Government's Announcements on Health and Safety
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Hilary Ross
Head of Retail Group
DD +44 (0)20 7645 9587
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Add vCard View BiographyDate: 10/01/12
On the 5th January David Cameron announced that the Government was to "wage a war on the excessive health and safety culture that had become an albatross around the neck of British Businesses" His comments come in response to a recent report by Professor Löfstedt and a previous report by Lord Young. In his speech David Cameron announced that the Government intended to make "some big changes: businesses will no longer have to report minor accidents; up to a million self-employed workers will be exempted from health and safety regulation completely; a new panel will give firms the right to challenge controversial inspection decisions; and from this month, the Health and Safety Executive begins the task of abolishing or consolidating up to half of existing regulations.
The matters raised do in part, reflect the issues identified and highlighted as concerns both by Lord Young and Professor Loftstedt. Both found that the sheer number of regulations and lack of clarity as to interpretation were the main factors for increasing costs to business. They further identified particular legislation which was outdated and required removal. However Professor Lofstedt repeatedly made reference to the need to pass through a consultation process which would assess the impact of any suggested change to legislation so as to ensure there were no adverse consequences. His recommendations were for a three year overhaul. David Cameron's stance however has much greater momentum with the intention to push through changes at a much greater rate, namely with completion scheduled for the end of this year. (The need for such time pressure is unclear). Regrettably there seems to be no mention of the period of consultation and assessment referred to by Professor Loftstedt and further no mechanism as to how such changes will be implemented, other than the reference to the HSE "beginning the task of abolishing or consolidating….regulations"
The reference to the creation of a new panel which will gives the right to challenge controversial inspection decisions is ambiguous. It may refer to Lord Young's recommendation that citizens should have a route for redress where they want to challenge local officials’ decisions. However Lord Young's suggestions appear to apply to individuals and stated that Local authorities should conduct an internal review of all refusals on the grounds of health and safety. The Prime Minister's reference to a panel makes it sound as if something altogether more formal and far-reaching is proposed.
Mr Cameron raised issue with the compensation culture that has emanated from workplace accidents and the ever rising costs. Whereas Professor Lofstedt approached the issue as a lack of proper application of the Pre Action Protocol in the civil arena, David Cameron's target was in relation to legal costs emanating from personal injury claims.
This led to his comment that "we need to sort out what is really hazardous and what is not". Again it is not clear how review of costs will achieve this.
As an overriding objective Mr Cameron stated that changes are also to be made in health and safety law so that businesses are no longer automatically at fault if something goes wrong. No mention of what this means or how it will be implemented is made nor does it appear to reflect the recommendation of Professor Lofstedt or indeed Lord Young.
It is unclear whether the proposals are a true reflection of Government proposals or, as is more likely, Lofstedt and Young's comments dressed up in political rhetoric. We will monitor developments closely and keep you updated.
If you would like more information please contact Hilary Ross on 020 7645 9587 or Nina Dhillon on 0207 645 9595.
