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David Cameron has attacked Britain's "national neurosis", saying it is caused by an increase in health and safety laws under Labour.
The Conservative leader called for a crackdown on the "over-the-top" health and safety culture, saying it has become a "straitjacket" on personal initiative and safety.
In a speech to the Policy Exchange think-tank, he said that a Conservative government would bring back "common sense, discretion and personal responsibility".
Cameron will acknowledge that introduced heath and safety legislation has brought benefits, with the UK enjoying one of the lowest workplace fatality rates in the European Union.
But he said that in the past decade something has gone wrong with the interpretation of the legislation.
The Tory leader cited cases which have featured in tabloid newspapers such children being made to wear goggles to play conkers and trainee hairdressers not being allowed scissors in the classroom.
"It is clear that what began as a noble intention to protect people from harm has mutated into a stultifying blanket of bureaucracy, suspicion and fear that has saturated our country, covering the actions of millions of individuals as they go about their daily lives," he said.
A growing compensation culture, he said, is partly to blame, with an increase in the publicity of injury claims leading to a legal "hypersensitivity" to risk and accidents.
However a 2004 report by the Better Regulation Task Force which examined the evidence for such claims concluded that it was an "urban myth" to suggest Britain has a 'compensation culture'.
Cameron pledged to take a measured approach to the issue, with veteran Conservative politician Lord David Young to lead a review of the relevant laws.
"For every piece of health and safety legislation, we need to ask whether it fulfils a useful purpose, and if not, it must go," Cameron said.
His speech comes amid concerns that the party's advantage in the opinion polls is slipping.
The attack on health and safety rules came on the same day he told the Daily Mail that he would do more to promote the institution of marriage.
Both pledges are likely to appeal to traditional supporters, who some suggest may have lost confidence in the party following the decision not to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty.
The ComRes poll for the Independent points towards the possibility of a hung parliament, with the Conservatives on 37 per cent, Labour on 27 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 20 per cent.
The Conservative lead of 10 points is a four point reduction since the last ComRes poll.
If the same result was to be reflected at the ballot box, it would leave the Conservatives six seats short of an overall majority.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd