J'accuse: the Health and Safety Executive
HSE appears to be dragging its feet in its investigation of the collapse of 31 King Street, and its public response so far simply isn't good enough
This week's j'accuse is the Health and Safety Executive, which, in the opinion of The Oldham Owl, is dragging its feet over the investigation into the collapse of 31 King Street. The building collapsed on 24 March, and the HSE has given no firm timetable for the conclusion of investigation, stating only that it completes 80% of its investigations within a year.
HSE also stated: "As you can appreciate, HSE investigates a huge variety of workplace-related incidents." They might as well have said "All your calls are important to us."
I'm sorry, but that's absolutely not good enough. A building collapsed with five people in it. It collapsed onto a pavement where people could have been walking. It collapsed into a road that was open to traffic. A building collapsing with people in it is an extremely rare (and dangerous) event.
All your calls are important to the HSE, but you must wait your turn. The investigation into the paper cut someone in an office sustained in March 2023 is ongoing.
Two people were hospitalised when the building collapsed, but anyone who has seen the pictures knows that it was a miracle none of the five people in the building was killed. Several floors were pancaked on top of one another and the walls had partially caved in on top. All five of those people should buy lottery tickets including No. 31 on them.
We asked the HSE whether it had arrested anyone or interviewed anyone under caution - it is the lead investigation agency and has powers of arrest and prosecution. This is important because evidence-gathering under caution restricts the ability of the respondent to change their story. Interviewing people under caution makes an inquiry into a serious business, as opposed to unserious business. This is serious business: a building fell down with five people in it, and it fell into a street. You'd expect cautions. I expect cautions.
The HSE would not say whether anyone had been arrested which, in the scheme of things, is only a minor example of its contempt for the Oldham public.
Everyone knows that Councillor Kamran Ghafoor part-owns the collapsed building. HSE's procrastination (this incident should be at or near the top of its list nationally) leads me to think that it is (wilfully or otherwise) ignorant of Councillor Ghafoor's status, including as a landlord and owner of other buildings. His remarks on the collapse to date offer no reassurance to tenants in the other buildings he part owns.
Councillor Ghafoor leads the Oldham Group on Oldham Council. Oldham Council is currently out of action, partly because of Councillor Ghafoor's leadership of the 10-strong group. Had he and his party backed either Labour or Reform, they would have needed just three and five more councillors respectively to elect a leader and a cabinet.
My point is not to say that Councillor Ghafoor has done anything wrong in this case. The point is that his status ought to be another reason for the HSE to pull its finger out. HSE is pretending that the incident happened in a vacuum, when in fact it happened in the thick miasma of Oldham politics.
Here's another thing about the HSE. According to the robot reply I got from them: "It is worth noting that HSE does not publish reports about its findings". What?
I reckon Councillor Ghafoor's tenants and the Oldham public (whose lives were endangered by the building's collapse) are owed an explanation, but no: "HSE does not publish reports about its findings", even when those findings have a direct impact on people's wellbeing, and when it's massively in the public interest to publicise them.
It's not good enough, the Health and Safety Executive. The Oldham Owl will pursue our own investigation, and keep an eye on the performance of the HSE and any other statutory agencies involved. So far they've been very underwhelming. I'm not suggesting they're technically or criminally negligent, but their non-response to The Oldham Owl is negligent in this broader sense: they appear not to care enough (or at all) about the people of Oldham. They never mentioned the public interest even once. They just talked about themselves.
As it stands, The Oldham Owl investigation is all you're going to get. We'll do our best. With any luck, you won't have to wait till April 2027 to get it.
