HSC Says Don't Overcomplicate Health And Safety, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 01 Aug 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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As a part of the Government's Better Regulation Agenda the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have initiated a dedicated project to help small and medium size businesses (SMEs) to fulfil their health and safety requirements as outlined by law. With this initiative HSE aims to reduce the cost of risk assessment to most business by a third.

Speaking at an event that announced a number of government better regulation initiatives HSC Chair Sir Bill Callaghan said, "What has come to be known as 'elfandsafety' can be a frustrating business. In part it's frustrating because so many of the stories you hear are based on misinterpretations of the law, or the misguided actions of a few individuals. In reality much health and safety law is flexible, but it can be intimidating if you are not sure what is required."

Building on HSE's sensible risk campaign Sir Bill announced the launch of three more of HSE's example risk assessments to help businesses. He continued, "We are saying you don't need to overcomplicate things, keep your risk assessment fit for purpose, make it a living document and act on it. Risk assessment should be about what practical steps you need to take to protect people, not paperwork for its own sake. By itself, filling in a form never saved a life. It should be a means to an end - sensible risk management."

HSE has been working closely with stakeholders to develop industry-specific concise and practical example risk assessments that will help businesses with the information they need to make informed decisions, and make significant impact on the amount of time and money they feel they need to spend managing the risks in their workplaces. This project will help SMEs understand what a 'good enough' risk assessment looks like.

At the same event the Better Regulation Executive (BRE) launched it's study of the cumulative impact of health and safety regulation on low risk businesses which HSE will be supporting.

1. All businesses face requirements in law to assess the health and safety risks in their workplace (from the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations). Some regulations outline specific risks they need to consider, such as those faced by users of computers (Display Screen Equipment Regulations); those from lifting and carrying things (Manual Handling Regulations); and those from chemicals (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations). All of these requirements apply in some way in most businesses. A record of the risk assessment must be written and kept under review.

2. HSE is targeting this initiative at the six sectors in the economy that contain 70% of all businesses (Retail, Wholesale, Hotel & Catering, Transport, Motor Trade, Property and Business Services).

3. HSE has already published example assessments for an office, a car repair garage, a warehouse and a contract bricklayer. Today HSE launched further examples for a convenience store/newsagent, an estate agent and a general office cleaning contractor. Example assessments for dry cleaning, hairdressing, cold storage warehousing and catering are planned for launch in November.

4. Examples on risk assessment can be viewed on the HSE website. None of the example risk assessments is more than four pages long.

5. The HSC has overall responsibility for occupational health and safety regulations in Great Britain. The Commission consists of 10 people nominated by bodies with an interest in workplace health and safety. They are sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The DWP minister for occupational health and safety is Lord McKenzie of Luton.

6. The HSE and Local Authorities are the enforcing authorities that work in support of the Commission.

Health and Safety Executive