I don't even know where to begin with this nonsense. It's like reading the Daily Mail. You're completely misrepresenting H&S law and its purpose. In fact, the law very rarely bans or otherwise prohibits specific items or practices. HASAW, as far as employees are concerned, really only addresses three issues.
1. That you take care of yourself and others affected by your acts and ommissions. Seem unreasonable to you?
2. That you cooperate with your employer in enabling him to discharge his legal obligations. In other words, your employer, not unreasonably, is expected to look at the tasks his employees carry out and write a process for doing so. They, in turn, have to cooperate with that. Terrible, eh?
3. That you do not interfere with anything provided for your health or safety. Don't cut the insulation off your screwdriver.
Now, we could look at various stautory regulations, but we'd find the same kind of language there. The problem, in my view, is not the law, it's interpretation of the law. It's about sensibly applying what's in front of you, and on the whole that's exactly how the law applies. Do some employers over emphasise some aspects of it? They surely do, but the problem is not the law, it's them. Frankly, how much good has been done by the introduction of H&S law isn't even a subject for debate. It's unarguably successful, using any measure. Here's the thing though; although some small businesses may be squeezed to the extent that they fail, if they can't keep their workers properly safe, then arguably they should fail and society will benefit as a result.