Print, like any other manufacturing sector, involves the use of big machines that can, when operated without the proper training, precautions or care, cause injury and death.

The sad fact is that, despite living in an age when health and safety legislation seems to have expanded exponentially – with a similarly exponential growth in the number of complaints about red tape and nanny state-interference with business – the number of incidents in print alone is pretty staggering.

Nevertheless, in October last year the government announced that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) would have to reduce its costs by "at least 35%" by the end of 2015.

Exactly how this is to be done remains to be seen. According to an HSE spokeswoman, any changes will be in line with the rest of government and the organisation will look at how it can "work more efficiently and deliver better value for money".

"The government has had to make unavoidably tough decisions on spending to address the deficit. HSE is a publicly funded body and cannot be exempt from the greater fiscal constraint and discipline necessary across the public sector," she said.

Make offenders pay
One of the proposals is that regulators will "recover all the costs of an inspection or investigation, through which a serious material breach of standards is detected and a requirement to rectify is formally made, together with any follow up work".

Mark Snee, managing director at Technoprint, believes this will be "absolutely disastrous. Firstly, it will give inspectors an incentive to issue more notices, and secondly, it lands industry with more costs and bureaucracy at exactly the time the government is supposed to be freeing us from it. Who on earth thought that one up? Are they trying to kill off all enterprise in the UK for good?"

Snee added that, in his experience, there is little consistency in approach among individual HSE officials. "What they consider important or unimportant is a complete lottery," he said. "You may get your backside kicked and have to chase down masses of paperwork, or you could have a supportive and helpful discussion. That suggests to me that there is either a training issue or that the HSE’s policies keep changing. Either way, it’s not helpful."

Unite is also concerned. The union believes the move will result in cuts to inspection staff and therefore fewer inspections – a deterrent that Unite doesn’t want to lose. However, one industry insider at an SME printing company argues that "reality has not been embraced by Unite. A blinkered approach is not appropriate, a constructive one is," he said. "I would welcome a shift to a focus on what matters: a sensible approach."

The print and paper sectors may be quite hazardous, but paper manufacturing in particular has been trying to clean up its act following a number of particularly severe incidents. The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) jointly developed a guide with the help of the European Commission, with an aim of reducing accidents in the sector to  zero. CEPI research suggests definite progress: the proportion of accidents that caused an absence of more than three days has fallen from 45.3 per 1,000 people in 1999, to 18.6 per 1,000 in 2009.

David Workman, director general at CEPI, is less pessimistic than Unite, he doesn’t believe the HSE cuts will have a significant impact on safety. "The paper sector is seen as a priority sector for the HSE," he said.

Strategy going forward
The health and safety strategy for the paper industry is set by the Paper and Board Industry Advisory Committee, a tripartite body made up of representatives of the HSE, the trade unions and employers. The strategy, once agreed, is implemented at sector level through a series of working groups that can operate in a standalone capacity.

Workman said CEPI is working on a revision to the strategy for the period 2012-2014 in order to build on past successes. "The work on this revised strategy will continue with full HSE involvement and support," he said. "Cuts may reduce the level of support at grass roots level, but we hope this won’t be the case and that savings can be made in administration and back-room functions."

As part of the cuts, HSE says it will be reducing its proactive inspections by one-third – some 11,000 inspections per year. Despite this however, it has promised that no sector will be exempted from maintaining good standards of health and safety.

30-SECOND BRIEFING
• The recent spate of accidents in the printing and paper manufacturing sectors is a cause for concern
• The government’s spending review has put pressure on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), alongside all other public sector bodies, to cut costs
• One method of reducing expenditure is to make those found to be operating in breach of regulations pay for the cost of insection and investigations. However, some believe that this will encourage spurious investigations by the HSE and put a further cost burden on business
• Unite is also concerned that the cuts will put its members’ lives at risk as fewer inspections will mean less enforcement and therefore more accidents
• The paper industry has made much progress in recent years to reduce the number of accidents in the workplace. The Confederation of European Paper Industries is in the process of revising its strategy to make further improvements and does not believe the cuts to the HSE will have a significant impact on safety. It hopes funding cuts can be found in back office