According to the BRC report, the Government’s approach to risk is stifling our ‘national resilience, self reliance and spirit of adventure’.

Chief executive of the FPB Nick Goulding says: ‘The burden of regulation is stifling entrepreneurial spirit. Of course we welcome guidelines that promote the safety and well-being of employees, but we must encourage the growth of small businesses rather than hamper their development through unnecessary regulation.’

However, Brendan Barber, Trade Union Congress (TUC) general secretary, argues that some employers are using exaggerated ‘myths’ about health and safety rules to ridicule them, and that sensible debate is in danger of being ’hijacked by the anti-red tape brigade’.

For Goulding, this approach is side-stepping the issue: ‘The reality of the matter is that regulation is designed for larger companies. Smaller firms simply do not have the time or resources to make sense of the amount of regulation which seem to flow from Westminster.’

The FPB, which represents the interests of small business, has over 25,000 members. At the FPB’s Small Firms’ Summit held last week in Westminster, Goulding unveiled the results of a survey which cited health and safety regulations as the costliest form of red tape for small firms.

See also: Taking bold risks – Victoria Pooley, owner and joint managing director of The Data Partnership, tells GrowthBusiness about her best business decision.