Filling out risk-assessment forms for low-risk activities is stifling the economy and harming enterprise, Lord Young of Graffham told the Conservative party conference yesterday (3 October).
The Tory peer took to the stage to launch a broadside against the apparent compensation culture, and claimed his review of health and safety would lift the burden of health and safety bureaucracy so that “people can get back to business”.
Lord Young’s long-awaited report into how health and safety laws operate in the UK is expected to be published next week and, in his own words, will deal with “non-hazardous activities, where the risks are very low but the bureaucracy unbelievably high”.
However, he confirmed that the rules and regulations relating to construction, agriculture, manufacturing, chemicals, and nuclear industries will remain intact.
Unqualified health and safety consultants are a main target of Lord Young, with steps already under way by IOSH, the CIEH, the HSE and other safety bodies to accredit this strand of the profession in a bid to build confidence in health and safety advice given out to businesses.
Said Lord Young: “We cannot allow untrained, unqualified and inexperienced consultants loose on the business world – and we won’t.”
Also pledging a crackdown on aggressive ‘no-win, no-fee’ advertising, he told the conference: “This is more than a free lottery ticket – this is a lottery where you win as you enter. What a temptation this provides to someone watching afternoon television. This is not access to justice; this is incitement to litigate – and it must stop!”
But the major thrust of the speech – perhaps unsurprising for a former trade and industry secretary – related to how form-filling and risk assessments for seemingly non-hazardous activities can discourage businesses from taking risks and lead to events being banned on health and safety grounds.
He remarked: “This is really about getting the economy going. This is about getting rid of unnecessary restrictions – the red tape that harms enterprise and protects no one. It is about restoring an enterprise economy so we can pay our way in the world again.”
The importance that David Cameron has attached to the issue of health and safety was made clear by Lord Young, who added: “My review runs no risk of being pigeonholed. It will be government policy, approved by the Cabinet, and the Prime Minister has asked me to stay on to see the changes through.”
The speech left the TUC’s health and safety officer Hugh Robertson significantly underwhelmed.
He said: “The signs are that Lord Young’s report will be seriously unbalanced. For sure, silly things are sometimes done in the name of health and safety, and the behaviour of some claims firms can be reprehensible. But the real health and safety scandal in the UK is the 20,000 people who die each year due to injury, or diseases linked to their work.
“A serious review of health and safety would put far more emphasis on dealing with this avoidable death and suffering.”
Meanwhile, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has accused the Tory peer of fuelling the hysteria about the compensation system.
Commenting last Friday, ahead of Lord Young’s speech, APIL president, Muiris Lyons, said: “In his bid to address the myth of a so-called compensation culture in this country, Lord Young is in real danger of turning the myth into a reality by creating a situation in which people will not be properly protected from the irresponsibility of those who cause injuries through their own negligence.
“What is needed now is for this Government to take the lead in stopping misplaced hysteria about the compensation system by fostering sensible debate and educating people about how the system actually works.”
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Young’s report was supposed to be published “at the end of summer”. Where is it?? Hardly an example of good management. I’ve read the text of his very short speech at the Party Conference and was completely underwhelmed. I agree with the moans about no-win, no-fee claims, but beyond that it seems to me he hasn’t got a clue about the real world and is only interested in peddling his own personal prejudices, based on what he’s read in the papers.
The government is hell bent on increasing their popularity and will do anything to do so. We all know that some Health & Safety Officers make crazy calls but to tar us all with the same brush is madness. I dread to see what the report says and this will only make what is a hard enough job as it is all the more difficult. I dont understand how they think this will help as employees will still be intitled to claim if they are injured at work.
As always lots of good common sense from Lord Young. The TUC, as always, see H & S as a back door to return to the left wing mayhem and associated damage that they caused to the country in the 60s & 70s.
The ‘brothers’ & ‘sisters’ of those old fashioned, Ludite, de-facto trade unions the Bar Council and the Law Society see a nice little earner under threat. It is in fact an opportunity to make H & S less prone to justified derision and thus more effective where it really matters.
I wonder what Lord Young would have to say if he stayed in Birmingham after the conference had ended and watched the contractors take down the marquees etc. I saw various failings in health and safety, and common sense! – Inappropriate access equipment, lack of PPE, hazardous, unmanned tools lying around in public places, poor manual handling techniques and so on and so on.
A good place to start would be to practise what you preach…
Lord Young should take another look at the existing legislation, as this requires only significant risks to be recorded and then only by companies that employ 5 or more employees. There is also a requirement for risk assessments to be suitable and sufficient – a result that can be achieved by using a qualified safety practitioner who has the relevant experience.
If the government would fully fund the HSE and police rogue white van builders and handymen they would be doing us a better service than tinkering with regulations. I think this audience is more interested in creating sound bytes and making itself look good than really advancing health and safety.
Another point, who within government is in any way qualified and experienced enough to give a reasoned opiion on matters of health and safety?
Lord Young should also review the insurance company’s ‘get out of jail card’ by stopping events due to health and safety reason, when the bottom line is, insurance companies don’t want to insurance the event.
I agree that businesses should ensure their health and safety practitioners are qualified and experienced in their choosen area. Free education on sensible H&S & risk mgt for S/M enterprises can help them identify what is trivial & what is important.