Government sees sense

24 August 2011

The Government has listened to IOSH and seen sense, today calling for “an end to the epidemic of excuses wrongly citing health and safety”.

In what represents a genuine success for the Institution’s campaign of lobbying, Ministers came out in support of UK health and safety laws – and criticised those who try to hide unpopular decisions behind them.

IOSH has fought long and hard in recent months to promote the strengths of UK H&S legislation and the benefits of sensible health and safety. In the past year, our senior representatives met PM David Cameron, Employment Minister Chris Grayling and Government advisers Lord Young and Professor Ragnar Lofstedt, and wrote to Business Secretary Vince Cable. That now looks like it is paying off.

Today, Mr Grayling said: “We have seen an epidemic of excuses wrongly citing health and safety as a reason to prevent people from doing pretty harmless things with only very minor risks attached. This has to stop. The law does not require this to happen – people must be encouraged to use their common sense.
“Health and safety laws exist to provide important safeguards against people being seriously injured or made unwell at work and should not hamper everyday activities. These regulations are intended to save lives, not stop them.
“Middle managers in councils and companies should not try to hide unpopular decisions behind health and safety legislation. People must acknowledge these myths and continue to challenge them.”

Grayling’s comments came as the Health and Safety Executive published a top 10 of the most bizarre ‘bans’ linked to H&S it has uncovered in the last 12 months – all of which have no basis in official regulations.

Most of the ridiculous bans HSE has encountered betray an obsession with managing minor risks in heavy-handed and bureaucratic ways, or complying with stifling restrictions imposed by insurance companies.

IOSH head of policy and public affairs Richard Jones said: “We’re delighted that the government has listened and is joining our fight to tackle the health and safety myths that have sadly tarnished real health and safety.
“We think this statement by the Minister represents an important watershed in putting the record straight about real health and safety – highlighting that it’s only when it’s misinterpreted and misapplied that there are problems.
“Good health and safety is about saving lives, supporting business and enterprise and sustaining the economy. We think better education and government promotion of the sensible steps the law really requires should help debunk all this nonsense once and for all.
“Health and safety is about enabling things to happen and keeping people safe, it’s certainly not about pointless paperwork, barmy bans or spoiling sports days.”

According to the HSE, among the events or activities wrongly restricted or threatened with a ban for ‘health and safety reasons’ have been:

1. Wimbledon officials citing health and safety as a reason to close Murray Mount when it was wet
2. Stopping dodgem cars from bumping into each other at Butlins in Skegness;
3. Banning Royal wedding street parties;
4. Removing an unwanted, bulky TV from a pensioner’s home for recycling;
5. Carnivals with fancy dress parades;
6. Kite flying on a popular tourist beach in east Yorkshire
7. Stopping pupils from using playground monkey bars unsupervised in Oxfordshire
8. Using pins to secure commemorative poppies
9. Schoolyard football games banned – unless the ball is made of sponge
10. Children no longer allowed to take part in a sack race at Sports Day

Like IOSH, Ministers are concerned that misconceptions of health and safety law draw attention away from the real workplace risks that put people in genuine danger – and are determined to tackle the myths to ensure serious hazards are not trivialised.

In reality, the health and safety legislation is generally focused on the workplace, dealing with risks such as unguarded machinery, unsafe work at height and exposure to toxins such as asbestos.

A wide-ranging review of health and safety legislation, carried out by Professor Ragnar Lofstedt and involving IOSH, will report to ministers in October with proposals for consolidating or simplifying existing statutes.