Following Professor Ragnar Löfstedt’s independent review of health and safety regulations, Reclaiming health and safety for all, published in November 2011, the UK Health and Safety Executive is preparing to initiate a number of the evidence based recommendations that aim to: - Enable businesses to take ownership of their health and safety management policies by removing pressure set by the health and safety executive to go above and beyond the required first aid regulations.
- Reduce the burden of regulatory requirements on businesses where an improved health and safety outcome is either necessary or achieved.
Underpinning this report is the need to lessen the legislative burdens currently being imposed on businesses whilst where possible maintaining a high level of safety standards for employees in their working environments. As an example of this, current First Aid regulations (set in 1981) currently insist that all businesses make provisions for providing first aid in the work place, including a qualified first aid person, and whilst the regulations do not stipulate the number of first aid persons required, they do require that their training be through an HSE approved training provider. As this leads to increased costs incurred by the training provider in order to acquire the necessary HSE approval, this then leads to increased costs to businesses who, especially in low-risk workplaces, may not require first aid training to the full level set by the Health and Safety Executive. By removing the requirement for training providers’ courses and qualifications to meet with the full approval of the Health and Safety Executive, businesses will be able to select a more cost effective training provider whose training programs are more tailored to their specific needs. In other words, it should remove a significant legislative burden and enable businesses to identify appropriate first aid courses for the level of risk faced in their operating environments. It is especially useful for the self employed, as there will no longer be a statutory requirement to provide the equipment necessary to render first aid to themselves should they suffer an injury in their work place. The Health and Safety Executive will still continue to provide guidance and manage the standard for first aid at which all courses are set; it will however no longer be responsible for approving training providers and their qualifications. training providers may still wish to gain approval from other awarding bodies to demonstrate the quality of the courses they provide, however that will be at their own discretion and not overseen by the Health and Safety Executive.
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