Lord Young Publishes Report on Health and Safety Law

Lord Young’s keenly anticipated Report Common Sense, Common Safety was published on 15 October 2010 to enthusiastic endorsement by the Government, Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and insurers.

The Report addresses aspects of the current regime that the Government perceives to be disproportionately burdensome on small or low-risk businesses and public bodies. The Prime Minister, in his foreword to the Report, states that businesses are "drowned in rep tape, confusion and the fear of being sued for even minor accident". It is against that background that Lord Young’s review has been conducted. The report also addresses the rise of Britain’s ‘compensation culture’.

Lord Young makes recommendations in relation to the following key areas:

• Court procedure and the regulation of lawyers and claims companies;
• The regulatory burden on small or low-risk businesses;
• The accessibility of Health & Safety legislation; and
• The application of health and safety law to schools, public bodies and the emergency services.

Curbing the Compensation Culture

Lord Young reports that Britain’s compensation culture is fuelled by “media stories about individuals receiving large payouts…constant adverts in the media…and the promise of handsome settlement if they claim”. The introduction of Conditional Fee Arrangements (CFAs), After The Event (ATE) insurance products and proliferation of claims management companies are highlighted as causes. The Report recommends:

• Introduction of a simplified claims procedure for personal injury claims similar to the existing Road Traffic Accident Personal Injury Scheme, whereby claims for under £10,000 are dealt with on a fixed-cost basis;
• That ATE premiums and CFA ‘success fees’ cease to be recoverable from the losing party in litigation;
• A ban on the referral fees currently paid by solicitors to claims companies for referred business; and
• Restricting the volume and content of advertising by solicitors and claims companies, which is currently seen to induce claims.

Unburdening Low-Risk Business

The cost of regulatory compliance falls disproportionately on SMEs who may have to spend as much as six times more per employee than larger businesses. Lord Young’s proposals will, if implemented, significantly reduce the regulatory and cost burdens of compliance for many. They include:

• Simplification of the risk assessment for low hazard workplaces such as offices, classrooms and shops and a simple periodic checklist for monitoring compliance (HSE have already published an online ‘20 minute’ risk assessment for offices please click here to view this)
• Risk assessment exemptions for employers in relation to employees working at home in low hazard environments; and
• Risk assessment exemptions for the self-employed who work in low hazard businesses.

Review of Health & Safety Legislation

Lord young praises the risk-driven framework of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. However, he is critical of the ‘compliance-driven’ approach that has developed since. He proposes:

• A new, less cumbersome, Approved Code of Practice for low-risk businesses;
• The production of a single consolidated set of accessible Regulations; and
• That the UK take a leading role in the co-operation between member states to ensure that EU health and safety rules for low-risk business are proportionate and not overly prescriptive.

Schools & Public Bodies

There is a perception among some that health & safety law is sometimes applied disproportionately or inappropriately to or by schools, public bodies and local authorities. Several proposals are made in the report, which include:

• A requirement on Local authorities that ban events on health & safety grounds to provide written reasons; and
• Rights for those aggrieved by such decisions to challenge local authorities via the Local Government Ombudsman service.

Further recommendations proposed by Lord Young include changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), which would reduce the number of reportable incidents. The insurance industry would also be encouraged to lift some of its requirements on low-risk businesses to conduct full risk assessments.

The Government appears enthusiastic about implementing Lord Young’s recommendations in full. We shall continue to report on the progress of that implementation and its expected impact.

To see Lord Young’s report in full, please click here