Safety regs "distract" SMEs two days a month

News | HSW
01.05.2007

Small businesses spend an average of 14 hours a month coping with health and safety regulations, according to a new survey by the Forum of Private Business (FPB).

Describing the burden as "too heavy", FPB chief executive Nick Goulding said the amount of time now spent on health and safety red tape is "a real distraction from the day-to-day running of a smaller business".

An FPB spokesperson told HSW the online survey of 165 members is part of a wider look at the red-tape burden on UK businesses. Last October, it published research showing that 30% of small firms believe health and safety is the costliest area of regulation for their businesses.

In the latest survey, nearly half the respondents claimed to spend more than seven hours a month dealing with health and safety, while around one in five (19%) spend between a day and a week every month.

When the survey looked at how small firms spend their health and safety time, 57% reported "administration" and 56% "understanding the regulations" as "very time consuming".

"The amount of time spent on these areas replaces the time spent on supervision, which could have a greater impact on safety," argued Goulding.

Around three in five respondents believe the time they spend administering and understanding the regulations is disproportionate to the benefits or need for them.

Small businesses also feel that the regulations lack clarity and are overly complicated.

A typical response was: "It is so complicated that even after employing very expensive consultants I don't feel confident that we fully comply."

Another frequent complaint was that regulations fail to acknowledge business size. "The one-rule-fits-all approach is completely impractical for smaller firms and new procedures aren't flexible enough as a result," said Goulding.