Workplace safety campaigners are challenging Britain’s politicians to take action to protect people at work.

Hazards Campaign spokesperson Hilda Palmer said: “Business as usual for the next five years is not an option for workers’ lives and health. Work shouldn’t hurt and it certainly shouldn’t kill, but in 2015 it still does.” The group has come up with a 13-point plan for the new government to follow, setting out 10 steps for the politicians and three for workers and union safety reps. It says this blueprint for action could go some way towards saving lives if implemented on day one by the new administration.

Among the demands is a call on the new government to bury the myth that life-saving regulation is a burden on business. The campaign argues that it is mismanagement and negligence that is harmful — to both the workforce and the economy.

The new government “must put a stop to the erosion of health and safety laws and instigate a programme of inspections to protect workers from unscrupulous employers and keep workers healthy,” the Hazards Campaign said. It also calls on the HSE to address its failure “to act on almost all of the ill-health issues caused by modern work.” Hilda Palmer said: “Over the last five years some have seen work become hell. For most, it has become more unhealthy and for many it is deadly. This is due to the great deregulation lie causing a retreat from the law, enforcement, prevention and protection.”

The Hazards Campaign plan notes: “With an election looming, it’s the time to press for commitments to improve conditions and rights at work. You won’t get them from Cameron, but you might achieve something by exposing his government’s wilful ignorance and deadly neglect.”

This article was supplied by the TUC.