Employment law

Abstract

Every day in British industry an average of four people die of injuries or industrial diseases. In the course of a year, tens of thousands are injured. Some 23 million working days are lost, ten or more times the number currently lost by strike action.¹ What can the law do to stop or reduce this mayhem? One might at first be tempted to say ‘very little’, if only because the figures have not greatly altered despite the wave of legislation which followed the ‘new deal’ of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974. But common sense tells us that if it were not for the law, things would be very much worse. In fact, it is really only the pressure of the law which in the long run can change our attitudes and actions. It is very important therefore to understand how the law works, and what might be done to strengthen and improve it.