Löfstedt Review: bad news for building workers

Lofstedt is recommending the following be revoked:

The Notification of Tower Cranes Regulations 2010 and the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes (Amendment) Regulations 2010 – because the Impact Assessment was not able to identify any quantifiable benefits to health and safety outcomes. A slap in the face to those who campaigned for this with the Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group.

Link to full Lofstedt report: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/lofstedt-report.pdf

The report says the following regulations should be amended, clarified or reviewed:

• The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 should be amended to remove the requirement for HSE to approve the training and qualifications of appointed first-aid personnel.

• The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and the associated ACoP evaluation should be completed by April 2012 to ensure there is a clearer expression of duties, a reduction of bureaucracy and appropriate guidance for small projects.

• The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) and its associated guidance should be amended by the end of 2013 to provide clarity for businesses on how to comply with the requirements.

• The requirement for portable appliance testing should be further clarified (including through changes to the wording of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 if necessary) by April 2012 to stop over-compliance and ensure that these messages reach all appropriate stakeholder groups.

• The Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the associated guidance should be reviewed by April 2013 to ensure that they do not lead to people going beyond what is either proportionate or beyond what the legislation was originally intended to cover.

There are also recommendations to

  • Exempt from health and safety law those self-employed whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others. Hard to see this as meaning construction workers but the TUC (who were invoved in the review) say that’s who it means!
  • That HSE should review all its ACoPs by June 2012
  • That HSE undertakes a programme of sector-specific reviews by 2015 with the aim of reducing regulation by about 35%.

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