Occupational hazards - December 22

WE WERE concerned at the end of 2022 when the UK Government announced a move to exempt businesses with fewer than 500 staff from reporting and regulatory requirements. 

In announcing this move, it was claimed it would “free” 40,000 businesses from “future bureaucracy”. 

This isn’t something to be celebrated; we feel it would be a huge step in the wrong direction, potentially creating a race to the bottom when it comes to occupational safety and health standards.

That was the point we put across to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when we wrote to him. Our letter contained a number of calls for action, but we focused on encouraging him to make an “early, bold” move by reversing the decision, which was taken by his predecessor Liz Truss.

At the time of writing, it is too soon to know if this call will be heeded by the Government. But the fact is that the health, safety and wellbeing of the workforce should be a priority for every business, regardless of its size and what regulatory requirements it faces. 

Small and medium-sized enterprises – or SMEs as they are commonly known – play a key role in national economies around the world, generating employment, adding value and contributing to innovation, sustainability and inclusive growth. 

More than 99 per cent of UK businesses are SMEs, each with fewer than 250 employees. Together, they account for 60 per cent of private sector jobs, according to the Federation of Small Businesses. Globally, they represent about 90 per cent of businesses and more than 50 per cent of employment. 

And health and safety is key for them. In fact, it is good for business and therefore good for the economy. Effective OSH regulations, proportionately and sensibly applied, help ensure many millions of lives and livelihoods are protected each and every day. 

SMEs have unique features that affect their approach to and outcomes from OSH and sustainable practices. These features should be taken into consideration by regulators and policy-makers when designing compliance, policies, strategies, programmes, tools and initiatives for SMEs to improve OSH performance, protect workers and improve working conditions.

Despite this, workers operating in micro-organisations and SMEs are often at a greater risk of workplace accidents and work-related ill-health and tend to have higher rates of accidents and disease. 

An EU-OSHA report showed that SMEs have an increased risk of accidents, compared to large enterprises. In firms with fewer than 50 workers, the fatal accident rate is around double that of larger companies. The study also suggested that there is also a higher risk of non-fatal accidents.

Also, as SMEs become more active in supply chains and in the informal economy, their ability to manage risk becomes more important. Supporting micro-organisations and SMEs in their corporate governance and due diligence is vital if we want to reduce accidents and ill-health in this key segment of the labour market.

Micro-organisations and SMEs stand to gain significant benefits from adopting responsible and sustainable business practices, irrespective of the sector they are in. IOSH calls on micro-organisations and SMEs to ensure they are aware of occupational safety and health requirements and risks in relation to their business, and to put in place proportionate systems and controls for the protection of their workers.

At the same time, we believe that policy-makers and regulators need to be more focused on proportionate actions, good and easily accessible advice and tailored solutions to upskill them. They should NOT be focusing on removing requirements to focus on such things. With OSH now endorsed by the International Labour Organization as a fundamental human right, the UK should be leading the way in setting standards and expectations.

Lawrence Webb is president of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. For more information, visit www.iosh.com