UK Health & Safety Regulation Review
Posted on 22/03/2011
Health and safety
Professor Ragnar E. Löfstedt, Professor of Risk Management and the Director of King’s Centre for Risk Management, Department of Geography, has been appointed to chair a government review of health and safety in the workplace.
The aim of the review will be to simplify health and safety legislation in order to make it easier for businesses to operate. Professor Löfstedt, who specialises in issues related to risk communication and management, will publish his findings in October.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is still the primary piece of health and safety law in the UK. New regulations, including those based upon EU Directives, are mostly made under this act. As well as considering UK health and safety laws, the review will re-examine EU legislation to ensure there is a sound justification for it, so that UK businesses are not being unnecessary burdened compared to other member states. The review will also look into clarifying the legal position of employers in cases where employees act in a grossly irresponsible manner.
‘I am honoured that Chris Grayling, Minister of State for Work and Pensions, has asked me to carry out this wide ranging review,’ says Löfstedt. ‘I aim to ensure it is balanced, proportionate, and evidence based, with a wide consultation reach.’ Professor Löfstedt will work with an independent advisory panel of leading politicians, business people and employee representatives to ensure the review meets these criteria.
Professor Denise Lievesley, Head of the School of Social Science and Public Policy at King’s said: ‘Ensuring that health and safety remain high priorities for all employers and maintaining the public’s trust in the system, whilst reducing the administrative impact of regulation, is a challenge. It is an appropriate recognition of Professor Löfstedt’s expertise in the management and communication of risk that he has been asked to chair this important review.’
Notes to editors
Department for Work and Pensions press release
Department for Work and Pensions Health and safety reform
King’s College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2010 QS international world rankings), The Sunday Times 'University of the Year 2010/11' and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, it has nearly 23,500 students (of whom nearly 9,000 are graduate students) from 140 countries and approximately 6,000 employees.
King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.
King’s has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.
King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King’s Health Partners. King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org