HSE Bootle action could effect quarries
The decision by members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union to take industrial action short of a strike could have a cumulative effect on quarry operations, the industry was warned today.
While no inspectors directly working in quarry inspections are involved in the decision to adopt work to rule for a matter of months, legal and admin staff have banned overtime and withdrawn goodwill, which could have a cumulative effect.
One inspector told MQR: “There shouldn’t be any immediate effect but it depends how long it lasts. As the work builds up getting clarification over legal points, for example, could become difficult unless put to the top of the pile.”
The action is being taken over the HSE’s decision to move to Bootle in Liverpool from Rose Court in London. According to the PCS only 10 of 300 staff at head office had expressed an interest in moving. Many have internally criticized the HSE for its autocratic approach to the move.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Already, nearly 80 staff and four senior managers, including both deputy chief executives, have left. We believe the risks to the organisation of losing this vital expertise are now too great.”
Action by staff is not the only concern hanging over quarry inspections. QPA health and safety director Martin Isles recently wrote in MQR Magazine that the steady depletion of specialist inspectors called into question the HSE’s competence.
A Scottish inspector is soon set to retire while another inspector in the North East is already over retirement age with another only two years away. Another is soon to go on maternity leave.
“The industry is particularly concerned and needs to be reassured that this erosion of specialist HSE resources will be redressed as a matter of some urgency,” Isles wrote in April. So far no reassurance has been forthcoming, he told MQR today.
