Better regulation executive launch event
25 July 2007

Sir Bill Callaghan, HSC Chair

I am very pleased to be here today. The Health and Safety Commission and its Executive are committed to the Government’s Better Regulation Agenda - better regulation helps to deliver the outcomes we are trying to achieve. It is about regulating in a way that is proportionate to the risks businesses need to manage.

Pinned up on my notice board is one of Private Eye’s modern nursery rhymes. It goes as follows:

"Polly put the kettle on
Polly put the kettle on
But not until the HSE
Has done a risk assessment
Then we’ll all have tea"

"Elfandsafety" can be a frustrating business. In part it’s frustrating because so many of the stories you hear are based on misinterpretations of the law, or the misguided actions of a few individuals. In reality much health and safety law is flexible, but it can be intimidating if you are not sure what is required.

That is why, last August, I launched our sensible risk campaign, based around a simple set of principles that set out what good risk management is – and is not - about. In a nutshell: saving lives, not stopping them.

So, to build on that work, I am happy to announce the launch of three more of HSE’s example risk assessments - for an estate agency, for a convenience store or newsagents and for a contract office cleaners -  to help businesses in these and similar sectors understand what they need to do.

We’ve worked on the example risk assessments in partnership with industry bodies and had a great deal of supportive and useful input from employee representatives, local authorities and others. Examples for more business types will be published over the coming months.

These example risk assessments will drive the sensible risk management message home, provide businesses with the information they need to make informed decisions, and make a significant impact on the amount of time and money they feel they need to spend managing the risks in their workplaces.

Our main messages are clear. Don’t overcomplicate things, keep your risk assessment fit for purpose, make it a living document and act on it.

Tomorrow I shall be announcing the fatality figures for 2006/07. It is clear that construction fatalities have risen. Our task will be to engage the industry and its workforce on the practical steps to improve safety. Proper risk assessment can be a powerful tool for this and managing the business well. Risk assessment should be about what practical steps you need to take to protect people, not paperwork for its own sake.

By itself, filling in a form never saved a life.