Report highlights cost of health and safety to small firms
August 8, 2008
A new report published by the Better Regulation Executive has examined how health and safety regulation affects low risk and small businesses.
The report concluded that small business could save up to £300 million a year with key health and safety reforms, including better advice and support.
The publication sets out recommendations to save firms time and money, while also focusing on improving working environments and the general understanding of health and safety.
According to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), the average company spends around 20 hours a year, or more than £350, on administration meeting health and safety requirements. Therefore, cutting the time spent by just 5 hours per company would save low risk businesses £150 million a year.
Commenting on the report, the Secretary of State for Business, John Hutton, said, "Introducing simple steps, such as making information more easily available and getting better advice to firms that need it, will help save time and money for UK business."
However, the TUC has expressed its "disappointment" in the conclusions drawn by the report. The union's general secretary, Brendan Barber, said, "This report does nothing to address the appalling health and safety record of Britain's small businesses. Instead it looks to what it terms the 'burden' of health and safety regulation for businesses."
The union also slammed the focus of the report on introducing health and safety reforms in order to save small businesses money.
Mr Barber said, "Small businesses have a worse record on most health issues than larger ones. Rather than address this problem, many have simply ignored it. More than half of small businesses have not even done a basic risk assessment, despite this being a legal requirement."
He added, "The aim of health and safety regulation is to protect workers from injury and ill-health. Obeying the law is not a 'burden' but a legal duty and if an employer — whatever their size — is putting the lives or health of their workers at risk, they should be prosecuted like any other criminal."
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