Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Latest NewsHealth and safetyWellbeing

Government offers to simplify health and safety procedures

by Personnel Today 25 Apr 2011
by Personnel Today 25 Apr 2011

The Government has unveiled a wholesale reform of Britain’s health and safety landscape in the wake of the March 2011 Budget and the Lord Young Common sense, common safety review of health and safety carried out last autumn.

In March, employment minister Chris Grayling said that, under the new government framework Good health and safety, good for everyone, “responsible employers” will no longer face automatic health and safety inspections, with the aim of cutting the number of inspections carried out in the UK by at least one-third.

Fears about the effects of the proposal were raised by health and safety bodies in a recent issue of Occupational Health magazine, with unions in particular worried that corners might end up being cut as a result.

Other measures announced include a review of all existing health and safety laws, to be carried out by Professor Ragnar E Lofstedt, of King’s College London, and due to be published in the autumn.

A new online package, Health and safety made simple, has been published to assist small and low-risk employers.

A new Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register has also gone “live”. It is designed to help businesses and organisations to source health and safety advice more easily.

“Of course it is right to protect employees in the workplace, but Britain’s health and safety culture is also stifling business and holding back economic growth,” said Grayling. “The purpose of health and safety regulation is to protect people at work and rightly so. But we need common sense at the heart of the system, and these measures will help root out the needless burden of bureaucracy.”

In the Budget, the Government accepted all of Lord Young’s recommendations. These included proposals to simplify risk-assessment procedures for “low-hazard” workplaces such as offices, classrooms and shops, and for workers in such environments or those working from home or the self-employed to be exempted from having to go thr­ough a risk assessment at all.

In a separate development, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published its latest Delivery plan covering the period up to the end of March 2012. This outlined three priorities:




  • to make more effective use of available resources, by becoming more efficient and “making some tough choices” about priorities;
  • to recover more of its costs and charging where there is legitimate scope to do so; and
  • to level the playing field by ensuring that businesses that create risks by operating outside the law, or where a continuing high level of engagement is required, meet more of the regulator’s costs generated as a result, with the HSE consulting on proposals to introduce such arrangements.

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Weapons firm joins construction occupational health scheme
next post
Case of the week: Audit Commission v Haq

You may also like

ILO updates guidance on workplace biological hazards

4 Jul 2022

Quarter of workers feel unsupported after bereavement

1 Jul 2022

Call for better workplace ventilation as Covid cases...

1 Jul 2022

Employment law changes for 2022 and beyond: update...

1 Jul 2022

BT workers vote for strike action over pay

1 Jul 2022

Chief financial officers now more involved in HR

1 Jul 2022

Business leaders urged to prioritise wellbeing as we...

1 Jul 2022

Top 10 HR questions June 2022: Former employees

1 Jul 2022

Pay all care workers a £10.50 hourly minimum...

30 Jun 2022

Royal Mail managers vote to strike over restructure

30 Jun 2022

  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today