Committee calls for end to 'over zealous' safety advice

In a report published this week, the House of Commons Work and Pensions committee said the legislative framework governing workplace health and safety was both "sensible and proportionate".

However, partly due to a "lack of legal clarity", employers could "over-interpret" health and safety regulations "increasing the compliance burden on themselves."

The committee added that consultants and advisers were sometimes guilty of contributing to the problem, and called for a system of accreditation. It recommended that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) work with the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) to address the issue.

Norwich Union Risk Services (NURS) training and consultancy manager John Phillips welcomed the report. He said: "Anyone offering advice on health and safety must be competent, and a system of accreditation would help demonstrate that.

"I think it's fair to say that the public image of health and safety has suffered as a result of poor, and sometimes over-the-top decision-making, which in my experience has come from poorly qualified or ill informed individuals. It is clear that MPs now agree that one of the ways to overcome the issue is to make sure that anyone offering advice takes a professional approach and is suitably qualified."

John added that NURS recommends employers seek health and safety advice from consultants or advisers with IOSH membership, and wherever appropriate from Chartered Safety and Health Practitioners.

'Reasonable practicability'

During evidence sessions, Richard Jones, IOSH policy and technical director, told MPs: "The sad fact is that anybody can set themselves up as a health and safety consultant and start operating, anybody can call themselves a health and safety adviser without any level of qualification or experience, which we think is wrong."

The committee said Department for Work and Pensions minister Lord McKenzie had recognised the problem and had told them he was considering action.

"The minister agreed that over-zealous health and safety advisers encourage employers to produce overburdensome risk assessments," the report said. "We therefore recommend that the Government, in consultation with the IOSH, introduces recognised accreditation for health and safety consultants and advisers, with appropriate sanctions for malpractice."

One further measure recommended by the committee to tackle over-interpretation of health and safety regulations was a Law Commission review of the test of "reasonable practicability".

Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act says "it shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."

"Reasonably practicable" implies a balance of the degree of risk against the inconvenience and cost of overcoming it. However, the committee of MPs said it was concerned that the wording introduced a "lack of clarity" that could "increase the burden on employers in meeting their health and safety obligations."

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