HSE plans to give employers paper cuts

News | HSW
01.12.2006

A new plan launched by the Health and Safety Commission and Executive (HSC/E) to help cut form-filling for employers has been endorsed by union and employers' organisations alike.

The plan, to be developed over the next four years, is designed to ensure "better, smarter" regulation. The HSC/E have committed themselves to work towards a 25% reduction in administrative burdens - an estimated £508 million - "on the basis that none of the changes will result in a reduction in worker or public safety".

Key actions in the first year of the HSC/E plan include continuing the "sensible" risk-management theme; a review of the gas-safety regime with a view to modernising the system; and a review of all HSE forms to purge those that are out-of-date and provide electronic versions of all current ones.

The launch of the plan comes in response to the publication of two reports on better regulation: the Hampton report and the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF) report.

Other planned HSC/E initiatives include new guidance on, and research into, the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations; the consolidation of construction legislation (due in April, see the feature on page 25); and a rationalisation of COSHH-related guidance.

The Better Regulation Commission concluded that "the HSE has made an impressive effort to address some of the key regulatory burdens and irritants it imposes on those it regulates," but called for more "radical thinking" about ways to promote health and safety.

Dr Janet Asherson, head of health and safety at the CBI, welcomed the HSE's plan, noting that "the hard work ... will pay off when businesses notice the difference". The TUC's senior health and safety officer, Hugh Robertson, also gave the plan cautious approval. "If regulation can be simplified without reducing the level of protection it affords, that is in the interests of employees, employers and regulators," said Robertson.

The HSC/E's simplification plan is available at www.hse.gov.uk/simplification/index.htm