Safety confusion for small firms

Many small businesses remain uncertain and confused about their health and safety responsibilities under the law - ignorance that is potentially costing them millions of pounds a year, a government report has said.

The report from the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council (RRAC) recommended that improving the confidence of small organisations in their health and safety practices could potentially lead to savings of between £70-140m from "unnecessary" consultancy fees.

Better confidence and understanding of health and safety law could also reduce the management costs of small businesses by some £50m a year, it said.

There were three causes to all this uncertainty, the RRAC added: too many different and conflicting messages coming from government, the media; insurers and health and safety 'experts', consultants who exaggerated health and safety risks; and small organisations' own lack of confidence in understanding and managing risks.

Read more: http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/08/25/51907/safety-confusion-for-small-firms.html

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More than 25% of business leaders are under pressure to cut spending on health and safety this year

The recession has led to pressure on firms of all sizes to cut expenditure, but the survey also revealed the importance of health and safety to businesses. Almost 90% of business leaders stated that people are their firm's most important asset and 65% of employees revealed that good health and safety practices make them feel valued.

"We are calling on employers and business owners to take the lead themselves in preventing the thousands of deaths every year which are caused by work - it is their moral and legal duty and it is good for the business," said Judith Hackitt, Chair of HSE.

Source: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

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Health & Safety - easier for SMEs

The HSE is consulting SMEs as it considers new strategies to ensure that complying with regulations is easier.

The HSE has stated that it wishes to ensure that all SMEs meet their legal obligations "in a manner proportionate to the risks posed by their work activities".

"The HSE is clearly acknowledging that small businesses face very different challenges to [their] larger counterparts when it comes to fulfilling health and safety criteria," said James Thompson, a partner in law firm Ward Hadaway's health and safety team.

"This is an encouraging move because what is appropriate for sizeable companies with many employees may not work for SMEs."

The HSE is still insisting that all small firms have at least one person who is in overall charge of a company's health and safety policy, but reiterated that does not have to be a member of staff and can be an external person.

Health & Safety Legislation Update

On Friday, 16 January 2009, the Health and Safety Offences Act 2008 came into force, increasing the penalties that can be levied on employers and providing courts with greater sentencing powers for those who break health and safety law.

The Act gives lower courts the power to impose higher fines for some health and safety offences.

The effect of the Act is to:

:: raise the maximum fine which may be imposed in the lower courts to £20,000 for most health and safety offences;

:: make imprisonment an option for more health and safety offences in both the lower and higher courts;

:: make certain offences, which are currently triable only in the lower courts, triable in either the lower or higher courts.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says that the Act should place no new duties on employers or businesses and that it is not changing its approach to how it enforces health and safety law.

The new penalties in the Act are not retrospective and will not apply to offences committed before it came into force on 16 January 2009.

(Courtesy of the FSB)

Full details here: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/ukpga_20080020_en_1
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