Workplace accidents could increase if the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) goes ahead with plans to scrap one of its two inspectors responsible for national food and agriculture safety policies, retail union USDAW has warned.
The union has written to the HSE asking it to reconsider its "short-sighted" decision. Budget cuts at the HSE had led the safety watchdog to axe one of the inspectors who worked with the union and employer organisations to develop safe working schemes, it claimed.
The union's national officer Bill Snell said: "It is vital that the successful tripartite policy initiatives between the HSE, trade unions and employers continues."