HSE to end 'Infoline' service - Government Cuts

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LTB 502/11 HSE to end 'Infoline' service - Government Cuts

No. 502/11
Ref EX5
Date: 31 May 2011


To: All Branches

Dear Colleagues
HSE to end 'Infoline' service - Government Cuts



On 30 September the Health and Safety Executive is to close its Infoline telephone service as part of the need to meet government imposed 35% budget cuts. Instead businesses and members of the public seeking information and official guidance on health and safety are being told they can use the HSE website. According to the HSE their website, which currently receives 26 million visits every year, is already overwhelmingly the most popular option for accessing health and safety information, with 100 times more visitors than Infoline has callers, and is rated as 'very good' or 'good' by 93% of users. HSE claim the move is intended to further improve efficiency and deliver value for taxpayers. However the HSE omit to say how many of the calls currently made to Infoline are from individuals or companies who failed to find the information they were looking for on the HSE website. In mitigation, the HSE say they will continue to provide information and guidance to employers and workers in a range of other ways, such as through direct work with organisations and trade associations, through workshops and safety training days, and via books and e-bulletins. The move is clearly designed to save money it will do little to improve health and safety if needed advice cannot be easily obtained.



Alongside this is the Health and Safety Executive announced that also from September 2011 the reporting of accidents and dangerous incidents could only be undertaken online. While it may be appropriate that accidents are recorded online, this is not the case for the reporting of dangerous incidents. While it is employers who report accidents, it is workers and the general public who need to report dangerous working practices and incidents. In order for workers and the public to be able to report dangerous working practices without the fear of reprisals or victimisation, there needs to be an easily accessible method to ensure that concerns about a dangerous issue can be raised in the knowledge that a worker cannot be identified.

While the vast majority of workers have access to a mobile phone, far fewer have access to email and internet. Also workers are far more likely to report an incident shortly after witnessing it rather than waiting until later, especially if they are concerned that an email could be traced back to them.

If there are dangerous working practices or a dangerous incident occurs it is essential that workers know how to contact the HSE and know that the information they have supplied will be treated with complete confidence. The concerns about how dangerous incidents are reported is made more pressing due to the Conservative-led Government's decision in March to end unannounced safety inspections in many industries and remaining inspection frequency will dramatically decline.

Given the cuts in inspections that the Government has already announced, it would be logical for the HSE to be making it easier for workers to contact them to report their concerns. The HSE should be better publicising the infoline number not cutting the service. By increasing the difficulty of reporting workplace dangers, they are risking the safety of workers.

The CWU Health, Safety & Environment Department has written to Judith Hackitt the Chair of the HSE, expressing concerns about this matter and requesting that the decision to end the ability of workers to contact the HSE by phone about workplace safety issues is reversed.



Health and Safety Executive Infoline is a completely confidential Service providing access to information, expert advice and guidance. Infoline operators hold the NEBOSH certificate in occupational health and safety and have a wealth of HSE information available to them including the HSE website, internet and their own electronic knowledge database. Safety Reps wishing to use it should Telephone: 0845 345 0055, Fax: 0845 408 9566, E-mail: hse.infoline@connaught.plc.uk

Those Safety Reps who are members of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management IIRSM or Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) will have available to them Health and Safety/Legal Helplines provided by the organisations.



Yours Sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer