§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the cost involved in bringing into force the proposed regulations concerning safety representatives; how these costs would be incurred; and by whom.
§ Mr. John GrantIf these regulations were brought into force, employers would bear the major costs involved. Costs would arise, for example, in giving safety representatives time off with pay to carry out their functions and to undertake training, and in meeting the managerial and administrative expenses of setting up and running safety committees.
Any estimates of cost are bound to depend on the view taken on how active safety representatives and committees would be. It is also reasonable to assume that some costs could be absorbed and that there would be, in some areas, offsetting savings from the reduction of 72W accidents which might result from the activities of safety representatives and safety committees. Again it is impossible to assess the value of such savings. However, estimates provided to me by local authorities and some other employers in the public sector suggested costs of up to £55 million per annum in the establishments for which they are responsible. If such costs were reproduced over the whole field of employment the total could be considerable but it has to be taken into account that in many industrial establishments in the private sector a system of safety representatives and committees already exists.