Business Once Again Attacks Health And Safety As Red Tape

Pressure on the Government to minimize regulation on business continues with a new report out from the Forum Of Private Business.

Claiming that both employment law and health and safety law are the major forms of 'red tape' with business being forced to spend numerous hours per month which could be spent making profit and increasing business.

The report states: 'The average time per month spent on employment red tape (dismissals and redundancy, discipline, absence controls and management, parental leave, and holidays) is ten hours. For health and safety, it is eight hours'

This weeks TUC Risks reports on the lobby group:

"A business lobby group thinks it is not worth spending 15 minutes a day of a single manager's time on health and safety. The Forum of Private Business (FSB) 'Referendum survey' ranks health and safety second on its regulatory burdens list after 'employment red tape.'

It estimates small and medium-sized companies face an annual bill of £2,072 million in time and money spent on health and safety guidelines. It says it wants the 37 hours each month small businesses spend 'complying with regulations' to be slashed. The hours total includes 8 hours a month on health and safety, or just one-person shift per month for the whole firm.

FPB's policy representative, Matt Goodman, said the government's Better Regulation Executive (BRE) 'must continue to put the smallest businesses at the forefront of its plans to change the culture of bureaucracy in the UK.'

He added: 'Our research shows that complying with red tape remains one of the major cost burdens facing smaller businesses, swallowing up valuable time and money that could be used more profitably elsewhere.'

The report's estimated annual 'bureaucratic burden' of health and safety to small and medium sized business of approaching £2.1 billion compares to the £2.2bn estimate for all businesses published by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) in March.

The BCC figure excluded the benefits that accrue to business, which Hazards magazine calculated far exceed any costs. The magazine calculated that less than a quarter of the cost of occupational injury and disease was borne by employers. Instead, business externalises the costs, with the taxpayer, victims and their families picking up most of the tab."

In a separate news item regarding the total deaths at work statistics, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) comments:

"The deaths last year of 180 workers in Britain shows that health and safety is not the bureaucratic madness it’s so often presented in sections of the media"

It is noted that organisations such as the FSB, CBI, FPB whilst claiming Health and safety legislation is pure red tape they ignore the financial and human costs of deaths and sickness at work and the affects on business as a result.

Source: TUC Risks / IOSH / FPB

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