He can’t vouch for the quality of her dancing, but Bob Towse believes former MP Ann Widdecombe has a great deal to offer when it comes to health and safety advice.

The special guest at the recent HVCA President's lunch was the formidable Ann Widdecombe. A feisty parliamentary campaigner of the past and now a fixture on our TV screens in 'Strictly Come Dancing', she freely admitted to knowing nothing about 'heating and ventilating'. However, she did offer a generous helping of common sense that would have struck a chord with many of the industry figures in the room.

In keeping with many of her former Conservative colleagues, she is no lover of heavy-handed regulation and believes civil servants have much to answer for in creating the current 'zero risk' culture that restricts normal day-to-day working and living.

She told the audience of more than 400 industry members, who had gathered to honour new HVCA president Martin Burton, that the UK was unique in Europe in its slavish adoption of every new piece of legislation.

'France and Germany turn each new European directive into two pages of regulation - we turn it into 42,' she said. 'Once a Bill passes through Parliament, the civil servants create the regulation and 'experts' over-write the code of practice that goes with it.'

This creates a massive amount of prescriptive detail that seeks to control every aspect of people's daily lives and is a reaction to the all pervasive 'compensation culture', said Ms Widdecombe. 'We over-regulate to try and protect ourselves from legal action.'

Stop compensation culture

The new government has an opportunity, she believes, to 'put a brake on the compensation culture so people can go back to using their own initiative and taking reasonable precautions for their own safety,' she said. 'Then you can all go back to doing your jobs in a sensible way without having to stick minutely to the Rule Book.'

Not only does over-regulation and slavish dedication to rules damage productivity and morale, but it is also 'ferociously expensive', Ms Widdecombe added. It is an obvious area for slimming down to improve quality of life, but also to save cost in these financially challenging times.

Most professional people in the building services sector would echo her call to 'let common sense prevail'. Health and safety legislation is of vital importance, but 'gold plating' of regulations and prescription down to the tiniest of details hinders the delivery of quality projects.

The HVCA is already working hard to simplify the process of pre-qualification where contractors are asked to repeatedly produce reams of paper to be allowed onto tender lists. The Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Forum is a major step towards a slimmer, more productive process that means contractors spend less time filling in forms and more time working on projects, but still satisfy clients that they can meet health and safety standards.

It is an example of how it is possible to find a balance. Employers must take responsibility for the safety of their staff, but that does not mean they have to have detailed instructions for every aspect of their working life. The 'ambulance chasing' compensation culture has pushed the system too far away from common sense towards a 'zero risk' approach, which is not a natural way of working.

Ann Widdecombe's views are shared by many of the politicians in our coalition Government - some of whom also attended the HVCA lunch. If they can do something to rein in the compensation culture, we can get on with finding the balance.

Subsequently, Lord Young was invited by the Government to carry out a review of health and safety laws and the whole issue of the compensation culture. His report 'Common Sense, Common Safety' highlights the problems caused by 'ambulance chasing' lawyers leading to employers and service providers living in fear of being sued.

Lord Young has proposed a stiffening of rules so it is harder for people to pursue 'frivolous' legal claims; a simplifying of health and safety assessments; and a reduction in safety red tape. However, he fears that his reforms may be challenged by the European Commission, which has expanded the reach of regulations covering 'dangerous occupations' so that they now apply to almost all areas of business in the EU and even to firms with fewer than five employees.