Regulatory Reform Update

Following recent government initiatives to reform the current state of health and safety legislation the first progress report has been issued.

The Löstedt review published at the end of 2011 outlined 6 areas of reform and the Common Sense Common Safety report issued by Lord Young in October 2010 included 35 recommendations. This first progress report outlines closed out tasks including the following:

  1. Evaluation of the Construction, Design and Management Regulations 2007, (CDM). Although the general conclusion of this evaluation is that the regulations work in principle, several issues have been raised.  (Watch out for more details on this in my next blog!)
  2. A new publication has been issued relating to the requirements for PAT testing.
  3. Two challenge panels have been set up to address incorrect applications of Health and Safety legislation. The Myth Busters Challenge Panel looks at complaints regarding advice from non-regulators such as insurance companies, health and safety consultants and employers. The Independent Regulatory Challenge Panel looks at complaints from businesses about decisions made by HSE or local authority inspectors.
  4. An extension has been put in place for the requirements of reporting lost time accident under RIDDOR. See Blog April 2012.

The next phase of the reforms is to review many of the Approved Codes of Practice which are in place which outline how to apply the various regulations. This is a huge task with a target date of 2014 for 50% of all Health and Safety Legislation to be reviewed, removed or improved.

The full report is available to the public and can be found via the following link.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/progress-report-health-safety-reforms-june-12.pdf

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