Sir, Jamie Whyte appears to believe that workers, and in particular the lower paid, should be allowed to take higher wages rather than be reasonably protected against the risks inherent in their employment (Comment, Jan 14). This is emphatically not the view of the Health and Safety Executive.
This argument also has practical as well as significant ethical difficulties. For example, one of the most dangerous occupations in the UK is tree surgery. People working in this sector have a 1 in 120 chance each year of being killed or suffering a major injury. The going rate for tree surgeons is about £60 per day. Is Jamie Whyte really suggesting that this is a way in which “an uneducated man can earn high wages”?
We believe that sensible, reasonably practicable precautions should be taken to prevent the real suffering caused each year by more than 220 workplace deaths, 30,000 major injuries and 2 million cases of work-related ill health.
GEOFFREY PODGER
Chief Executive
Health and Safety Executive
London SE1
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Sir, I work many hours in a bar to help to pay my way through university. Those in the hospitality industry receive no “danger money” at all — all that I receive is 15p more than the minimum wage per hour. Every time somebody lights up in the bar they are endangering my health. I believe they do not have the right to subject myself and other employees to their lethal tobacco smoke. Coalminers wear protective gear while working; no one gives me a gas mask at the start of a shift.
Asking a smoker to step outside for five minutes to indulge their habit without inflicting it on others is not an unreasonable request.
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RACHEL HINSLEY
Newcastle-under-Lyme,
Staffs
Sir, The coalmining and off-shore industries are actually very safety conscious and would not adopt the “danger money” approach to controlling risks. Both industries need to manage significant hazards, which are generally well controlled. In fact a person who drives more than 25,000 miles per year is at greater risk than a coal-miner.
Therefore people may not always chose coalmining and off-shore work, because they are tough jobs, but that does not mean that they are unsafe.
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DR ALEX HILLS
York