Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Latest NewsWellbeing

Health and safety reforms could be hazardous, warn unions

by Laura Chamberlain 15 Oct 2010
by Laura Chamberlain 15 Oct 2010

Trade unions have warned that proposed changes to health and safety legislation could endanger workers in some industries.

Prime Minister David Cameron has welcomed the recommendations of a report by Lord Young, Common Sense, Common Safety, which aims to clarify existing regulations and ensure they are taken more seriously by employers and the public, as well as taking “the burden” off small businesses. However, union leaders have warned that the changes could be dangerous.

One of the suggestions by Lord Young is to provide simpler interactive risk assessments for employers operating in low-risk environments, such as offices.

However, unions have claimed that Lord Young has missed an opportunity to improve workplace safety. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber called the report a “grave disappointment”, adding: “The report contains not a single proposal that will reduce the high levels of workplace death, injuries and illness. Every year 20,000 people die prematurely as a result of their work and at any one time over two million people are suffering ill-health because of their jobs.”

Hope Daley, Unison’s head of health and safety, said: “Lord Young shows no awareness of the problems caused by occupational ill-health and no real understanding of the level of injury or ill-health in schools, classrooms or offices. Schools and offices have very high levels of stress-related illness, and many people suffer from arm, back and neck injuries. Between them these are responsible for around three-quarters of work-related sickness absence.”

Fears were also expressed over the impact on high-risk workplaces such as the construction sector of plans to loosen regulations on the reporting of injuries.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: “Lord Young has failed to grasp why safety legislation is so vital in dangerous industries such as construction. If he had, he would be demanding greater resources to protect workers and to tighten existing legislation.”

Lord Young’s report is the result of a request by the Prime Minister to undertake a review of so-called “compensation culture” and the implementation of health and safety legislation in the UK.

Mr Cameron commented: “Good health and safety is vitally important but all too often straightforward legislation designed to protect people from major hazards has been extended inappropriately to cover every walk of life, no matter how low the risk.”

For more information on health and safety laws, read XpertHR’s employer reference manual.






Summary of Lord Young’s recommendations



  • Produce clear separate guidance under the Code of Practice focused on small and medium businesses engaged in lower risk activities.
  • Professionalise health and safety consultants with a qualification requirement that all consultants should be accredited to professional bodies.
  • The current raft of health and safety regulations should be consolidated into a single set of accessible regulations.
  • Simplify the risk assessment procedure for low hazard workplaces and provide simpler interactive risk assessments for low hazard workplaces online.
  • Create periodic checklists that enable businesses operating in low hazard environments to check and record their compliance with regulations as well as online video demonstrations of best practice in form completion.
  • Develop similar checklists for use by voluntary organisations.
  • Exempt employers from risk assessments for employees working from home in a low hazard environment.
  • Exempt self-employed people in low hazard businesses from risk assessments.

Avatar
Laura Chamberlain

previous post
Lord Sugar backs apprenticeships over ‘blowing money’ on further education
next post
Leadership development in extreme conditions

You may also like

Davos 2022: ‘Invest in social jobs to save...

27 May 2022

P&O Ferries boss denies reputational damage after mass...

27 May 2022

Why Can’t Managers Manage? Chris Roebuck talks to...

27 May 2022

Parliament launches UK labour market inquiry

27 May 2022

Menopausal worker loses sex and disability discrimination claim

27 May 2022

Employers must help employees ‘flourish’ post-pandemic

27 May 2022

Age remains a barrier to upskilling finds research

27 May 2022

‘Inequality is embedded in our labour market’ says...

27 May 2022

More than £1bn of upskilling loan money has...

26 May 2022

Monkeypox advice for employers: working from home and...

26 May 2022

  • The importance of being an ethical leader and how to become one PROMOTED | What is ethical leadership?...Read more
  • RPO Report: 2022, The Year to Outsource PROMOTED | Employers should be overwhelmed with choice...Read more
  • Report: Enabling organisational agility through talent & people success PROMOTED | Work has been challenged...Read more
  • Employee Trends 2022 report PROMOTED | Edenred research on employees analysed the key employees’ trends for 2022...Read more
  • How finance apprenticeships can boost business PROMOTED | As the world’s most forward-thinking professional accountancy body...Read more
  • Paul Devoy: Showing appreciation to the Investors in People community PROMOTED | Ask most people what comes to mind when you mention Investors in People...Read more
  • White paper: How digitalisation can support evolving occupational health PROMOTED | Download this free white paper to discover how digitalisation can help occupational health meet emerging challenges...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
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+