The following has been supplied by the TUC:
The man who was charged with reviewing workplace health and safety regulation for the government says he never described safety as a 'burden' and instead believes his review showed that it 'is not the case' that health and safety holds back business. Professor Ragnar Löfstedt told this week's opening session of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) conference that his mandate was 'clearly a deregulatory one' but his overall conclusions were that there is no need for a major overhaul of the system and that bad health and safety practice is already a considerable burden on business and society. The professor, who submitted his report's findings to the government on 28 November last year, said prime minister David Cameron's January 2012 description of health and safety as a 'monster', and his overall approach to the subject, was 'not helpful.' Nor did he ever suggest cutting regulations by 50 per cent, Löfstedt said - this was a government decision. He revealed a review of existing EU legislation to ensure it is risk and evidence-based would now likely start in 2015 rather than 2014, as originally planned. He also announced that Conservative MEP Julie Girling is to set up an information committee on risk, due to be launched in September this year. Professor Löfstedt called for help in lobbying the House of Lords to set up a Select Committee on risk to consider how to engage society on this subject. He said a new informal cross-party parliamentary committee of MEPs to promote evidence-based policy making in the EU would be launched at the European Parliament in June. The professor criticised sections of the media for their unhelpful reporting and called on them to instead report on the benefits of a positive approach to health and safety.
