Updated 4 February 2013

Health and safety reform

• Common Sense, Common Safety
• Good health and safety, good for everyone
• Reviewing health and safety legislation: The Löfstedt Report
• Progress on the reform
• Löfstedt: One year on

Common Sense, Common Safety

The Rt Hon Lord Young of Graffham undertook a Whitehall-wide review of the operation of health and safety laws and the growth of the compensation culture. His report "Common Sense, Common Safety" was published in October 2010.

• Common Sense, Common Safety (685KB)

Good health and safety, good for everyone

The Prime Minister and the Cabinet accepted all of Lord Young’s recommendations and a range of Government bodies are now involved in taking them forward. In November 2010 overall responsibility for implementing the recommendations was given to the Minister for Employment, as Minister with responsibility for health and safety at work.

Lord Young’s recommendations were the important first step in the Government’s plans for reforming Britain’s health and safety system. As the next step, we have published plans, "Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone", for further major reform, heralding a new start for health and safety regulation for Britain’s businesses.

• Good Health and Safety, Good for Everyone (80KB)

Reviewing health and safety legislation: The Löfstedt Report

In March 2011, the Government established an Independent Review of Health and Safety legislation to make proposals for simplifying the existing raft of health and safety legislation. This review was chaired by leading risk management specialist Professor Ragnar Löfstedt.

We published Professor Löfstedt's report "Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety regulation" on 28 November 2011.

Professor Löfstedt's report sets out a number of risk- and evidence-based recommendations that will:

• 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.

Full report

• Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety regulation (781KB)

Rich Text Format

• Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety regulation (407KB) RTF

Welsh executive summary

• Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety regulation – Welsh summary (1.8MB)

Government response

We published the Government response to the Löfstedt Report on 28 November 2011. The response fully supports the Professor's recommendations and sets out the next steps for implementation.

• The Government response to the Löfstedt Report (108KB)

Professor Löfstedt spoke at the event to launch his report, held at the DWP Head Office in London.

• Professor Löfstedt’s speech at the launch of his report

Terms of reference

The Terms of Reference for the review were finalised by Professor Löfstedt and the advisory panel. These were agreed by the Minister for Employment

• Löfstedt review – terms of reference (35KB)

Call for evidence

The Professor and advisory panel asked all interested parties to provide evidence and examples to help inform the scope for reducing the burden of health and safety regulation on UK businesses whilst maintaining health and safety outcomes. The call for evidence closed on 29 July 2011.

• Independent review of health and safety legislation – call for evidence

Löfstedt: One year on

Professor Löfstedt was asked to review the Government's progress in implementing the recommendations of his report. The Professor commenced work in November 2012 and reported back to the Minister for Employment, Mark Hoban, on 24 January 2013. The Professor’s report “Reclaiming health and safety for all: a review of progress one year on” was published on 4 February 2013.

• Letter from Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP Minister for Employment (45KB)
• Reclaiming health and safety for all: a review of progress one year on (120KB)

Progress on the reform

We will publish reports on the progress the Government is making in implementing the recommendations of the Löfstedt Report and "Common Sense, Common Safety."

• A progress report on implementation of health and safety reforms February 2013 (89KB)
• A progress report on implementation of health and safety reforms June 2012 (103KB)
• Common Sense, Common Safety progress report October 2011 (102KB)
• Common Sense, Common Safety progress report July 2011 (105KB)
• Common Sense, Common Safety progress report May 2011 (92KB)
• Common Sense, Common Safety progress report March 2011 (82KB)