On April 20th 2009 the BBC Panorama program came to the conclusion that common sense must rule when it comes to protecting peoples lives. Sometimes used an excuse to save money the HSE is always the easy option. There have been several activities in the past few years that have been cancelled due to “Health and Safety” concerns, the famous one was in Wales, there the annual Donkey Derby race was ran with inflatable sheep on the backs of donkeys instead of the local children. This was not due to the Health and Safety but down to the insurance company that would not insure the donkeys or the children.
In contrast, more than 1200 people have being seriously injured this year as they fell off ladders, you may laugh, but more than 14 died from falling off this ‘dangerous’ piece of equipment, the HSE are so concerned about this they have brought in specialists to ‘teach’ employees how to use them properly and the consequences of falling.
This is common sense to most but if you are using it every day you get complacent, it is like driving along Britain’s motorways and roads how many people do you see on their mobile phone or applying lipstick this is simply stupid but again its common sense not to use or do that action, but people do it every day. It must be down to the individual to make the right judgment for their action.
Last year more that 100,000 people would have been glad of a better health and safety regulation at work, that’s how many workers were killed or injured. This figure does not include the miners or the workers that were exposed to asbestos who died prematurely this year.
Hard hats, hi-vis jackets, and harnesses are all there to protect workers, ultimately it is up to the employers not the HSE to ensure their workers and workplaces are properly trained and safe. Health and Safety are there to protect, not to take the fun out of a particular sport or activity.
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