UNION leaders today called on the new Labour government at Westminster to build on the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) and provide funding for enforcement to end workplace deaths.

The 1974 Act was the first legislation to mandate health and safety in all workplaces and the TUC marked its 50th anniversary calling for Labour to build on the Acts’s success and provide new money to end all work-related deaths.

The HSWA was introduced by then Employment Minister Barbara Castle in July 1974 and was followed in 1977 by the Safety Reps and Safety Committees Regulations, which gave rights to trade union safety reps to inspect workplaces.