Urge your MPs to support Li£e Savings

1 July 2011

Members are being asked to write to their local MPs calling on them to sign a motion for a House of Commons debate supporting IOSH’s Li£e Savings campaign.

Dame Anne Begg, MP for Aberdeen South, tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament on 8 June welcoming the launch of the campaign.

In the motion, the Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee wrote: “IOSH’s Li£e Savings campaign highlights how UK business can save money by investing in good health and safety and further welcomes IOSH’s helpful advice and guidance which aims to save the economy billions of pounds by reducing lost output, expenditure, national healthcare and state benefit costs as well as cutting workplace deaths, injuries and illness and saving thousands of people from leading blighted lives.”

EDM 1884 “calls on the government to show real leadership by demonstrating the considerable benefits of good health and safety management to all employers and supporting them in its achievement.”

The motion has already attracted the backing of more than 30 MPs from a range of political parties. Now, IOSH would like members to contact their local MP asking for their support.

Says Caroline Patel, Head of Campaigns at IOSH: “It’s vital that the government hears the central message of our Li£e Savings campaign: good health and safety can save money as well as lives. The sheer scale of the potential savings for the British economy are very persuasive – it’s estimated that the total bill for health and safety failures adds up to £22 billion a year.”

Richard Jones, IOSH Head of Policy and Public Affairs, adds: “We’d like as many signatures as possible supporting Anne Begg’s Early Day Motion. EDMs are a good way of publicising the views of individual MPs, promoting specific campaigns and showing the extent of Parliamentary support for a cause or point of view.”

We’ve drafted a ready-made letter template which our members can download. All you need to do is add your name and address and the name and address of your MP and post it.

ends

• If you’d like to support this important new campaign from your professional body, please download the template letter, add contact details and post it to your MP’s constituency office. If you’re not sure of your local MP’s details, visit They work for you. Please email us and let us know if you get in touch with your MP.