The government has ordered a review of the UK’s health and safety laws, reviving the debate about the so-called “compensation culture” in the UK.
Lord Young, who served as trade and industry secretary under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, is to lead the review. He is expected to report to the prime minister later this summer.
Lord Young said: “Health and safety regulation is essential in many industries but may well have been applied too generally and have become an unnecessary burden on firms, but also community organisations and public services.
“I hope my review will reintroduce an element of common sense and focus the regulation where it is most needed. We need a system that is proportionate and not bureaucratic.”
However, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) which has long campaigned against the “myth” of the so-called ”compensation culture”, as well as trade unions, which have fought for greater protection of workers, have expressed cynicism about the review.
APIL president, Muiris Lyons says: “No-one’s in favour of tick-box bureaucracy and over-zealous behaviour.
“Our concerns are that this review is an excuse to get rid of valuable health and safety laws that protect people. There seems to be a suggestion from Lord Young that health and safety laws are only needed in mines and heavy industry and not in shops and offices.
“The reason there are fewer accidents in shops and offices is that these laws protect people. Our concern is that he is starting from the wrong point. There hasn’t been a huge increase in claims. This may be an exercise in good old-fashioned lawyer-bashing.”
