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“Over-the-top health and safety culture”
We don’t do politics, but the recent comments from the new Government does raise a concern that they are followers of the tabloids and some celebrities who continue the regular negative portrayal of ‘Elf and Safety’. It could be interpreted that recent comments such as “the UK has become "saturated" by health and safety laws”, shows “a reliance on myth and exaggeration".
You have to question if the new kids on the Downing Street block are aiming to gain popularity by targeting the areas the media hype-up as being a problem and have forgotten that these laws have had to be put in place to reduce the unacceptable level of injury, illness and death at work, solely as result of trying to earn a living; so how would a deregulated approach aim to solve this?
The application of the laws from the odd overzealous H&S advisor or from those who do not fully understand health and safety leaves a lot to be desired and creates an uphill struggle for the profession, but we must be clear, it is not health and safety law that says you can’t run in egg and spoon races etc. It is also a shame that you never hear about the thousands of decisions taken every day by conscientious and professional safety practitioners that prevent death, injury and illness.
The burden on business argument is also questionable, having been involved in business for many years H&S law was never a burden; tax was a burden, interest rates, increased insurance and the reluctance of banks to back SMEs were burdens. Ensuring safety and long term health of the people who came to work every day, helping us to develop a successful business was not a burden; it was simply the right thing to do.
So is it the law that needs changing?
The compensation culture is a very different subject to ensuring an employee’s basic right to be safe when at work. The compensation culture is a trait fired by greed, the media and unscrupulous ambulance chasing law firms, out to make a quick buck. Hopefully Lord Young’s review will help eradicate the frauds and ambulance chasers and ensure companies do not have to manage the claims culture and be risk averse across the board, but are able to get on managing significant risk; yet again don’t blame the legal framework of H&S for this, this is a civil / human thing not a statute law issue.
I was on a business trip in May this year, a colleague and I had returned back to our hotel around 10.30pm and decided to pop into the bar for a nightcap. We decided to push the boat out and requested two liquor coffees, “we can’t do liquor coffee sir”, I was a little surprised at this, firstly we were in Birmingham, which is hardly a third world shanty town hotel, and secondly, I could clearly see a large selection of liquors just over the barman’s shoulder. He continued to justify the reason for this “the kitchen closes at 9.30 and we can’t serve liquor coffee from the bar after the kitchen has closed”. But no matter what he said it seemed nonsensical. Not to be beaten, we asked if we could purchase two coffees, Tia Maria’s and a small jug of cream (funnily enough the component parts of our favourite liquor coffee), thankfully the barman said “of course sir”, and we proceeded to make our own liquor coffees in front of the rather perplexed barman.
So the moral is that, it’s not laws that say we can’t run in races when it’s wet, use toothpicks after a meal, play conkers or even order liquor coffee after the kitchen has closed; it’s people who make these decisions and we have to accept the fact that we are only human and some people get it wrong sometimes; but is this just a safety industry issue or a problem in every situation where there is a rule?
“Computer says no”
Labels: Law
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