Small Businesses Confused About Health and Safety Issues
A report by the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council (RRAC), an independent advisory group formed by the Prime Minister, suggests that small businesses often lack clarity on health and safety issues.
According to the report, this can be attributed to three main causes. One is that such organisations are not confident in understanding and managing the risks they face. Another cause is that small organisations receive a number of diverse messages from different organisations such as legal and commercial partners, insurers, media and even the government, which leads to confusion. Also, there are those who exaggerate the small businesses’ perception of risk. Such ‘risk-mongers’ overstate the risk that small organisations face and get more business by advising them on the same.
Apart from looking into the causes, the report also proposes certain measures to improve the situation. One of the recommendations is that the Law Society, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and other bodies representing the legal profession should consider actions to prevent the abuse of regulation in this area by the no-win, no-fee lawyers. If this is not viable, the report suggests the Ministry of Justice to enact a law in this respect.
It also proposes that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) should work with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) to assess if advice provided by the insurers to small businesses is adding to the uncertainty about health and safety measures.
Sarah Veale, a member of the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council said the government, insurers, media, lawyers and consultants, all provide varied messages about health and safety to the small businesses, which creates confusion and uncertainty. She said this results in these organizations either risking their employees and the public or wasting money on protection against exaggerated risks.
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