OPINION: REGULATIONS
IN AND OUT
The government is determined to reduce the burden of regulation on business but, asks Hywel Davies, what are the consequences of this?
New regulations are subject to rigorous checks on costs and
benefits. If they are not cost-beneficial they must meet the ‘one in, one out’ (OIOO) rule, whereby the cost burden of a new regulation must be offset by scrapping a regulation with at least as great a cost burden. For thorough scrutiny, two committees and a team of civil servants oversee this. This means policy proposals have
to be costed, but it is not always clear whether a new proposal has been through this check when it is announced. For example, has the policy of not allowing a landlord to let a building with an F rating been through this test? If not, will it pass? While the process introduces clarity over burdens, it may lead to uncertainty. The government has set up ways
to review all existing regulations; the Cabinet Office is running a rolling review of legislation by theme, with formal independent reviews of various areas of legislation. Health and safety (H&S) legislation
is being reviewed by a panel chaired by Prof. Ragnar Löfstedt, a risk management specialist. He will consider opportunities to reduce
the burden of health and safety legislation on UK businesses while maintaining progress in improving outcomes. He will make recommendations to ministers by the end of October. Löfstedt has called for interested parties to submit evidence about the scope to reduce the burden of H&S regulation in the UK. This is an opportunity for CIBSE members to contribute to the institution’s response. H&S regulations affect many aspects of building services engineering, so here is a chance to contribute to the process. The first five questions ask about
l Create significant additional business burdens but have limited impact on health or safety?
Further questions ask: l To what extent does the ‘reasonably practicable’ concept help manage the regulatory burden?
l Are there examples where health and safety regulations have led to unreasonable outcomes?
l Are there lessons to be learned from the way other EU countries approach H&S regulation, either in their overall approach or the way they regulate risks or hazards?
This may be your best chance to influence the regulatory burdens on your business for some time
H&S regulations and Approved Codes of Practice (ACoPs). For example, are there any regulations or ACoPs that: l Have improved health and safety and should not be changed?
l Need to be simplified? l It would be helpful to merge together?
l Could be abolished without any negative effect on the health and safety of individuals?
l Can you provide evidence that the requirements of EU directives have or have not been unnecessarily enhanced (‘gold-plated’) when incorporated into UK regulations?
l Does health and safety law place responsibility in an appropriate way on those that create risk? If not, what changes would be required?
The deadline to submit comments to the Department for Work and Pensions is 29 July 2011. Members with comments are asked to submit them to the CIBSE Technical Department by email to technical@
cibse.org by Friday 15 July. The link to the consultation details on the DWP website is
www.dwp.gov.uk/ docs/lofstedt-call-for-evidence.pdf
l Hywel Davies is technical director of CIBSE
24
CIBSE Journal July 2011
www.cibsejournal.com
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