HSE criticised over red tape
The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has criticised the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the amount of regulation imposed on small businesses having building work carried out, regulations which concern issues such as the use of equipment and personal protection equipment.
FPB campaigns Manager Victoria Carson released a statement after the HSE published a cartoon insisting step-ladders had not been banned, claiming this was a diversion away from the tasks the HSE should be concentrating on.
She said: 'If as much effort went into thinking about the consequences of some of the needless regulations created by the HSE then perhaps the owners of smaller businesses would be able to get through the day without being tied up in red tape.'
Ms Carson renewed a call for MPs to back an early day motion in parliament to review the regulations.
In related news, the Construction Centre announced it had established a 25 per cent increase in construction-related deaths in the past year.
The organisation, which supports the new HSE health and safety regulations, expressed concern that proposed cuts in funding will lead to a ten per cent reduction in inspectors by 2008.
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