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[forum admin]

UK health and safety regulation holds employers and businesses back from expansion and could even be costing jobs, according to Lord Young who is reviewing the current legislation.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Lord Young said that small businesses could spend around a day a month on health and safety paperwork.

He commented: "What we have got to do with health and safety is to reduce bureaucracy. It is all cumulative and it adds to costs.”

He has also promised to restrict adverts by claims management firms, some of which he accuses of “inciting” people to bring law suits.

Lord Young added that health and safety legislation remained “vital for protecting workers in hazardous industries” but said that the problem was the burden health and safety creates in workplaces such as shops, offices and classrooms, where he says there is “minimal risk”.

[Jasper9]

HSE  Any risk should be eliminated.  If there is an accident, and the risk was foreseeable, then there will be a prosecution.

If I got injured due to an employer trying to save money by not taking every possible precaution to protect me I would sue them!

You should be able to come home in the same health condition that you had when you left for work.

[Jason]

or, it should be accepted that accidents happen.  If an employer hasn't told you NOT to run with scissors, it is still not the employers fault if you run with scissors and hurt yourself.  I expect though, in this stupid day and age, a successful claim could be made.

[Jasper9]

If carrying scissors and running are part of your job, there is a risk.  The employer should therefore eliminate this risk with a POLICY saying "when running with scissors it is company policy that scissors must  be contained in a box, tin or leather wrap to prevent possible injury.  Running should be avoided."

Idiots will always have accidents so I see where you are coming from.