The Editor
Daily Telegraph
1 Canada Square
London
E14 5DT

11 October 2006

Sir,

Richard Tyler’s article (‘HSE admits rules are too costly and promises to cut bill by £200m’ Daily Telegraph Business 11 October) wrongly suggests that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has only just woken up to the truth that all risks cannot be eliminated.

HSE has argued for 30 years that risks should be managed and that eliminating them all is neither possible nor desirable. Competent and proportionate risk management is key to any company operating successfully and safety issues should be an integral part of this.

We do not want businesses to waste time and money on trivial risks, and we further promoted this in our ‘sensible risk’ campaign in August 2006.

That said, it is always sensible to try and reduce administrative burdens and our objective is to do so on the basis that none of the changes will harm worker or public safety

Yours faithfully

Geoffrey Podger

Chief Executive

Health and Safety Executive