I am watching with interest the debate generated following the appointment by David Cameron of Lord Young of Graffham, the former trade and industry secretary, to investigate concerns about how health and safety laws are applied and the development of the compensation culture in the UK over the last 10 years.
The review, as I understand, will primarily investigate concerns over the 'application and perception' of health and safety legislation and its connections (if any) with the increasing 'compensation culture' in the United Kingdom, during the last decade.
Many of the daily national newspapers are running editorials on the subject and unsurprisingly have had great glee it would seem in publishing the ‘urban myth’ health and safety stories that we have become all too familiar with such as the trainee hairdressers not allowed to practice with scissors or the school children having to wear safety goggles when playing conkers!
Whilst it seems that we have many, many health and safety laws, quite often in my experience it is how they are being interpreted and put into action, often by over cautious employers, ever fearful of being sued. This undoubtedly has had a negative affect on the ‘minds of the British public’.
A review of health and safety law should not come at the expense of maintaining basic standards and I do not expect the outcome of Lord Young’s review to lower our standards in the UK. Hopefully the review will address the issue that these laws are primarily there to protect people and not pave the way for costly litigation even when the claims are of a spurious nature.
Tim Meese, Head of Global Consulting
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