Health and Safety Holding Back Business?

David Cameron recently sparked a little fury amongst personal injury lawyers on both sides of the fence by announcing that his government intends to wage war “against the excessive health and safety culture that has become an albatross around the neck of British business”. Notwithstanding that the PM was clearly appealing to centre-right headline makers, sadly once again when it comes to reporting possible changes to the law, the age old maxim of never letting the truth get in the way of a good story has come home to roost.

Cameron argued that small businesses battle against a tide of risk assessment forms each day. The truth of course is that small businesses with 5 or fewer employees need only complete a simple HSE Assessment, hardly a tide of paperwork. The true cost to a business comes when the employees are unable to work owing to injury, caused either wholly or in part, by poor safety in the workplace. By making strides to reduce the need for employers to actively ensure the workplace is safe and fit for purpose, by extension you are encouraging employers to slip back into bad habits. Too many employers already ignore their responsibilities in this regard, and the result can only lead to more employees off-work and claiming benefits – another issue in which the government is seeking to wage war.

Another of the farcical arguments was the suggestion that a £500 personal injury claim could result in a £5,000 bill for legal costs. Costs cannot be awarded for any case that settles for such a pitiful amount, nor would any law firm accept such a case. It would be bad for their business, just as the claim would be futile for the client.

Finally, the contention that employers are held responsible even if they have done everything they can to prevent an accident is simply laughable. Writing as an employee who has worked both for the Claimant, and for the Defendant Insurers, this is not only nonsensical but a complete misunderstanding of how the law operates. No claim will ever get off the ground, and no law firm will ever take on a claim, unless there is clearly a breach of some regulation sufficiently serious to merit a finding of liability on the part of the employer. Even when it appears that there are sufficient grounds to claim at the outset, many claims are dropped after an initial letter of claim is responded to with a denial of liability and robust arguments to support it. Insurers do not pay out on a whim, nor do solicitors accept new claims on a whim.