Goodbye 'elf and safety: Cameron announces.

David Cameron last night announced plans to tear up a decade of
health and safety rules that have been blamed for crippling business and
stifling the British way of life.
The Prime Minister unveiled
a wide-ranging review of Labour's safety laws as well as the country's
'compensation culture', led by former Cabinet minister Lord Young.
The
78-year-old, who served under Margaret Thatcher, has described current
legislation as a 'joke' and will be asked to help the Government drive
through reform after completing his review.










David Cameron has unveiled a wide-ranging
review of safety
laws as well as the country's 'compensation culture', led by former
Cabinet minister Lord Young, right


Mr Cameron said: 'The rise of the compensation culture over the last
ten years is a real concern, as is the way health and safety rules are
sometimes applied.
'We need a sensible new approach that makes clear these laws are
intended to protect people, not overwhelm businesses with red tape.'


He held out the prospect of wide-ranging reforms saying he was
determined to see Lord Young's recommendations put 'into effect'.
Lord Young was commissioned to advise Mr Cameron on health and
safety laws last year and his work will become a full-scale review with
civil service support.
The former trade secretary said the once serious issue of health
and safety had become a 'music hall joke' under Labour, with schools
banning children from playing conkers, restaurants barring tooth picks
and one swimming pool declaring a pair of goggles unsafe.



'Unsafe': Roland Grimm and the goggles banned by
a public pool because they do not have shatter-proof glassAnd he
argued the change in culture could even be counterproductive, putting
people in more danger in certain circumstances.
He said: 'Teachers have to fill in so many forms if they want to
take children on a field trip, there have been three instances where
police have stood by and let people drown as a result of health and
safety and we have offices subjected to health and safety laws that
were meant for heavy industry. It has gone too far.'









Lord Young also wants to curb the compensation culture
fuelled by the rapid growth in no-win, no fee agreements.
He said the NHS alone had paid out more than £8billion over the
last five years in personal injury claims, of which two-thirds went to
lawyers. 'That is four or five billion pounds that could and should have
gone into healthcare,' he added.
Although much of Britain's health and safety legislation now
comes from Brussels, Lord Young said government departments had a
tendency to 'gold-plate' it and make it even more onerous than it need
be.
He added: 'Health and safety regulation is essential in many
industries but may well have been applied too generally and have become
an unnecessary burden on firms, but also community organisations and
public services.
Lord Young will deliver initial findings next month before taking
up an advisory role in Whitehall.



Well i never !!............ about time.

willmake life easier for elf and safety officers lol xxx

Quote"'We need a sensible new approach that makes clear these laws are
intended to protect people, not overwhelm businesses with red tape"

Thats the crux of the matter but all the "sensible" people have been "re-educated" or emigrated!