The Government has announced plans to begin a “major cut back” of health and safety red tape as early as January.

It will begin an immediate consultation on the abolition of large numbers of health and safety regulations and intents to have removed the first rules from the statute book within a few months.

It will also establish from 1 January a new challenge panel, which will allow businesses to get the decisions of health and safety inspectors overturned immediately if they have got it wrong.

The move follows yesterday's publication of the Löfstedt Review into health and safety legislation, commissioned by the employment minister in March this year.

It recommends health and safety law "should not apply to self-employed people whose work activity poses no potential risk of harm to others". The changes if implemented would benefit around a million self-employed people.

Ragnar Löfstedt set out his recommendations in the report Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation. Today the Government has accepted his recommendations.

Health and safety regulations will be reduced by a third rising to over a half over the next three years, through combining, simplifying and reducing the approximately 200 existing regulations. The role of the Health and Safety Executive in relation to local authorities will be significantly strengthened. And the report makes recommendations to ensure that employers are not held responsible for damages when they have done all they can to manage risks.

With 50% of health and safety regulation coming from Europe the Professor will present his findings, along with the minister, in Brussels this week to promote a more proportionate, risk-based approach.

Minister for employment Chris Grayling said: "From the beginning we said getting the regulation of health and safety right is important to everyone. By accepting the recommendations of Professor Löfstedt we are putting common sense back at the heart of health and safety. Our reforms will root out needless bureaucracy and be a significant boost to the million self employed people who will be moved out of health and safety regulation altogether.

"We will also ensure our reforms put an emphasis on personal responsibility. It cannot be right that employers are responsible for damages when they have done all they can to manage the risk. Fundamentally we will ensure the health and safety system is fit for purpose through streamlining the maze of regulations and ensuring consistency across the board."

Löfstedt said: "When the Minister invited me to conduct this review I was determined that it should be science-based, evidence-based and risk-based. My guiding principle is that regulation should also be founded on robust evidence and an assessment of the real risks. All the discussions I had and the evidence I have received over the past few months have served to reinforce this view."

The news has been welcomed by the Forum of Private Business.

The Forum's senior policy adviser, Alex Jackman, said: "We have waited a while for the results of the Löfstedt review, and now they are here we're not disappointed.

"There are recommendations that will see a tangible difference to the shop floor, but also a wider acknowledgement for the needs of health and safety to be a shared burden with staff as well as employers.

"The Forum of Private Business has long been calling for such a shared responsibility and welcomes this first step in a national debate.

"Civil action against businesses is a huge issue for our members, and many over-compensate where health and safety is concerned. Not only does this unduly raise the cost of compliance - disproportionately so for the smallest businesses - but it also raises the expectations of employees should personal injury unfortunately befall them.

"We welcome moves to redress the imbalance we currently have where employers can be successfully prosecuted despite having taken all reasonable steps to protect their employees.

"Finally, at a European level, the report identifies the need to engage early with Europe on health and safety issues. Whilst this is hardly an earth-shattering new conclusion, the planned 2013 EU review of health and safety makes it essential," he added.

Earlier this year Forum research found small firms increasingly spending extra time and money on complying with employment legislation. The study carried out with members suggests the cost of compliance is a staggering £16.8 billion - or £14,200 per firm on average.

Jackman added: "Common sense should be at the heart of all health and safety legislation and today appears to herald the beginning of the end for pointless red tape. This should save employers money and make for a fairer, fit-for-purpose system with an emphasis on personal responsibility.

"Moving forward, we wish to see these proposals implemented as soon as possible, taking into account the current progression of impacting work in other areas of Government, notable changes to the Local Better Regulation Office and reforms of 'no win no fee' agreements.

"Many businesses have positive views of the benefits of health and safety, but the proposals today will - once implemented - go some way towards reducing the wider perception that small businesses have on health and safety and make it harder to litigate when employers are not at fault."