Workplace victims' families struggle on for justice

The group campaigning to end workplace deaths sent a copy of Face The Facks: The Human Cost Of Workplace Killing to Lord Young (pictured) earlier this week, urging him to watch it before he publishes his findings

The powerful DVD gives a voice to families who have lost loved ones in preventable workplace incidents and highlights their struggle for justice. It also graphically illustrates the way the current system is stacked in favour of firms who flout health and safety legislations with fatal consequences.

Lord Young is expected to publish his report on health and safety legislation next week and campaigners fear that he will back Tory plans to deregulate.

These fears were compounded when the reviewer was alleged to have stated that while people "occasionally" died at work it was an unfortunate part of life.

Latest figures published by the TUC show that more than 20,000 people die each year from work-related injury and illness, with the highest number of deaths in the construction sector.

Fack member Linzi Herbertson, whose husband Andy died after falling off incorrectly assembled scaffolding, said: "Lord Young's offensive and callous statement is ignorant of the facts that most people killed by work are not killed in rare and unavoidable accidents, but were killed by employers breaking health and safety law.

"If Lord Young, David Cameron or any other member of the government condones such criminal behaviour that kills, maims and makes ill on such a vast scale, this is scandalous and we should all be very afraid of the lawless future.

"We urge Lord Young to watch our DVD and then pleasantly surprise us with his report as he said he would in a telephone conversation about his review on July 5.

"If he fails to do this we will hold him to account and want to know why he can disregard the facts, the evidence and all the deaths caused by employers‚ negligence at work."