Lord Young’s health and safety agenda ploughs ahead without him

Lord Young’s proposals for health and safety reform are being taken seriously by many. This despite the Tory peer’s forced resignation after letting slip his view that “most people” have “never had it so good” in this “so-called recession”.

His themes are to be discussed at a conference next April, Health and Safety Reform 2011: A Common Sense Approach, and organised by Public Service Events and co-sponsored by the Health and Safety Executive.

Forward publicity material for the event warns delegates to “beware the onset of winter, as it heralds the ‘suing season’, with councils feeling compelled to warn of falling acorns, conker fights and the hazards of clearing snowy paths”.

The blurb goes on to reassure delegates that the reforms will not “impact on important health and safety laws in hazardous workplaces”.

This will be cold comfort to the 1.3 million UK workers who say they are suffering from an illness caused or exacerbated by work.