The goal-setting approach at the heart of the UK’s system of health and safety regulation provides important flexibility for many businesses. Larger businesses in particular benefit from the ability to tailor how they meet their obligations to the working practices of their business. Some smaller businesses also fare well under the current system. But for others the regulatory framework creates challenges. It costs smaller enterprises more to comply on a per employee basis than larger ones. Smaller firms are less likely to understand and meet their health and safety obligations, and may not know what support is available from regulators. These issues are recognised by HSE and local authorities who provide a variety of information, advice and guidance to help businesses and this support is regarded highly by those that use it. But it is not as well known as it could be. An initiative in Scotland to promote ‘Healthy Working Lives’ may provide a model that could improve penetration rates. Improving the distribution of the existing support available from the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities is also important because of the increasingly wide and complex range of influences on workplace health and safety. More and more employers pay third parties such as private consultants for help on health and safety even when more authoritative support is already available for free from HSE and local authorities. They associate requirements imposed by insurers to secure liability cover and by procurers when they bid for contracts with health and safety regulation. Some are influenced by media coverage which portrays health and safety as trivial and bureaucratic. The result is confusion among enterprises about the scope of the health and safety regulatory regime and what it does – and does not – require that they do.
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