Introduction

HSE, along with local authorities¹, is responsible for the regulation of almost all the risks to health and safety arising from work activity in Britain. HSE’s role is to protect people’s health and safety by ensuring that risks in the changing workplace are properly managed.

HSE is constantly reviewing ways to improve levels of health and safety, and reduce workplace accidents and ill-health. The better regulation agenda is a key part of this.

Better, smarter legislation is easier to understand and can help secure a stronger commitment to compliance from business, resulting in improved health and safety outcomes. Simplification should not reduce levels of protection for workers or the public.

The promotion of non-legislative methods, especially in lower risk areas, can play a vital role in improving health and safety, particularly by reaching small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Guidance, campaigns and tailored advice help to build an understanding that well-managed health and safety leads to business benefits.

Over-arching elements in the Plan link to HSE’s key objective of improving health and safety outcomes, including:

• simplification to allow employers to focus on improving outcomes rather than bureaucratic processes;
• targeting the advice and guidance that HSE provides, to ensure that businesses of different sizes and sectors are able to comply with the law whilst minimising the burdens placed on them.
• effective partnership with local authorities to secure a more consistent, targeted approach to the enforcement and advice that businesses receive.

Following the merger with the Health and Safety Commission to create a single unitary body, HSE is currently producing a new strategy setting out the overall direction for the health and safety system as a whole. The better regulation agenda, in particular increasing compliance through clarifying requirements, will be reflected in the development of the new strategy.

The HSE 2008 Simplification Plan contains:

A narrative section outlining:

• the cross-government administrative burdens measurement exercise
• an overview and update of the key simplification initiatives
• an overview of additional key initiatives for this Plan
• progress made towards the reduction target
• stakeholder simplification proposals
• simplification for the public and voluntary / charity sectors
• the small business approach
• working in Europe to apply better regulation principles
• wider better regulation initiatives – the Hampton agenda
• consultation on the Plan
• HSE’s simplification work over the next 12 months

Detail tables

• Table A: simplification initiatives delivered since 2006
• Table B: progress on the on-going simplification initiatives
• Table C: new simplification measures identified since the 2007 Plan
• Table D: simplification initiatives which do not principally address administrative burdens

Annex 1

• new regulations introduced since the start of the administrative burden reduction programme in May 2005

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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.

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