Less time-consuming fire safety inspections at work and more relaxed rules on placing No Smoking signs… These are just some of the measures the government is ushering in as part of its ambitious ‘Cutting Red Tape’ programme.
On 16th July, Business Secretary Sajid Javid announced axes to regulations and simplification improvements that are expected in rake in £10 billion in savings for businesses. In a bid to reduce bureaucratic barriers to growth and productivity the Cutting Red Tape campaign is initially focusing on the energy, mineral extraction, waste, care and agriculture sectors.
The programme is the latest in a line of regulation cutting and reforms that kicked off in January 2014. The Red Tape Challenge (presumably named as it sounds similar to the phenomenally successful The Ice Bucket Challenge) took to social media to ask businesses which legislation they would like to be simplified, better implemented or scrapped altogether.
84% of H&S regulation scrapped or reformed
The government took stock of all the views and over 3000 reforms were made. To date, 84% of regulation in health and safety alone has been scrapped or improved. You can find out which regulations have been given the chop or been simplified across a range of sectors here
Stopping ‘needless health and safety inspections’
Speaking to the Federation of Small Businesses last year, David Cameron pledged to rid the nation of unnecessary regulations. When it comes to H&S he said that the government had already stopped needless health and safety inspections. “And we will scrap over-zealous rules which dictate how to use a ladder at work or what no-smoking signs must look like. We’ve changed the law so that businesses are no longer automatically liable for an accident that isn’t their fault. And the new Deregulation Bill will exempt 1 million self-employed people from health and safety law altogether.”
Achievements so far
- Businesses with good records in fire safety have seen inspections reduce from 6 hours to 45 minutes
- Estimated £132m annual savings to business from clearer guidance about contaminated land use
- No smoking signs – size and placement no longer micro-managed
The move to less regulation will certainly please many companies and sectors of society that feel bogged down by bureaucratic paperwork. Red tape certainly gets a bad press. It is blamed as one of the biggest barriers to business growth and the story behind many a tabloid headline screaming that Britain’s nanny state has gone a step too far. However there is a view that removing regulation in some areas of health and safety could pose dangerous, albeit negligible, risks. Or is a merely matter of striking the right balance? “Health and safety,” as the HSE says, “should be proportionate to risk and the regulations should reflect that.”
What’s your view?
Businesses are invited to feed back their comments on the red tape cuts on Twitter by following #cutredtape and @CutRedTapeUK or via the government’s dedicated website