Safety workers stage pay strike

The HSE inspects factories, hospitals and construction sites

Thousands of health and safety workers are holding a one-day strike in protest at a "derisory" pay offer.

Up to 3,000 inspectors, scientists and admin staff at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have been taking part.

It is the first time in 23 years that workers responsible for the regulation of safety in the workplace have taken industrial action.

The HSE has promised a 1.5% pay rise to all staff with employees on lower grades receiving between 4.9% and 6.6%.

But trade unions have said the most experienced staff deserve more than the 1.5% proposed for this year.

Picket lines have been set up outside offices across the country, including the HSE's headquarters in London and a regional centre in Bootle, Merseyside, with many workers wearing safety helmets.

HSE staff have promised to follow up the industrial action with a ban on overtime and a withdrawal of goodwill which could hit inspections.

Low morale

Pay talks between the HSE and trade unions should have been settled six months ago but they have broken down leaving the wage dispute deadlocked.

Staff have shown they are not prepared to put up with a pay cut and are demanding a fair deal Paul Noon, General Secretary of Prospect

The engineers, scientists, managers and specialists union Prospect has called the pay offer "derisory".

Negotiations officer Richard Hardy said: "Morale in the HSE is low enough as it is without forcing our members to take pay cuts.

"We are very worried that our members will vote with their feet, stripping the HSE of years of experience which will have a horrendous impact on workplace safety throughout the UK."

A spokesman for the HSE has said it was "disappointed" with the strike and there was still room for compromise on the detail of the proposed pay deal, but the action would not solve the dispute or lead to a pay increase.

Real terms cut

Unions are calling on the government to step in and force the HSE to resume talks and avoid further industrial action.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has called for a pay rise of 2.6% which they say is "reasonable and affordable".

General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: "The money is there, yet we have an intransigent management forcing people to strike for a cost of living increase. Staff feel they have been left with no other option but to take action over a pay deal which for many will be a cut in real terms."

Up to 2,000 health and safety inspections are held across the UK every day, with visits to factories, hospitals, nuclear installations, construction sites and quarries.

Unions said major incidents and court cases would be given dispensation from the strike, including work on the Morecambe Bay cockle picking tragedy in Lancashire which killed 20 Chinese migrant workers.