Introduction

The Health and Safety Commission and its Executive, together with Local Authorities^[1], are responsible for the regulation of almost all the risks to health and safety, arising from work activity, in Britain. Our mission is to protect people's health and safety, by ensuring that risks in the changing workplace are properly controlled.

HSC and HSE are committed to protecting people's health and safety in the workplace. As part of this commitment we are constantly reviewing what can be improved. The better regulation agenda is part of this.

Better, smarter legislation is easier to understand and apply. This can help secure stronger commitment to comply from business and so improve health and safety results; simplification will not reduce protection for workers or the public. It also supports our risk based, targeted approach to enforcement.

Wide promotion of health and safety using non-legislative routes to improvement, especially in lower risk areas, also has a vital role, not least in reaching small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Guidance, campaigns and tailored advice help build understanding that well-managed health and safety brings business benefits.

As in 2006, this plan does not include initiatives proposing to change regimes affecting the high hazard industries.

Over-arching elements within the plan link to HSC’s Strategy and aim to improve health and safety outcomes while reducing costs to dutyholders. These include:

• Simplification for both employers and employees to help them concentrate on improving outcomes rather than bureaucratic processes.
• Sharpening the focus on risks that can cause frequent and/or serious harm, questioning whether alternatives to regulation are more appropriate in some circumstances and rebalancing interventions with more emphasis on advice and prevention.
• Ensuring that we target the right advice at the right people, by looking at the needs of dutyholders, and engaging and consulting better, building on our initiatives like Infoline, Health and Safety Awareness Officers and the Workplace Health Connect pilot.
• Joined up interventions with business including: more effective partnership with Local Authorities to secure a consistent, targeted approach to enforcement; and new arrangements for engaging with large organisations to ensure that interactions are coordinated, proportionate and consistent.

Local Authorities play a vital role in raising the standard of occupational health and safety in Britain, providing advice and support to businesses, and consistent, effective enforcement. There are a number of initiatives which exemplify this, such as the Local Authority Partnership itself, the Large Organisation Partnership Pilot, the ‘sign-up to sensible risk’ campaign with the Local Government Association and Local Authority input to developing the example risk assessments.

The 2007 HSC/E simplification plan consists of:

• A narrative section outlining:
  • what HSE has achieved in better regulation since the publication of the 2006 plan;
  • how HSE consulted on the plan as it developed;
  • the cross-government administrative burdens measurement exercise and how it feeds into the plan;
  • overview of the key initiatives in the 2006 plan and the progress made;
  • overview of the additional key initiatives in this plan;
  • other simplification initiatives including stakeholder simplification proposals and progress made;
  • a summary of wider work on better regulation, such as HSC/E’s response to the Hampton review - Working to the Hampton Agenda;
  • work that HSE has done in Europe to apply better regulation principles; and
  • how the plan will be monitored, reviewed and kept up to date over time.
• Detail tables:
  • Table A showing what we have achieved on completed initiatives;
  • Table B showing progress on the on-going initiatives in the 2006 plan;
  • Table C showing additional initiatives to deliver simplification and wider better regulation in HSE.
• Annex 1, listing new regulatory changes that have come into force since September 2006 - when the simplification plan was first published.
• Annex 2, listing the simplification suggestions received from stakeholders between October 2006 and June 2007.

HSC/E cannot change the health and safety landscape alone. Success in better regulation also depends on stakeholder groups and businesses playing their part. HSE has been working in partnership with these bodies for many years and this work has increased during 2006/7. Together we can continue to work towards better compliance, through simpler guidance and a proportionate response to risk.

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Footnote

1. Local Authorities have responsibility for enforcing health and safety law in many business premises including shops, retail and wholesale distribution, catering establishments and residential care homes. [back]

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