I appreciate that this is not a popular view, but I actually think that the current regulatory system works reasonably well, and any changes would attract an equal amount of criticism, just from different people.
I start from the point that the purpose of regulation is to prevent harm to the general public.
The purpose is not to force up prices to consumers, or to restrain trade, or to create closed shops like the old medieval guilds. We should also not use technical regulation as an adjunct to general consumer protection. Once you put safety to one side, the protections against being ripped off should be no different for a gas boiler than it is for a washing machine. People have the right to make what you or I would consider to be poor decisions when buying goods or services, and regulation should content itself with safety, and not with trying to second guess those decisions.
So if you want me to support additional regulation, then you need to show me the body-count or hospitalisation statistics, and convince me that the proposed regulatory action will reduce it.
Forcing people to register does not, in itself, make all work safe. I have seen some horribly dangerous work done by registered engineers.
We have enough regs already. What we need is to see some more active enforcement of the regs we have, and I would like to see the HSE enforce the law a little more actively, but that's all that is required.
<dons the flak-jacket and helmet that he first wore into the forum>