The Forum of Private Business has described the changes to workplace health and safety rules as a landmark moment for SMEs and a long-awaited victory for common sense.

The organisation said the removal of strict liability for employers, finally agreed by the Lords on 23 April, not only means health and safety (H&S) becomes a less burdensome task for employers, but should help make workplaces across the country safer. The changes will take effect on 1 October 2013.

Removal of strict liability means businesses cannot be held responsible for accidents that are either not their fault, or unavoidable. It said the new focus on making employees more aware of and responsible for their own actions was something its own research had shown strong support for from small business owners.

 “This is a deregulatory measure which means as long as an employer takes reasonable steps on H&S then they shouldn’t be subject to prosecution for things they couldn’t possibly have predicted or prevented,” said the Forum’s Head of Policy, Alex Jackman. “It’s a fact of life that accidents, unfortunately, sometimes do just happen with nothing that can be done to prevent them. This new approach to H&S goes a long way to recognising this. For too long the entire onus has been on the employer as part of a blame-game approach that has cost business millions, and has also tarnished people’s view of what’s a very serious and important subject. People have lost faith in health and safety, with organisations such as the Health and Safety Executive pilloried in the media, but along the way that’s dangerously undermined the issue in the eyes of the nation.”

Jackman continued, “While these changes are welcome, business owners must not be lulled into a false mindset that they are no longer governed by H&S requirements, or that their duty as an employer has ended. It hasn’t – and this is a dangerous way of thinking. The average cost of a H&S investigation after a breach of regulations is £20,000, so it’s very much the case of prevention always being better than cure.”