Thousands of city council workers ‘face health risks’

Oct 1 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

THOUSANDS of workers at Liverpool City Council have been left vulnerable to illness and injury, it emerged last night.

The Health and Safety Executive has issued the local authority with an official notice to improve its occupational health service for its 19,000 staff or face legal action.

HSE investigators recently visited the council and found it was not carrying out regular checks or screening to protect the health of its staff.

In fact, the contract awarded for occupational health (OH) by the authority did not even include provisions to try to prevent illness and injury among the council employees.

Last night, OH Solutions, the company which operates the council’s OH service, said apart from hearing tests for call centre workers, it was only contracted to provide services after an employee became ill or was injured.

A council spokesman said a project team had been established which will draw up an action plan to implement the changes needed to comply with the improvement notice.

Cllr Paul Brant, deputy Labour leader, said: “It’s astonishing that these long-standing clear health and safety obligations are not being complied with by the council.”

He said an urgent investigation was needed to make sure gaps in health and safety provision were filled.

OH Solutions, based in Water Street, has been operating the councils occupational health service for the past 18 months.

Last night, Dr Mike Orton, medical director of OH Solutions, said his company was only contracted to provide services after illness or injury, and hearing tests to call centre workers.

Dr Orton said: “As I understand it, the Health and Safety Executive is more than happy with what we do.

“The people who originally set it up [the contract] were from Liverpool Direct Limited (LDL).

“When we first had any contact the people in LDL oversaw and ran occupational health.”

LDL is a joint venture between Liverpool council and British Telecom, run by former executive director for Central Services David McElhinney.

Dr Orton said LDL oversaw the contract tender, the interviews for it and the awarding of the contract.

He added: “They carried on overseeing it until roughly six months ago.”

Dr Orton said the council had an overview and the role was transferred to a council office.

A council spokesman said: “The council takes its health and safety responsibilities extremely seriously and has already taken steps to tackle the issues raised.”

He insisted: “Occupational health has never been part of Liverpool Direct Limited.”

A spokesman for the HSE said: “The belief was that the council reacted to illnesses well once they occurred but was not proactive in preventing them.”

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