date: 17 March 2003 embargo: 00:01 hrs Tuesday 18 March 2003

Attention: Industrial, business, health correspondents and health and safety media

Employers are not meeting the costs of workplace injuries and illness

Workplace injury and illness costs the UK economy £18 billion a year but the average British boss pays just £70 per employee in insurance to cover the annual cost of compensating staff hurt at work.

The TUC is today (Tuesday) calling for employers to pay more of the costs of poor workplace health and safety in ‘Radical solutions are all we can afford’, its submission to the Government review of employer liability insurance.

At a joint meeting of MPs to be attended by CBI and the Association of British Insurers today (4pm) the TUC will question employers’ organisations’ complaints that employer liability insurance premiums have risen too fast and too far. The TUC argues that:

· on average, employers are paying just £70 a year for each worker in employer liability insurance - less than a tenth of the average cost of insuring a car.

· British employers pay less than a sixth of what their major competitors pay for the cost of injury compensation (0.25% of payroll compared with 1.5% to 2% in most developed countries).

· most of the £18 billion cost of workplace injury and illness is paid for by the Government and the victims. The Health and Safety Executive estimates that employers, who cause the health and safety risks, pay between £3.3 billion and £6.5 billion.

Overall, the TUC believes that the current system of employer liability insurance fails to provide incentives for prevention, fails to provide injury victims with sufficient compensation, and fails to deliver rehabilitation to get victims back to work and back to health.

Owen Tudor, TUC health and safety expert, will tell the meeting of MPs :

'We need a system where the perpetrator pays, so that they have an incentive to prevent injuries and ill health. We need to complete the creation of the welfare state with a national rehabilitation service, and fair compensation for injury victims. For all that, employers need to pay more, but they need to get more too - insurers should help them protect their workers and get them back to work fast if the worst happens.'

Notes to Editors:

The TUC, CBI and Association of British Insurers will be putting their arguments to a joint meeting of the All Party Groups on insurance and health and safety, Tuesday 18 March, 4pm, the House of Commons.

The full text of the submission can be downloaded at the TUC's press extranet: www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley 020 7467 1248 or 07626 317 903 (pager) or email media@tuc.org.uk

Other enquiries: Owen Tudor on 020 7467 1325 or email otudor@tuc.org.uk

Press release (500 words) issued 18 Mar 2003