Ongoing Review of Health and Safety

Last year we ran an article announcing a review of Health and Safety headed up by Lord Young and asking for your opinions about the current state of Health and Safety legislation.

All recommendations accepted

Lord Young has now moved on, but the report was published and we have seen some developments on the back of what he had to say, including, for example, the establishment of a register of Health and Safety professionals who are sufficiently well qualified to offer advice to businesses.

In fact, the government accepted all the recommendations in Lord Young's report and is busy implementing them. They have published a report in which they document their progress against each of the proposals.

Launch of a new review

This month, the government has announced the launch of a further review, entitled "Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone" that is focusing on Health and Safety regulation.

In this review, the government is aiming to strike "the right balance" between, on the one hand, protecting people's safety and health in the workplace and, on the other hand, avoiding excessive and unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy.

As the government sees it, there are three primary areas that need to be addressed:

The first area concerns the poor advice to businesses from rogue health and safety advisers. It is to address this aspect that the register of Occupational Safety and Health Consultants has been introduced.
The second area is concerned with putting more effort into policing high risk industries, along with those businesses who are responsible for serious breaches of the regulations. At the same time the aim is to reduce the burden on low risk organisations that comply with the rules - and then make those who flout the law pay for the harm they cause.
The third area is concerned with legislation and regulation of Health and Safety with the aim of reducing complexity and easing the burden on businesses.

Wide differences of opinion

As you might imagine there's much disagreement as to where exactly the "right balance" should be struck. For example:

Chris Grayling, who took over responsibility for reviewing Health and Safety from Lord Young, is quoted as saying,

"Of course it is right to protect employees in the workplace, but Britain’s health and safety culture is also stifling business and holding back economic growth. The purpose of health and safety regulation is to protect people at work and rightly so. But we need common sense at the heart of the system".

" By reducing unnecessary red tape we can encourage businesses to come and invest in the UK, creating jobs and opportunities when we need them most".
On the other hand, TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber stated:

"Removing proactive inspections from a large number of workplaces means that employers can get away with ignoring the law until they kill or seriously injure someone. This is in no-one's interests and will mean an increase in deaths and injuries, leading to a rush to the bottom as cowboy companies undercut responsible employers by cutting back on safety.'

'The proposals are not only bad for workers' health and safety, they will also be bad for the economy as the health service and benefits system have to deal with the aftermath of more injuries and illnesses caused through unsafe work.

What is your view?

The last time we asked for your opinions, we received an interesting mix of responses, some of which we published (with permission) in a subsequent newsletter.

If you have views about this latest initiative we would really appreciate receiving them if you have a few minutes to drop us a line at feedback@edp-uk.com.

As on the previous occasion, unless you ask us to withhold your views, we will look at publishing them in the next few weeks. It will be particularly interesting to see if there is any discernable shift in attitudes over the intervening months.

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To discuss your health and safety or environment requirements, without any obligation on your part, please gives us a call on 01744 766000 or complete the Enquiry Form on our website.

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