Proactive Health & Safety laws cost British industry dearly and make our companies uncompetitive. The HSE has affected everyones life and made doing simple things harder. The HSE is a luxury we can no longer afford.
Many ideas here relate to the problems casued by the Health & Safety Excecutive. Whether it is risk assessments, stopping the use of ladders, the list is endless. I do not know the annual budget of this organisation, but no doubt it would frighten me if I did.
The problem is that the HSE arfe desperate to make health & safety a proactive thing. The risk assessment is an example of this. FIll out lots of forms before doing something (to try to stop an accident) rather than prosecuting a negligent employer later on for doing something stupid and dangerous.
So why not just get rid the of the HSE and make enforcement of health and safety legislation the responsibility of the police? It works in many other countries.