On 1 June 1974, a fireball rose over the village of Flixborough, Lincolnshire. A chemical plant exploded, killing 28 people and injuring 36. It brought into sharp focus debates taking place at the time about health and safety at work, and beyond.
Making its way through parliament was the legislation that, on 31 July 1974, became the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA). As the HSWA turns 50, it’s important to understand why it was necessary and how it has changed our relationship with health and safety.
The Robens report and HSWA contained radical elements. The Act introduced a unified regulator – the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Baked into the mechanics of regulation was a seat at the table for employers, unions and the state.
In practice, HSE inspectors continued the strategy of persuading employers to make improvements. In 1977, regulations came into force allowing unions to appoint workplace safety representatives. Union membership peaked in 1979 but as it later declined there have been challenges in how the health and safety of non-unionised workers is secured.
There were two more major changes introduced by the HSWA. Coverage was extended to include virtually every worker, bringing some five million additional people under its remit. And while previously health and safety had largely been the domain of industrial workplaces, an employer’s duties were extended to consider the public.
From the 1980s onwards, health and safety became the focus of increasing public and political debate. Some of this was articulated as red tape holding business back, and a deregulatory agenda (which arguably contributed to the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017).
Many of the pressures identified at the 40th anniversary of the HSWA remain. Funding for the HSE has been reduced and the idea of the “legitimacy” of health and safety has been questioned.
Nevertheless, research funded by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health in 2016 showed that despite lingering ideas of “health and safety gone mad”, public attitudes were actually nuanced and broadly positive.
There is an opportunity now for the new Labour government to increase support for the HSE, the HSWA and the principle of health and safety.
Tragically, the HSWA hasn’t stopped all workplace deaths and injuries – it never could. As well as the everyday casualties, there has been a long list of large-scale disasters under the HSWA’s watch: the King’s Cross underground fire, the Piper Alpha offshore tragedy, the Clapham Junction crash, the Marchioness disaster, the Ladbroke Grove crash and more.
That these tragedies could happen represents a complex mix of individual, corporate and regulatory failings. Yet, things have improved – not solely due to the HSWA, but this legislation has played a part.
In 1974, the rate of fatal injury was 2.9 per 100,000 workers; in 2023-24, it sits at 0.42, representing 138 deaths from work-related incidents.
Source – Mike Esbester @ University of Portsmouth
Comments