DEPARTMENT FOR
BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM News Release (2008/161)
issued by The Government News Network on 6 August 2008
Small business
could save up to £300m a year with better advice and support on
health and safety.
A report published today by the Better Regulation Executive
examines how health and safety regulation affects low risk and
small businesses. It sets out recommendations to save these firms
time and money, while improving working environments and general
understanding of health and safety.
The report's recommendations include:
* improved web-based and telephone support, offering advice as
well as information, for low risk businesses;
* better advice
to help small businesses know when to buy-in the help of
consultants for health and safety advice;
* maximising the
resources of HSE and local authority inspectors, making inspection
and enforcement more efficient, focusing on higher risk workplaces
meaning fewer inspections for low risk;
* developing a new,
single assurance scheme so small businesses can have just one
process to deal with a range of requirements, including health and
safety, fire, food safety regulations; and
* improving the
perception and understanding of health and safety issues.
The average company spends around 20 hours a year, or more than
£350, on administration meeting health and safety requirements.
Cutting the time spent by just five hours per company would save
low risk businesses £150 million a year.
Secretary of State for Business, John Hutton, said:
"The UK has one of the best workplace safety records in the
world, with fatalities and injuries falling by more than 70 per
cent over the last three decades. But the public and business
community's perception of health and safety regulation is poor.
"Introducing simple steps, such as making information more
easily available and getting better advice to firms that need it,
will help save time and money for UK business. Cutting the amount
of paperwork for low risk businesses, and making complex
regulations easier to understand, will also help create safer
environments for workers and the public.
"Inaccurate reports of the impact of health and safety on
businesses and the public can be highly damaging. Putting the
record straight on good, common sense regulation that saves lives
will help cut the unnecessary costs that exaggerated fears can cause."
The estimated 1500 health and safety specialist consultancy firms
in the UK, with annual sales of around £1 billion, provide
important services and support, increasingly to small businesses.
But the report found some firms are paying for support they could
do more cheaply in house or going beyond what is required by the
law, with little or no benefit in the workplace. Low risk
businesses could save up to £140 million a year if 20 per cent
turned to the HSE or other government sources for basic support on
health and safety.
The report developed from the need to examine all aspects of the
health and safety system, not just the regulators, covering areas
that were not addressed as part of the Hampton Review process and
focusing in particular on the impact of health and safety
regulation on low risk and small businesses.
Notes for editors
1. The report, "Improving outcomes
from health and safety" can be found at http://www.berr.gov.uk/ Its
purpose was to consider how the health and safety regulatory
regime affects workplaces where the overall risk of injury or
ill-health is relatively low, focusing in particular on low risk
smaller businesses. Its aim was to reduce unnecessary burdens on
these businesses while reducing injury and ill-health and
increasing public confidence in the UK's health and safety
regime as a whole. The Review was undertaken with the support of
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Local Authorities
Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS).
2. A large number of businesses are relatively lower risk in
health and safety terms. This review defines low risk as the
following sectors with lower injury and ill health rates: Finance
& Business, Hotels & Restaurants, Wholesale, Retail &
Repair, and Education. These contain around 2 million enterprises
(44% of the total) and at least 12 million workers.
3. The Better Regulation Executive (BRE) works with business and
government departments to ease the pressures of legislation on the
business community. It is part of the Department for Business
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), which aims to help ensure
business success in an increasingly competitive world.
4. Complying with regulation currently costs British business and
the third sector around £13.4 billion each year. BRE is working
with the business community to reduce this burden by 25% by 2010 -
saving over £3.4bn.
5. Already, practical measures outlined in Government
departments' 'Simplification Plans' have helped
save British business and charities an estimated £800 million of
administrative costs. Improvements in the wider costs of complying
with regulation have saved an estimated further £700 million.
6. Examples of how individuals and businesses are benefiting from
changes to regulation can be found at http://www.betterregulation.gov.uk.
The site also invites suggestions for what else can be done to
reduce red tape.
7. Businesses can also save time and money on employment issues
by using the free tools and advice available at http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/employingpeople
which covers areas including taking on a new employee, flexible
working, maternity and paternity leave, working time and the
national minimum wage. The Government's Employing People
campaign is aimed at raising awareness of this free advice, after
research found many businesses were paying for employment law
guidance which they could be getting for free.
8. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
helps UK business succeed in an increasingly competitive world. It
promotes business growth and a strong enterprise economy, leads
the better regulation agenda and champions free and fair markets.
It is the shareholder in a number of Government-owned assets and
it works to secure, clean and competitively priced energy supplies.
Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory
Reform
7th Floor, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET
Public enquiries +44 (0)20 7215 5000
Textphone +44 (0)20 7215
6740 (for those with hearing impairment)
http://www.berr.gov.uk