HSE publishes revamped guidance to simplify risk assessments

摘要

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today urged businesses to spend less time dotting 'i's and crossing 't's and more time on putting practical actions into effect. To help companies do this HSE has issued a revamped risk assessment guide featuring examples that spell out, in plain English, what is - and what is not - expected. Launching the guidance, HSE's Deputy Chief Executive, Jonathan Rees, said: "We want to save lives, not tie businesses up in red tape - good risk assessment is the way to achieve this. Risk assessment is at the heart of sensible health and safety. We believe it should be a practical way of protecting people from real harm and suffering, not a bureaucratic back-covering exercise. On its own paperwork never saved a life, it needs to be a means to an end, resulting in actions that protect people in practice. "I hope that this new, more straightforward guidance will help managers understand what's expected of them and get more focus on the kind of risks that cause real harm and suffering - the ones that killed 220 workers last year and resulted in 35 million working days being lost. This guide takes the user through the process step-by-step with the minimum of fuss to achieve this aim."