have detailed input into the strategy during the current three-month consultation period.

The HSE will seek to establish a way of encouraging strong leadership and a common sense approach to health and safety; building the competence of those charged with delivering health and safety in workplaces; providing support for small businesses to help them comply with their health and safety obligations, and avoiding serious problems in the country's more hazardous industries.

This consultation is an important exercise made more urgent by the need to reinforce the health and safety culture at a time of economic hardship when there is greater danger of it becoming marginalised.

The consultation period will end on March 2, 2009 and will include a series of regional workshops hosted by the HSE.

The strategy and supporting documents are available online at: www.hse.gov.uk/strategy and hard copies are available on request from Emma Beals on 0207 717 6526.

If you would like to contribute to the industry's response or to learn more about HVCA safety training contact Bob Towse via email: Btowse@hvca.org.uk