TUC Briefing Results on Health and Safety
In recent weeks, there has been a lot of talk about regulation. It is the view of the government that new health and safety regulations are needed. The government is considering removing several of the existing regulations, but they are also going to add new regulations. It is a one out and one in sort of concept. Many of the regulations are already set up in Europe; this is one of the factors prompting the UK government to push these changes. It seems in the next three years there could be new laws imposed. Already there have been at least three health and safety audits of the current regulations.
The first two reviews showed no case for change to the basic framework. They also stated there were no excessive policies in place, yet David Cameron does not agree. It seems there are those who feel the current legislation needs to change. A professor has launched his own review of information and found so far that changes do not need to happen. In 1974, there were 462 regulations; now there are 248. It means that in 35 years, there has been a 46% change in the number of laws concerning safety and health. There is talk of reducing the current laws by 50% over the next three years, meaning even more cuts on laws that are in place to protect workers and the public. If the new laws are able to cover all needs, these changes will eventually be deemed satisfactory.
