Introduction: Representing Workers on Health and Safety in the Modern World of Work

Abstract

It is estimated that in the UK alone it there are over 20,000 deaths each year that are attributable to ill health or injuries related to work. In addition, more than 25,000 people leave employment as a result of work-related injury or illness, and more than two million suffer from ill health which in their view was caused or made worse by their work, leading to the loss of more than 30 million working days each year (James and Walters, 2005). Given that the UK is apparently a comparatively good performer according to analysis of the experience of work-related injuries and fatalities in the European Union (EU), this suggests that the scale of this harm is proportionally even higher in most other countries. This represents a massive burden of human suffering; but there is no great mystery surrounding its origin. It is primarily the result of failures of management in the discharge of employers’ legal duties to protect the health and safety of their workers, and as such it is largely preventable.