DWP plans to cut local authority health and safety inspections by 65,000 a year

The government has unveiled plans to slash the number of health and safety inspection visits undertaken each year by local authorities by 65,000 – a third of the total – under proposals unveiled by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Councils are responsible for health and safety regulation in around 50% of total business premises and currently conduct around 196,000 inspection visits a year. These generally take place at lower risk areas such as offices, shops and leisure activities.

But the government has announced it wants health and safety regulation generally to focus on high hazard sites and tackling rogue employers and consultants, “not tying up the vast majority of Britain’s businesses in unnecessary red tape and regulations”.

The plans will see “responsible employers” no longer face automatic health and safety inspections.

In its framework document Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone, the DWP said this lighter touch approach should also apply to local authorities.

“The government believes it is right to similar principles to local authority health and safety activities,” it said. “It will look to see a reduction of at least a third (65,000 per annum) of inspections and greater targeting where proactive inspection continues.”

The government will encourage the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities to increase their information provision for small businesses “in a form which is both accessible and relevant to their needs”.

The plans will also see:

• Businesses found to be in serious breach of health and safety law required to bear the costs incurred by the regulator. “A cost recovery principle provide a deterrent to those who would otherwise fail to meet their obligations and a level playing field for those who do”. The HSE will operate an appeal system where there are disputes over cost recovery
• A new register of qualified occupational safety and health consultants made available to businesses, “and those who are untrained or give false advice will be excluded from the approved list”. This will clamp down on rogue advisers, the DWP said
• A review of all existing health and safety law “with a view to scrapping measures that are not needed and put an unnecessary burden on business”. Its findings will be published in the autumn
• A new online package, Health and Safety Made Simple, made available for small and low risk employers.

Employment minister Chris Grayling said: "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. 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.

"This will help us make Britain a more growth focused, entrepreneurial nation. By reducing unnecessary red tape we can encourage businesses to come and invest in the UK, creating jobs and opportunities when we need them most."

The framework document insisted that the HSE and local authorities, as joint co-regulators for health and safety legislation, had a vital role to play in ensuring that the regulatory system:

• "is focused on better health and safety outcomes and not purely technical breaches of the law
• makes it as straightforward as possible for business, and in particular, small businesses, to deliver a health and safe working environment
• is enforced in a manner which is proportionate to risk
• avoids placing unnecessary burdens on businesses which manage health and safety effectively, and
• maintains a strong deterrent against those who fail to meet their health and safety obligations and put their employees at material risk thereby also deriving an unfair competitive advantage."

The DWP’s announcement follows publication in October 2010 of Lord Young of Graffham’s report, Common Sense, Common Safety, which looked at the so-called “compensation culture” and the impact of health and safety regulations on business.

Health and Safety Executive Chair Judith Hackitt said: "HSE remains focused on preventing death, serious injury and ill health to those at work and those affected by work activities. With even better targeting of our activities we will further help small businesses to understand what they need to do. This will enable us to give the highest level of attention to those areas with the potential to cause most harm and where we can have the greatest impact."

Good Health and safety, Good for Everyone can be downloaded here.

Philip Hoult