Government to cut the number of health and safety inspections

The Work and Pensions Minister Chris Grayling will this week announce a number of changes to health and safety inspections which will cut by a third the number currently undertaken.

As part of a “go for growth” budget to be launched next month, the government will announce that automatic practice inspections should only apply to high risk areas such as energy, nuclear sites and chemical industries, thus reducing the number of automatic inspections by about 11,000.

The changes will also target those firms who pose a danger to others by making them pay the costs of investigations which subsequently show that they are in breach of the law. The minister says that the moves will go some way towards achieving a balance between protecting employees in the workplace and ensuring that needless bureaucracy does not stifle economic growth.

The changes are part of a package of measures aimed at reducing the budget of the Health and Safety Executive by 35% by 2014/15, which will be joined by measures to relax employment laws for small businesses. Grayling will undertake an intensive review of all health and safety laws in the workplace which will report in the autumn and will build on work already having been completed by Lord Young, the Prime Minister’s former health and safety advisor.

The proposals have already been given a cautious welcome by David Frost, the director general of the British Chamber of Commerce, who said: “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.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/mar/21/health-safety-inspections-cut-third