The Löfstedt Report

The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) published the Löfstedt report (Reclaiming health and safety for all - an independent review of health and safety legislation) on Monday 28 November 2011. The review was chaired by Professor Ragnar E Löfstedt, Director of the Centre for Risk Management at King's College London. Professor Löfstedt was asked to review the fitness of the 17 Acts and 200 Codes of Regulations enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This follows the DWP document, Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone, issued by the Employment Minister, Chris Grayling, in March 2011.

This report (in conjunction with linked programmes already initiated by the government) aims to reduce the level of bureaucracy, restate the importance of reasonable practicability in health and safety (H&S) regulation and promotes greater personal responsibility amongst individuals.


The report concluded that any problem "lies less with the regulations themselves and more with the way they are interpreted and applied".

Professor Löfstedt has made a number of recommendations which the Government has accepted and the HSE has welcomed. In general terms, the recommendations aim to:

• reduce regulatory requirements on business where they do not lead to improved health and safety outcomes; and
• remove pressures on business to go beyond what the regulations require, enabling them to reclaim ownership of the management of health and safety.

In particular, the recommendations include amongst others:

• exempting from H&S law those self-employed people whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others
• an HSE review of all its Approved Codes of Practice (ACoP)
• a sector specific consolidation of regulations
• strengthening the HSE’s policy role as regards local authority enforcement of health and safety to drive consistency in their approach
• re-emphasising the original intention of the pre-action protocols brought in after Lord Woolf’s Access to Justice report in 1996
• Engaging with the European Commission in relation to the planned review of health and safety regulation in 2013

When the recommendations from the report are fully implemented it should mean that the numbers of regulations are reduced and businesses have clearer guidance on what is required for compliance. This should mean that there is a more cost effective approach to safety management and that organisations are better protected against unjustified liability claims. It will also mean that businesses whose health and safety enforcement is by the local authority should see a more consistent enforcement policy.

The Government has set a timetable for implementation of the recommendations. This extends to 2014 for some issues but the HSE review of ACoP should be completed by June 2012. The HSE has said that it will meet the timetable and that it welcomes the publication of the report. Judith Hackitt, the Chair of HSE, said: "Simplifying and streamlining the stock of regulations, focusing enforcement on higher risk businesses, clarifying requirements, and rebalancing the civil litigation system – these are all practical, positive steps.”

Marsh Risk Consulting (MRC) considers that this review reiterates the important role that proportionate health and safety legislation has in protecting employees and third parties. As a consequence it is important for businesses to remain focused on:

• continuing to complete practical risk assessments particularly around key risks and hazardous activities
• establishing proportionate risk control systems
• deploying the risk control systems, monitoring their effectiveness and reviewing any need for change
• maintaining sufficient records to be able to support the basis of the risk control regime.

In addition to pursuing the recommendations in the Löfstedt report, the Government continues to push on with those arising from others, including the Lord Young and Lord Justice Jackson reports. Another Government regulatory reform initiative, the Red Tape Challenge, will report in the New Year on further possible changes to the stock of health and safety regulations.

MRC has a team of health and safety safety and claims defensibility experts with professional qualifications professionals that are regularly monitoring the changes in H&S legislation and guidance. We can assist clients to ensure that their risk control arrangements are fit for purpose and balance the practical needs of the business with proportionate regulatory compliance.