General Election survey

We sent out a survey via our member e-newsletter Connect and social media channels, which was open from 15 April to 03 May 2024. It featured a number of multiple-choice questions and some open comment questions. Here are the responses we received.

Topics

Members were first given a list of topics and asked to pick what their three priorities would be from them. Here’s what they said.

• Mental health at work – 38.16%
• Health and Safety Executive funding – 36.04%
• Supporting future generations with skills for the future – 34.63%
• Climate change and OSH – 32.16%
• Artificial intelligence impact on workers – 26.15%
• Supporting older workers in/back to work – 22.97%
• Supporting young people into work – 20.85%
• Occupational health provision – 18.73%
• Violence and harassment at work – 15.19%
• Net zero and health and safety – 13.78%
• Tackling modern slavery and ethical procurement – 12.72%
• Asbestos management – 10.95%
• Musculoskeletal disorders – 10.6%
• Infection prevention and control – 7.07%

This question was followed by a number of statements about actions which the new Government could take to which members were asked to say whether they agreed or disagreed.

Statements and results

Ensure better workplace health, focusing on prevention, provision of occupational health services and addressing the shortage of occupational physicians and occupational health professionals.

Explore the introduction of more stringent OSH requirements in public procurement tenders to incentivise good OSH performance.

Protect gig economy workers and zero-hour contract workers by introducing improvements which work intensification, unstable working hours, precariousness and insecurity.

Legislate to safeguard workers from health and safety risks associated with artificial intelligence.

Strengthen the Modern Slavery Act to prioritise prevention and enhance supply chain due diligence, reporting and transparency and enforce inspection to eradicate labour exploitation and inadequate working conditions.

Reform and substantially increase Statutory Sick Pay levels and introduce new forms of benefits to ensure access for those who need it and to avoid sick workers prematurely returning to work at the consequence of long-term ill health.

Bring forward an initiative to promote mental health in the workplace and introduce explicit legislation addressing how employers must identify psychosocial hazards and risks.

Protect and enforce labour rights, OSH rights and improve working conditions through trade and investment agreements.

Safeguard workers’ rights to representation and information and enforcement of effective consultations.

With climate change posing threats to workers’ safety and health, invest in safe and sustainable infrastructures, which not only prioritise Net Zero but also the protection of workers, the identification and management of climate-related OSH risks and ensure new jobs within the green economy provide ‘good work’.

Strengthen national capacity by providing better funding for the UK health and safety regulators – the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities – to enable them to fulfil their statutory role in a proactive manner.

Tackle violence and aggression at work by ensuring the UK’s implementation of the ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment.

What membership status were those who responded?

In total, 309 members responded to our survey, of whom 283 are UK-based.