RoSPA cautions against merging H&S regulations

Health & Safety update 03/08/2011

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has cautioned against the suggested merging of health and safety regulations.

The industry body has called upon the Löfstedt Review team to be wary of reducing the number of regulations and merging them, as has been suggested. RoSPA feels that this could prevent firms from being able to best meet their health and safety duties.

Instead, the body is suggesting that the team search for practical solutions which could enable firms of all sizes to meet their H&S duties.

One of the proposed measures includes giving low-risk small and medium-sized businesses the chance to produce H&S ‘action plans’ based on the existing HSE’s safety policy and risk assessment template.

Another suggestion is to learn from regulations that have worked well in other countries and use these to push effective H&S regulations all over the world.

RoSPA’s occupational safety adviser, Roger Bibbings, said, “There may be a case for better regulatory housekeeping, but owners and managers in small firms do not read raw, undigested health and safety law.

“What they need is good guidance and above all competent advisers to point them in the right direction. The Löfstedt team needs to take a wider view of current challenges in health and safety and suggest imaginative solutions,” he added

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