If as the reuslt of Loftstedt the self employed were offered a choice to be in or out of H&S legilslation, what arguemnts would you put forward to a self employed friend to stay in?

I agree with Smurfy.

Also Joe the Joiner needs to ensure his workshop doesn't present a significant fire risk to his neighbours - sparks, sawdust and flammable varnish need controls.....

I would strongly advise writing to the prime minister to ask him for clarification exactly what it means in legal terms being exempt from health and safety legislation. This would help when in the dock having to defend themselves.

Not much.
Unless he offers them exemption in law from everything.

(apologies if I've missed this specific question being answered elsewhere, I've read through a lot of the posts so far, great discussion)

I'm actually struggling to think of a specific concrete example of something self-employed people currently have to do that they might not in future.

One guy or girl working on their own doesn't need a written policy or anything like that, and (assuming their work doesn't pose a potential risk to others) what exactly do we think they're doing at the moment?

Plumbers, etc, in no way pose zero potential risk to others, so I'm assuming we're talking about home-based bookeepers, consultants, etc. While some of the keener ones may indeed have drawn up a risk assessment as an alternative to Solitaire when avoiding real work, what really makes them do this at the moment? If the only person at risk of harm is themselves, have there been cases of people being denied (eg) insurance for not properly assessing these risks? And are we really only dealing with a situation where, for example, we mean it's ok for a self-employed person to proceed with a task without wearing the PPE which a reasonable employer would require their staff to use?

This is a genuine question, by the way - I'm probably missing the point and couldn't quite see where the real problem lies.

In my experience self-employed tradesmen only have written RAs, method statements, etc in order to provide them when asked by commercial clients. For those doing purely domestic work they would not normally have these documents. In other words, tradesmen are not completing these documents for their own safety, or even the safety of others, but solely for when they are requested. There is no requirement for self-employed workers to record their RA, but to make an assessment - presumably in one's head.

I don’t get it. Our government spends thousands of pounds commissioning a report which proposes exempting self-employed whose work activities pose “no potential risk of harm to others” when there is perfectly good legislation such as The Employers' Health and Safety Policy Statements (Exception) Regulations 1975 or the 1999 Management Regs.

Presumably the man who fixes the TV aerials would not be exempt from the proposed concept as there is “potential risk of harm to others”. I also suspect that scope of reference is so narrow that there will be very few self-employed who would be except.

I would love to use the quote here used by Mr Bumble (Charles Dickens) on badly drafted Law. See Oliver Twist, chapter 51