Proposed Health and Safety Shake-up
An open letter from Michael Slade, Managing Director of mhl support, concerning the Government's planned review of Health and Safety Law in the UK.
The Government has appointed Lord Young to carry out a review of health and safety law in the UK. Interviewed by the BBC on 14 June 2010, he commented that the country had become a “nanny state” in health and safety matters and that common sense needed to be a factor in compliance. He referred to regulations, which were rightly aimed at protecting dangerous working environments, but which were incorrectly being applied to situations where such dangers were not present. His clear implication was that the onerous standards of health and safety compliance were fuelling the country’s “compensation culture”, to the detriment of businesses generally.
There are many myths surrounding health and safety law, from the complexities of risk assessments through to the banning of step ladders. For example, there is no substance to the myth that the HSE has banned school trips and classroom science experiments; it is simply not the case. Lord Young pointed out during his interview that it is the red tape that is stopping teachers. What we should call for are simpler and more easily understood guidelines for risk assessments to help reduce the burden on responsible parties – whether teachers or business owners.
Our concern is that once people start believing the myths, they give up before they start on H&S compliance – so they either take unwise risks, or simply retreat into ‘can’t do’ mode. The regulatory framework can be complex but the truth is that compliance is normally readily achievable with the right kind of resources.
We therefore welcome any review of health and safety legislation based on the premise that a significant number of regulations defy common sense in the ways in which they are interpreted or applied. In conducting such a review it is essential to start with the right premise.
So whilst we see that health and safety has had bad press of late, legislation has had a beneficial impact in the 35 years since the 1974 Act. According to the HSE, in this period fatal accidents reduced by 81%, other reportable accidents were down by 72%, and huge reductions have also been achieved in relation to work-related illnesses and conditions.
Like many other interested parties we’ll be taking an active interest the review and very much look forward to its conclusions. Whilst any review of the effectiveness, applicability and relevance of health and safety law is welcome, we would encourage Lord Young and his review team to take a measured approach to their task in hand.
Ripping up the rule book and starting again will not work in this case.
