HSE.
Health and safety legislation exists to protect people from real risks at, or connected with, work. But it can be hard to see this from some of the stories that are reported. Below are 10 of the most bizarre health bans or restrictions spotted in media coverage by HSE over the last year.Even the Health and Safety Executive recognises that Councils and companies are using health and safety rules as an excuse to make "unpopular decisions" banning low-risk activities often enough to make their lives easier, rather than properly evaluate the risk and train/warn the people involved. After all it's cheaper to ban than it is to buy the equipment or train the staff. Employment minister Chris Grayling said members of the public should "challenge health and safety myths" and over-zealous practices. However that's easier said than done as most people don't exactly know what the regulations are, plus have a tendency to "believe" the officials making their lives a misery. The law as it stands simply requires people to approach risks in a balanced and proportionate manner. Banning something is far often disproportionate yet it seems to be the tool of choice for those in charge, whether this is due to the current compo culture is debatable, but it certainly doesn't help. Most people actually enjoy a bit of risk or adventure in their lives it's why fairground rides are so popular and why some of us climb mountains, often enough without ropes. Perhaps we should return to the old days of "enter at your own risk" and simply seek to reduce a risk, not eliminate it altogether.
- Wimbledon officials citing health and safety as a reason to close Murray Mount when it was wet
Example media story: Daily Mail: 'Elf 'n' safety shuts Murray Mount: Fans might slip on the grass, warn officials', 21 June 2011- Stopping dodgem cars from bumping into each other at Butlins in Skegness
Example media story: BBC News: 'Bosses at Butlins ban bumper cars over health and safety fears', 27 April 2011- Banning Royal wedding street parties
Example media story: Daily Mail: 'Royal wedding street party? You'll need £5m insurance, love...', 13 April 2011- Removing an unwanted, bulky TV from a pensioner's home for recycling
Example media story: Daily Mail, 'Pensioner, 85, paid council to remove old TV...and was ordered to drag it outside herself so workmen didn't injure themselves', 7 June 2011- Carnivals with fancy dress parades
Example media story: http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk- Kite flying on a popular tourist beach in east Yorkshire
Example media story: Hull Daily Mail: 'Outrage at kite-flying ban on East Riding beaches', 10 June 2011- Stopping pupils from using playground monkey bars unsupervised in Oxfordshire
Example media story: Daily Mail: 'Children banned from their own playground as health and safety officials decide monkey bars are too dangerous', 8 May 2011- Using pins to secure commemorative poppies
Example media story: http://www.obantimes.co.uk- Schoolyard football games banned - unless the ball is made of sponge
Example media story: BBC News: 'Huyton school leather football ban safety row', 24 February 2011- Children no longer allowed to take part in a sack race at Sports Day
Example media story: Metro: 'Three-legged race is given the sack'
6 annotations:
Have linked to this QM
The "Health & Safety" culture (aka the "Cover your Arse" culture) has developed largely due to the demands of the public ..
People have been influenced by watching TV Ads in which Ambulance-chasing Law firms have offered them ever-more inventive ways of claiming compensation ("Where there's blame, there's a claim")..
And so, businesses, organisations, public bodies etc have learned to become risk-averse .. or end up paying out thousands to unscrupulous claimants ..
What needs to happen is for people to be made more aware of their own responsibilities .. together with the banning of the "No win .. No fee" type of legal practice ..
Further to my last .. It lead me to ponder why we only ever seem to import the worst of America ..
Like Gun culture, Gang culture, Drug culture
& Compensation culture ?
And never any of the better parts ..
Like a Constitution or a formal Bill of Rights .. to protect us against the excesses of our own government ?
OK .. the American system isn't perfect .. but it does at least provide a degree of protection ..
XX evaluate the risk and train/warn the people involved.XX
"TRAIN"?
How much bloody training do you need to know throwing a billy of hot tea over Granny Jones at the street party may cause injury?
The problem is the law that requires "reasonable steps to be taken to protect ....". Unfortunately there are too many lawyers around who are willing to try to show a court that insufficient steps were taken, and too many judges with a complete lack of common sense.
In my view, warning notices, etc, should only be required where there is something unexpected or not immediately apparent to the average person. And to get damages, it would be necessary to prove that an average person would reasonably have done what the claimant did.
It's most certainly mental illness, this Elfansafetee.
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