Challenges facing the UK Health and Safety System Geoffrey Podger Senior Visiting Research Fellow Centre for Risk Management, King's College London
BREXIT Implications for health and safety in the UK
The fundamental choice on Brexit: continued access to the internal market via EEA would leave health and safety regulation unchanged; If no EEA type agreement, then UK free to determine own health and safety regulation either by implementing entirely new set of regulations on first day outside EU or more likely by " carrying over" existing regulation and amending it piecemeal over time
Construction Design and Management Regulations as regards domestic client duties Health and Safety ( Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations to increase hazard threshold that requires a warning Display Screen Equipment Regulations as regards requirements to pay for eye tests Amendments to legal requirements for risk assessment
Consensus as to value of proportionate health and safety damaged - little sign of abandonment of misuse of health and safety as a " catch all excuse HSE Board ineffective mechanism for promoting agreement between both sides of industry on health and safety measures Whilst post Brexit the UK may not be required legally to adopt EU measures it may nevertheless come under pressure to do so and will not be well placed to influence them
Is the regulator at risk of losing viability through further cuts and difficulty in generating "commercial" income? Will industry maintain necessary internal level of expertise with HSE providing less due to cuts and different role of inspectors under FFI? Is there now a sufficient "arms length " distance between HSE and political control? Will HSE ultimately find itself devolved to England, Scotland and Wales with loss of expertise, consistency and ability to reinforce in an emergency?
HSE Fatality Statistics Is the UK Plateauing?
High level high profile sponsor Message which resonates with those to whom it is targeted System of incentives / disincentives that works Continual process of repeating and renewing the messaging
(1) Disaster strikes (2) New regulations/ regulatory agency introduced ( can be disproportionate to problem) (3) Risks successfully contained (4) Regulation/ regulator disproportionately reduced in scope (5) New disaster strikes
geoffrey.podger@icloud.com
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