Fatal consequences of a lack of regulation | Letters

The government attributes 40-50,000 premature deaths each year to the effects of airborne pollution; there are some 1 million cases of foodborne illness, which result in 20,000 hospital admissions and 500 deaths a year; and up to 50,000 people die each year as a result of injuries or health problems originating in the workplace (Enemies of the state: the 40-year Tory project to shrink public services, G2, 9 May). Yet the rate of inspection and enforcement actions for environmental health, food safety and hygiene, and health and safety have all been falling. The statistically average workplace now expects to see a health and safety inspector once every 50 years.

In the name of cutting red tape, governments of all political persuasions have attacked independent regulation and enforcement. Budget cuts in the name of austerity have compounded the problem – especially at the level of local authorities. There is now a plethora of schemes to outsource and privatise wholesale some regulatory and enforcement activities. Private companies are increasingly involved in “regulating” either other private companies, or themselves, or both. Such changes mark the beginning of the end of the state’s commitment to forms of social protection put into place since the 1830s.
Steve Tombs
Professor of criminology, Open University

• Recent reports say parts of the British Isles are in the early stages of drought, with less than normal amounts of rain in the past few months. South-east England is particularly affected. But hasn’t our climate often broken the norms in the last 40 years? Past performance is no guide to what will happen in the future. It would be a good time now, in this pre-election period, to ask our politicians what contingency plans they have for a prolonged drought lasting two or more years. Our survival may depend upon them.
Geoff Naylor
Winchester

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Fatal consequences of a lack of regulation | Letters