The Lofstedt Report: Reclaiming Health and Safety for All - Part 2

This is part 2. Click here for Part 1

Following his review of health and safety legislation, Professor Löfstedt has concluded that there is no case for radically altering current health and safety legislation. It is generally felt that the existing regulatory requirements are broadly right, and that regulation has a role to play in preventing injury and ill health in the workplace.

In his report, Professor Löfstedt suggests that, in general, the problem lies less with the regulations themselves, and more with the way they are interpreted and applied.

Professor Löfstedt has made 19 recommendations aimed at reducing the burden of unnecessary regulation on businesses. The Government has accepted his recommendations.

The recommendations aim to help businesses reclaim ownership of the management of health and safety.

All of the recommendations should be delivered by April 2015 but in some cases, earlier target dates have been set.

Key Recommendations

• exempting from health and safety law those self-employed whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others
• that HSE should review all its ACoPs. The initial phase of the review should be completed by June 2012 so businesses have certainty about what is planned and when changes can be anticipated
• that HSE undertakes a programme of sector-specific consolidations to be completed by April 2015
• that legislation is changed to give HSE the authority to direct all local authority health and safety inspection and enforcement activity, in order to ensure that it is consistent and targeted towards the most risky workplaces
• that the original intention of the pre-action protocol standard disclosure list is clarified and restated and that regulatory provisions that impose strict liability should be reviewed by June 2013 and either qualified with „reasonably practicable? where strict liability is not absolutely necessary or amended to prevent civil liability from attaching to a breach of those provisions.

Some legal obligations have been identified that appear to have resulted in unnecessary costs to business whilst offering little benefit. These should be revoked, amended or clarified, subject to consultation. It is recommended that the following regulations should be revoked:

• the Notification of Tower Cranes Regulations 2010 and the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes (Amendment) Regulations 2010 – because the Impact Assessment was not able to identify any quantifiable benefits to health and safety outcomes
• the Celluloid and Cinematograph Film Act 1922 (Exemptions) Regulations 1980 and the Celluloid and Cinematograph Film Act 1922 (Repeals and Modifications) Regulations 1974 that are no longer needed to control health and safety risks
• the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989 that duplicate responsibilities set out in the later Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.

It is recommended that the following regulations should be amended, clarified or reviewed:

• the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 should be amended to remove the requirement for HSE to approve the training and qualifications of appointed first-aid personnel. This requirement seems to have little justification provided the training meets a certain standard
• the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and the associated ACoP evaluation should be completed by April 2012 to ensure there is a clearer expression of duties, a reduction of bureaucracy and appropriate guidance for small projects
• the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) and its associated guidance should be amended by the end of 2013 to provide clarity for businesses on how to comply with the requirements
• the requirement for portable appliance testing should be further clarified (including through changes to the wording of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 if necessary) by April 2012 to stop over-compliance and ensure that these messages reach all appropriate stakeholder groups
• the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the associated guidance should be reviewed by April 2013 to ensure that they do not lead to people going beyond what is either proportionate or beyond what the legislation was originally intended to cover.