The Institute of Directors has welcomed the establishment of a new panel to challenge over-the-top interpretations of Health and Safety laws.
But John Rider, West Midlands regional chairman, urged it to “act rather than talk” and said it needed to be accompanied by a key change in the practices of the Health and Safety Executive.
He cautioned: “Anything that will help to root out excessive and overly restrictive interpretations of health and safety rules is a good thing.
“We all know examples of where health and safety has been cited as the reason for really absurd decisions that limit public events and healthy enterprise. Over-officious health and safety costs jobs – it is part of the red tape burden which stifles business. It particularly hurts small manufacturers, the bedrock of this region, who need to get on with making things rather than be constantly diverted into form filling.
“Hopefully this panel will help to promote a more sensible, moderate message which will discourage officials from going over the top.
“However, if the Health and Safety Executive really want to make the system more reasonable they should stop charging businesses when inspections uncover a problem. Now that the HSE can raise money by finding fault, inspectors are likely to be overzealous and companies are likely to be more risk averse.”