Common sense to improve health and safety laws

In a recent rant against health and safety law, Ann Widdecombe wrote in the Daily Express that "this country long ago abandoned common sense and proportionality in favour of the compensation culture, the rule book and the jobs worth, and that the resulting antics cause mirth rather than respect”. In ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ parlance, Ann, I’m afraid you’re out of step with impending changes which will directly affect the self-employed and laws on compensation.

In November 2011, Professor Löfstedt, a leading risk management specialist, chaired the Government’s review of health and safety legislation and published a report entitled ‘Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation’. In this report, Löfstedt recommended the exemption of self-employed workers whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others from regulation under the health and safety law. This marked a so-called ‘common sense’ approach which was endorsed by Government and confirmed in the Queen’s speech in May 2013.

From October 2013, approximately 800,000 self-employed workers will become exempt under new health and safety legislation. These workers work mostly on their own from home and have no contact with the general public, so pose no risk of harm. But there are 2.3 million self-employed workers in the UK who will still be subject to health and safety law because they work in industries that pose risk to others e.g. in construction, diving, mining, offshore and the nuclear industry. To the common man that seems like a sensible approach to maintain.

Another issue raised in the Löfstedt review was in relation to compensation claims for injuries. The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 covers the legal requirement for compensation.

Currently employers can be liable to pay compensation to employees in health and safety cases, even if there is nothing they could have done to prevent the injury and all reasonable steps have been taken. 

In an attempt to address the ‘compensation culture’ and an increase in spurious claims the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 now limits the right to claim for compensation to where it can be shown an employer has acted negligently. This means in the future an employer will have the opportunity to defend themselves on the basis of having taken reasonable steps to reduce the risk of an accident. These changes to civil liability for employers who breach health and safety laws will come into force on 1st October 13.

Of course criminal liability remains, but the BSIF is keen to make sure that both employers and employees are clear about these changes to civil liability, removing one avenue of redress in claiming for work related injuries, and hopes that an extensive publicity campaign is undertaken prior to their introduction to clarify the changes.

Changes in health and safety laws are on the side of common sense and the BSIF is fully supportive of that.