Black report has 'no resemblance' to reality

Health safety campaigners have rejected Working for a Healthier Tomorrow, Carol Black's report for the government on work and health.

Lasst month's conference of The Hazards Campaign, a network of resource centres and campaigners on health and safety at work, unanimously passed a motion rejecting the report 'because of its failure to make recommendations for the prevention of ill health, injuries and deaths at work, and the need for stronger enforcement and better and stronger rights for Health and Safety Representatives.'

The motion went on: 'Working for a Healthier Tomorrow takes no account of the competence of those charged with carrying out risk assessments and has no clear strategies for the rehabilitation of injured workers.

'Working for a Healthier Tomorrow is an ideological document with no reference to occupational diseases and bears no resemblance to the realities of working life in Britain today. It is a tool for driving workers back to work taking no account of the causes of their ill health and will not deliver a healthier tomorrow for workers.'

The MHF welcomed the report on its publication earlier this year because it made 'the undeniable case' for the potential of workplace health programmes to boost men's health in general. Hazards' motion points out the limitations of the report when it comes to health and safety in the workplace itself.

The Hazards Campaign is a national network established in 1988, financed by donations from supporting groups and individuals. It draws together hazards centres, occupational health projects, health and safety groups, safety reps networks and Trades Union Councils' Safety Committees, specific campaigns and individual health and safety activists.