HOW inappropriate that the week before Workers’ Memorial Day on April 28, the House of Lords saw fit to make changes to the Health & Safety At Work Act by removing civil liability for breaches of health and safety regulations.

In an attempt to end what the Government insultingly calls the “compensation culture”, peers have approved the removal of a right of action which has existed since 1898, namely the right of employees to claim damages for injuries if they can show an employer has breached a statutory duty.

In changes to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, employees will now face the full burden of proving negligence. The only beneficiaries of this change will be unscrupulous employers and greedy insurance companies – with the financial burden being transferred to injured employees, their dependants and the State.

In a week when we remember the horrors of asbestosis and other industrial accidents and diseases, this Government’s relentless attacks on health and safety at work is inexcusable.

They have already slashed funding to the Health and Safety Executive by 35 per cent and now question whether the HSE is “necessary”.

With 49 deaths in construction alone last year, we would argue it is more necessary than ever.

Ian Craven, York Trade Union Council, Nunnery Lane, York.