On behalf of 1,650 HSE inspectors, scientists and other specialists, Prospect’s Health and Safety Officer Sarah Page said:

“We welcome raising the profile of HSE’s common sense approach and reliance on the professional judgement of the union’s HSE members. This could make a big improvement to health and safety and address some of the issues Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to address.

“But it must be clear that there is a world of difference between petty bureaucracy enacted under the label of health and safety and HSE regulation designed to prevent deaths and disease in the workplace.

“We agree that measures aimed at preventing death and injury at work run the risk of being undermined by authorities, including insurance companies, through inappropriate legal interpretation, excessive application over minor issues or too much red tape because of a disproportionate fear of liability.

“We hope this review will go some way to clarifying the differences between the two and debunk the myth of the ‘burden’ of health and safety that masks the wider picture; last year alone about 1180 people were fatally injured at work or in work road incidents, and thousands made ill or diseased.”