A leading safety expert has issued a stark warning against calls to weaken Britain's health and safety rules, branding the push for deregulation as "dangerous" and a "false economy".
The High Human and Financial Cost of Unsafe Work
Ruth Wilkinson, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), has responded forcefully to claims that safety regulations are holding back UK infrastructure. She argues that the UK's framework is the backbone of sustainable growth, having driven a historic decline in workplace harm.
Despite this progress, the human cost remains stark. In 2024-25, 124 people died in accidents at work. The financial burden is equally colossal, with the estimated annual cost of workplace injuries and new cases of work-related ill health reaching £22.9 billion in 2023-24.
Deregulation: A Recipe for Slower, More Harmful Projects
Wilkinson directly challenges the notion that stripping back protections will unlock faster growth or efficiency. She states that this idea ignores a fundamental reality: unsafe practices ultimately slow projects down, cause preventable harm, and severely damage corporate and national reputations.
"Good regulation allows businesses to thrive without compromising worker health and safety," she asserts. Weakening the current world-class standards would not only reverse decades of hard-won progress but also shift enormous subsequent costs onto the NHS, employers, and taxpayers.
A Call to Uphold Britain's Competitive Edge
The letter concludes with a firm plea to policymakers. IOSH urges them to reject calls for deregulation and instead uphold the high standards that make Britain a safe, healthy, and consequently competitive place to work, trade, and invest.
The argument is clear: maintaining rigorous health and safety regulations is not a barrier to prosperity but a prerequisite for resilient and ethical economic growth.
