I've just gone through the HSE's '20 minute' office risk assessment (as an exercise to see what it involves). It's certainly a 'neat' way of getting things into a risk assessment format, but my principle concern is whether this just 'dumbs down' the process. After all, most H&S practitioners know that the Regs require certain factors to be considered in order for a risk assessment to be deemed 'suitable and sufficient' Whilst I'm not overly interested in risk assessing office environments myself, looking through the checklists it's clear that the factors have been whittled away to almost nothing (and what's left is open to wide interpretation). For example, stress could now be dismissed as 'you know your role, go and talk to X if you have a problem'; DSE is now a simple 'workstations assessed, risks reduced, information and training provided'; Fire is now 'have a plan, an alarm, a drill and way out'. I'm not saying these things aren't important, I just feel that this overly-simplified approach will appeal to those who think that spending a little longer is a waste of time, but will do little to reduce risk in line with the risk factors built into the Regs, ACoPs etc. Following along the law of 'unintended consequences', these type of 'tick box' assessments will make it easier for those who have low standards to say 'well, if it's OK for the HSE, it's OK for me'. Thoughts?

....and apparently not understood by Lord Young.

Shocking for some but we need to get used to this wind of change: HSE quote "The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today warmly welcomed the publication of Lord Young's report into health and safety. HSE has already been working with others to develop responses to two of the recommendations: • a 20-minute online risk assessment for offices Publication of the report is a tremendous opportunity to refocus health and safety on what it is really about - managing workplace risks" Lord Young quote-"We should all accept that health and safety in non hazardous occupations is little more than common sense." Prime Minister quote-"I hope this review can be a turning point. Lord Young has come forward with a wide range of far reaching proposals which this government fully supports" IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) said it broadly welcomed Lord Young’s recommendations

All: Spot on! I'm reassured it's not just me. FHS - exactly. I always thought it amusing that on HSE's sample risk assessments many of the 'in-depth' assessments had miraculously already been done (by these businesses who are looking for something simple), but somehow hadn't led to any improvements worth noting. Actually, 20 mins could be shortened further: how about 2 words each: DSE: 'Type It' Fire: 'Get Out' Stress: 'Shut Up' COSHH: 'Wear Gloves' (or 'Hold Breath') The good thing is, there would be even less reading and interpretation to do and we don't need competent advice...oh, I remember that's been ignored for a long time too

Lord Young Bless Him!! H&S Can be overly bureacratic, agreed.! H&S Professionals can be over zealous, agreed!! It is wrong to automatically expect huge payouts, agreed!!! Common Sense H&S will stop our compensation culture..... erm Cloud Cuckoo Land !!!!