Needless Health & Safety bureaucracy to be rooted out

Employment Minister Chris Grayling has announced plans to cut back health and safety red tape in a move that he said would “root out needless bureaucracy”.

The announcement follows a review carried out by Professor Lofstedt, published today by the DWP.

The minister said:

“From the beginning we said getting the regulation of health and safety right is important to everyone. By accepting the recommendations of Professor Löfstedt we are putting common sense back at the heart of health and safety. Our reforms will root out needless bureaucracy and be a significant boost to the million self employed people who will be moved out of health and safety regulation altogether.

“We will also ensure our reforms put an emphasis on personal responsibility. It cannot be right that employers are responsible for damages when they have done all they can to manage the risk. Fundamentally we will ensure the health and safety system is fit for purpose through streamlining the maze of regulations and ensuring consistency across the board.”

It’s expected that regulations will be reduced by a third initially, with this rising to half of the regulations within 3 years.

Filed under: General News by Employment Law Clinic           Post created on: November 28th, 2011