Companies should come clean on safety, says TUC

Firms should be required by law to report their health & safety performance and any related enforcement action, the TUC has said.

The unions body made the comments in a story on its website in which it was responding to the government’s consultation on narrative reporting requirements on business.

Launching the consultation, business minister Edward Davey said: “We have a good track record in this area, but there are still some important issues we need to address – to empower shareholders, without adding to the burden of regulation.”

He added: “I want corporate narrative reporting to tell the company’s story in a balanced and coherent way. It should give shareholders the information they need, so they can hold directors to account and be effective stewards for the business. It’s also a way of encouraging companies to focus on the issues which really matter to their long-term success.” The government says the consultation has three objectives: driving up the quality of narrative reporting, including on social and environmental issues, to the standard of the best; empowering shareholders; and achieving greater coherence in company reporting requirements without increasing the regulatory burden on business. It says it will consider ‘non-regulatory as well as regulatory’ options to achieve these objectives.

TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson commented: “It is clear that the current voluntary requirements are inadequate and that we need far more information about what companies are doing in respect of their duty to promote health and safety.” He added: “At the very least we would hope for a requirement to report on their health and safety performance as well as any enforcement action taken against them by regulators.”