Stone (and a great many other) companies have often complained about the unfair burden of health & safety legislation in the UK.

Now the government has said it is removing routine inspections from some businesses (although not construction sites) and scrapping many health & safety regulations.

The government’s overhaul of health & safety regulations, announced this month (September), came as part of a new push to cut ‘burdonsome’ regulation and red tape.

The latest move follows the publication of the Löfstedt Report on health & safety at the end of last year. Among the report’s recommendations was that health & safety law should not apply to self-employed people whose work poses no potential risk of harm to others. That is something currently under consultation.

The Government says it will introduce legislation next month (October) to ensure businesses can only be held liable for civil damages in health & safety cases if they can be shown to have acted negligently, so it will be harder for injured employees or members of the public to sue for compensation.

Business minister Michael Fallon said as he announced this month’s overhaul of the regulations: “We have identified the red tape and now we are going to cut it. We’re getting out of the way by bringing common sense back to health & safety.”

The Government believes the existing health & safety regulations are a brake on employment and industrial enterprise.

It has already cut the Health & Safety Executive’s budget by 35% and has established a Challenge Panel to allow businesses to appeal against decisions of health & safety inspectors.

The underlying message from Government is clear: Business no longer has to worry too much about health & safety.

There is some concern about the consequences of easing of health & safety requirements.

The British Safety Council has cautioned that there is a real danger when health & safety is constantly being characterised as a burden on business and an obstacle to economic growth and job creation.

It says there is clear evidence of the financial and social benefits that well managed and proportionate health & safety brings to both employers and employees.

And, says Alex Botha, the Chief Executive of the British Safety Council: “The myth that there is an army of health & safety inspectors disrupting and stifling UK business day in and day out is just that – a myth. It is estimated that every workplace in Great Britain can, presently, expect a visit from an inspector on average once every 38 years.”