Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation

By Professor Ragnar E Löfstedt November 2011

This excellent report makes some very common sense (Yes, I know common sense is becoming an endangered species!) recommendations that I hope our illustrious leaders will act on quickly. I was especially pleased to read that  the concept of "as far as reasonably practicable" should be strengthened, which together with a recommendation that HSE assume control of all local authority Inspections and Enforcement, should go a long way to reducing the jobsworth culture that has so threatened the application of sensible Health and Safety controls.

The full report can be found here 

Key recommendations. 

•   Exempting from health and safety law those self-employed whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others.  

•   That HSE should review all its ACoPs. The initial phase of the review should be  completed by June 2012 so businesses have certainty about what is planned and when changes can be anticipated. 

•   That HSE undertakes a programme of sector-specific consolidations to be completed by April 2015. 

•   That legislation is changed to give HSE the authority to direct all local authority health and safety inspection and enforcement activity, in order to ensure that it is consistent and targeted towards the most risky workplaces. 

•   That the original intention of the pre-action protocol standard disclosure list is clarified and restated and that regulatory provisions that impose strict liability should be reviewed by June 2013 and either qualified with ‘reasonably practicable’ where strict liability is not absolutely necessary or amended to prevent civil liability from attaching to a breach of those provisions.

The Health and Safety of our workforce is too important to be left to the risk phobics who then extend sensible precautions and regulation well beyond what was ever intended or where it continues to have any sensible relevance.