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RoSPA has responded to today's publication of the Löfstedt Review, which looked at health and safety legislation and its effect on UK businesses.
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RoSPA welcomes the findings of the Löfstedt Review - which has confirmed that the present legal structure for health and safety is broadly fit for purpose - and says the challenge now is to embed a proportionate approach to accident and ill health prevention across the entire health and safety system.
The Government-commissioned review, led by Professor Ragnar Löfstedt of King's College London, who was aided by an independent panel, investigated opportunities for "reducing the burden of health and safety legislation on UK businesses while maintaining the progress made in improving health and safety outcomes".
Tom Mullarkey, chief executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: "We are glad that Prof Löfstedt has rejected deregulation and has confirmed that the present legal structure is broadly fit for purpose. His detailed recommendations for technical change show there is always scope for some tidying up of the law and eradicating unnecessary red tape without removing essential protections but, like at least half a dozen previous reviews of health and safety law, he has confirmed that not only has the UK got the regulatory balance about right but we also have much to be proud of.
"RoSPA is in favour of reducing clumsy regulatory repetition, as demonstrated by our ongoing work to assist smaller firms with health and safety, and we stand ready and willing to help in any way we can to take Prof Löfstedt's recommendations from paper into practice, while, correspondingly, continuing to drive up safety and health standards in areas where improvements need to be made."
RoSPA, a charity that has been at the heart of accident prevention in the UK and around the world for 94 years, is pleased that, although the report points to the UK's relatively good accident record, it also recognises the continued need for managing health and safety risks in the workplace. The report cites estimates that suggest the cost of injury and ill health to UK business alone could be just over £3billion, while the overall cost to society of workplace accidents and ill health has been estimated to be up to a staggering £20billion a year.
RoSPA welcomes the report's proposals for bringing local authority enforcement under the control of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and is also pleased that it identifies the very significant influence that third party "semi-regulators", such as insurers, clients and funders, can have on duty holders. RoSPA believes the positive, helpful influence needs to be encouraged and the negative influence, which can increase bureaucracy unnecessarily, reduced. RoSPA also welcomes the report's recommendations to improve the understanding of risk.
Roger Bibbings, RoSPA's occupational safety adviser, said: "Because his terms of reference were quite constrained, Prof Löfstedt did not have the opportunity to identify other important steps that are needed to help 'UK plc' achieve better and more cost-effective health and safety performance. In short, his review looked at regulation rather than the wider health and safety system, although he seems to accept that more work needs to be done to help save lives and reduce injuries while at the same time making health and safety easier.
"We are delighted that he has emphasised the importance of a proportionate, risk-based approach to safety and health assurance rather than an inflexible one based on prescriptive rules. It is vital that this message is now embedded once and for all across the wider system, including in the activities of third parties, because many fresh opportunities for cutting harm and loss and making health and safety easier are waiting to be grasped.
"Where Prof Löfstedt accepts more work is needed is in tackling the very real difficulties which many small firms seem to face in responding in a proportionate way to goal-setting duties informed by risk assessment. If SMEs are 'making a meal of things' or accepting 'over-the-top' advice uncritically, this points to the need for such firms to get effective diagnosis and signposting so they can access the information, training and advice they need to manage their health and safety problems effectively. Reductions in HSE resources, including the closure of the HSE Infoline, plus other cuts, such as the winding up of the health and safety team at the Skills Funding Agency, mean that expertise in this area will be at a premium. Other players in the system, including the third sector, are going to have to step up to the mark and show the way forward on health and safety."
RoSPA believes the proposed exemption from health and safety law of the self-employed whose work does not impact on others will need careful handling.
Contact Information
Jo Bullock
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)
28 Calthorpe Road
Birmingham
B15 1RP
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