I once more find myself becoming increasingly concerned over the failure of the Government to be able to distinguish between real health and safety legislation and seemingly unconnected examples of minor regulation and red tape.The recent comments by the Minister* come to mind in which he linked cutting health and safety regulations by half in order to ensure that British jobs do not disappear abroad!While I applaud the Government’s commitment to the abolition of unnecessary red tape, am I alone in wishing for a clear differentiation between what is actually health and safety legislation and what is just red tape and spin? Or is it just me; did I fall asleep in in that part of economics that demonstrated a clear link between the frequency of testing electrical apparatus and the loss of jobs to China?

To label all under the same umbrella adds to the ‘elf and safety myths that the Government professes it is trying to abolish.So, I would like to call upon the Government to abandon the unnecessary spin, abolish the unnecessary red tape and publically support the application and principles behind the Health and Safety at Work Act which has done much to save the lives and livelihood of many thousands over the past 40 years.After all, surely our main concern should not be the unlikelihood of exporting jobs abroad, but the certainty of saving lives at home?

Brian Nimick, IIRSM Chief Executive

*Chris Grayling MP 
View the news story here and subsequent IIRSM press release here.
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