Tackling the 'Health and Safety Monster' with Insurance

This battle will be welcomed by business owners, who claim that Health and Safety legislation is oppressive, excessive, and out of control. In this scenario, people abuse the legislation - buoyed on by ubiquitous and aggressive 'no win, no fee' agencies - creating a culture of fear when even the most tenuous of breaches is perceived.

More cynically, there are many dubious examples of claimants who make outright false claims to try and opportunistically grab the financial rewards that are on offer. And there are also the hangers-on who try and indirectly exploit the industry's gaps and holes.

For example, take the case of two 'ambulance-chasing' Welshmen from Swansea, who were hired to hunt down personal injury clients for a Swansea legal services firm. When the men began to run out of new personal injury cases, they simply fabricated new names from thin air, backed them up with the phone numbers from freshly bought mobile phones, and pocketed the cash. From any perspective this reflects badly on the men, but arguably the overall industry and the ideals that it's built on too.

All considered, it's understandable why some people - including the Prime Minister - argue that the 'Health and Safety Monster' is being fed by an exploitative partnership between people and agencies that aims to advantageously extract money from companies who're often not at fault. This is financially draining for businesses when budgets are already under increasing strain.

The Government, as part of its palliative plans, aim to place a cap on the earnings of lawyers for claims up to £25,000. This is to stop circumstances where businesses settle cases where an aggrieved employee has a weak complaint in order to avoid paying astronomical legal fees. Health and Safety breaches are also going to be made less strict - and punishments for false claims more severe - as part of a number of liberalising new rules.

It's unclear exactly when the Government's new legislation will be implemented, or whether it will be effective. Thankfully though, there are other avenues that businesses can explore in the meantime to alleviate the burden of claims.

Insurance is one effective channel: 'Public Liability Insurance' is particularly helpful and designed to protect businesses in the event of claims being made for negligence that has caused employee injuries at work. This insurance can protect against some or all of the costs involved in the defense and compensation of claims.

Finding the best claim can be difficult but there are many aggregation services that can help you get the best public liability insurance quote possible, such as Constructaquote.

These services can ease the strain on business but people are hard up too, and because of personal financial burdens another type of claim is on the rise: claims against businesses for negligent financial advice. This is known as ‘professional indemnity’, and professional indemnity insurance can act as a financial shield from these claims, just as public liability insurance can protect businesses accused of negligence in personal injury cases.

As said by David Cameron in the Health and Safety debate: "This is going to be an absolutely vital year for the British economy and also a difficult year for the British economy,".

Insurance can help ease some of this strain while the Government's plans take shape.