H&S experts pan Cameron's latest crowd-pleaser

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Legal experts, safety bodies and unions have joined in questioning the substance behind Conservative leader David Cameron's planned campaign to end what he called the the "over-the top culture of health and safety and compensation".

IIRSM chair Keith Scott said he was disappointed the Conservatives had made no constructive suggestions for legal reform.

Talking to HSW magazine, he suggested there might be scope for consolidating some overlapping legislation while maintaining its impact, as in the case of the Fire Safety Order which replaced more than 100 older regulations, and pointed out that the planned review would tread the same ground as that carried out by the government's Better Regulation Executive in 2008.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber pointed out that none of the cases mentioned in Cameron's speech relate to health and safety regulation - he called them either distortions of the facts or misunderstandings.

"People expect political parties to develop policies based on facts, not on half-truths and myths culled from newspaper headlines," he added.

So, is it just another Cameron crowd-pleaser? Or do you think it is time the Health and Safety at Work Act was revised to lessen bureaucracy? Would it make your job easier? Tell us in the discussion forums.

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