Grayling calls for greater reforms - Good Health and Safety,
Good for Everyone
21 March 2011
IOSH’s Executive Director of Policy, Dr
Luise Vassie, was today invited to the Department of Work and
Pensions (DWP) for a meeting with Minister of Employment, Rt Hon
Chris Grayling MP.
The meeting, which took place today (21 March) at 10am, was the
official announcement to the industry and general public that Mr
Grayling MP would be steering the recent Government review ‘Common
Sense, Common Safety’.
Although the Government has accepted everything within the
report and its lead departments are working on its implementation,
he said that today would see “a new start for health and safety
regulation for Britain’s businesses”.
At the meeting, Mr Grayling MP said:
“Sensible health and safety at work helps to maintain a healthy and
productive workforce and contributes to economic prosperity. The
burden of health and safety red tape has, however, become too
great, with too many inspections of relatively low risk and
well-performing workplaces, frequent, poor health and safety advice
to businesses from badly qualified consultants, and a complex
structure for regulation.
“To address these issues, the Government is
today publishing its plans for the reform of the health and safety
system.”
Within his address Mr Grayling officially announced:
• The OSHCR consultants register for health and safety
professionals, calling it the “official Occupational Safety and
Health Consultants Register, for those health and safety
practitioners who are properly accredited to one of the
professional bodies in the industry”
• A substantial drop in the number of health and safety
inspections in Britain
• Charges for organisations that fail to meet their
obligations (no cost to the taxpayer)
• The launch of “Health and Safety Made Simple” -
guidelines for lower risk small and medium-sized businesses with
the “essential” health and safety information they will need all in
one place - http://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/index.htm
• An immediate review of health and safety regulation
overseen by an independent advisory panel, chaired by
Professor Ragnar Löfstedt, Director of the King’s Centre for
Risk Management at King’s College London.
Luise said: “We welcome the announcements
that the Government has made today and the opportunity to be part
of the solution.
“The health and safety sector has been given
a large amount of information to digest and there is still a huge
amount to be done. It’s great that the Government recognise
the value of ‘good’ health and safety advice for productive
workforces and economic prosperity.
“IOSH welcomes moves to drive out any rogues
from health and safety consultancy – and has been calling for
Government support on this for some years. We’re pleased to have
been involved in the development of OSHCR and to see it go live
today.
“It’s also good to see new guidance for
‘lower risk’ employers and moves to charge non-compliers for
investigation and enforcement action. We believe this will help to
make the financial argument for good health and safety, whilst
helping to develop a level playing field between the good guys and
the bad, and help optimise the use of the Health and Safety
Executive’s (HSE) resources.”
IOSH is currently reviewing the new HSE guidelines on
simplifying health and safety for small to medium sized businesses.
The response to all of today’s announcements will follow over the
next few days.
You can find further details on the DWP website,
as well as the DWP positioning statement “Good Health and Safety,
Good for Everyone”.