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Health and safety regulations ‘to be relaxed’
The Government has outlined plans to relax health and safety regulations to help reduce the ‘red tape burden’ on UK businesses and encourage economic growth.
The Employment Minister, Chris Grayline, announced an end to automatic health and safety inspections in medium and low risk industries – a measure which would result in around 11,000 fewer inspections every year.
Health and safety inspections will instead focus on high risk sites such as energy, nuclear sites and chemical industries.
Under the plans, employers who endanger public and employee safety would be required to pay the costs of investigations that show them to be in breach of the law and guilty firms would be forced to pay a fine.
Grayling also announced a long term review of all health and safety laws in the workplace.
‘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,’ he said.
‘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.’
The British Chambers of Commerce director general, David Frost, welcomed the changes. ‘A thorough review of health and safety rules can only be good news, provided it is followed by real action to reduce burdens on businesses.
‘Simplifying and codifying health and safety laws will help employers spend less time on tick box exercises, and more time focusing on growing their businesses.’