Cutting the Gordian Knot

His straight talking approach might have been tough to swallow when it came to the subject of the economy, but Lord Young's overhaul of the UK health & safety system seems to have been just the tonic. Health & safety, an industry with a major identity crisis, has been offered a fresh start and some new direction and for this, those involved in the industry are on the whole grateful. (See full reactions, pages 10 and 11).

There is a bounty of recommendations in Lord Young's report Common Sense: Common Safety for ways to bring about a more proportionate approach to health & safety. Measures include introducing a simple fifteen minute risk assessment for low hazard workplaces, controlling advertising by claims management companies and the launch of an online registration system for safety consultants to ensure those dishing out health and safety advice are up to the job. The outcome will hopefully be that businesses will no longer be intimidated into paying over-the-odds for over-the-top safety advice and consultants can be proud of their profession. No one will expect these changes to happen overnight; belittling health & safety is such a popular topic of conversation in the UK it probably ranks second only to the weather - no doubt many of those conversations are equally inaccurate. But these measures will filter down and, hopefully, ultimately effect a change in perception of the subject. Measures such as the recommendation that council officials who ban events on health & safety grounds should put their reasons in writing, and aggrieved citizens should have a fast track route for referring decisions to the local Government Ombudsman could, for example, be particularly effective.

Baroness Donaghy, speaking at a debate in the House of Lords, compared Lord Young's approach to Alexander the Great slashing the Gordian knot. “If Lord Young's report brings some proportionality into health and safety while at the same time upholding the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act and thus saving lives, he will truly be an Alexander,” she suggests.

Let's hope that her comparison rings true and 2011 becomes the year that the
industry is finally able to move on from the negative reputation that has plagued it for so long.

Georgina Bisby
Editor
Health & Safety Matters
gbisby@western-bp.co.uk