Health and Safety Mythbusters Challenge Panel

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:55 am

The Health and Safety Executive have taken huge abuse from the Mail (and others, often following their lead) over the last few years. They, or the Elf 'n Saftey Brigade, have been blamed for the banning of conkers, lack of Christmas decorations in offices, children not climbing trees and now a seagull in distress. Sombrely, 'they' have also been blamed for firefighters leaving people to die in drains, ditches and ponds. It's become a well-embedded paradigm, that of a nanny state which prevents its members from taking any risks at all. David Cameron has used it, cynically, in his assault on the state and on workers' security.

As discriminating people like us know it just isn't true. In fact, the HSE is responsible for taking actions which save lives by forcing employers and others to take the safety of workers seriously. People in responsibility have become risk-averse to a ridiculous degree, in the face of rapacious insurance companies and ludicrous no-win no-fee compensation claims.

Now the HSE are fighting back - I didn't know this and came across it in the follow-up to the seagull story. They have created a 'Mythbuster Challenge Panel'. This aims to debunk spurious 'elf 'n saftey' stories within 24 hours (though that doesn't seem to be fast enough for some people - lazy local paper reporters I think).

Quote:

The Health and Safety Executive has set up an official body with the remit of stamping out the inappropriate and overzealous use of health and safety legislation.

The mythbusters challenge panel, which will be led by HSE chair Judith Hackitt, will provide advice to those who find themselves on the wrong end of disproportionate health and safety regulations from insurance companies, local authorities and employers.

from http://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/News/2012/ ... afety_laws

See also
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/apr/ ... sfeed=true

as well as
http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/news/96 ... r/?ref=rss
where the reporter has already got the Challenge Panel story so garbled as to be unrecognisable...

This is a very useful idea. I wonder how Dickie Littlebrain et al will report it. If at all.

Althea · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:27 am

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GORN MADDE!

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:28 am

Their site is at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/myth-busting.htm

The Top Ten Myths are worth a read. Amazingly several of them seem to come from companies blaming H&S for their own parsimony, or from over-zealous individuals.

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7342

The Taxpayer's Alliance will complain about money being wasted (on stopping us lying).

Daley Mayle · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:43 am

Both my great grandfathers and my father were killed in industrial accidents that wouldn't have occurred today because of improved safety.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:35 am

Yup. My father died from exposure to types of asbestos that are now banned under H&S.

When that sort of thing starts happening again, perhaps people will question Cameron and Maude's drive to 'cut red tape' and 'make it easier for business' - a plan predicated on the deaths and sickness of employees.

Carlos The Badger · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:37 pm

It's certainly a good idea, but I've got reservations about the general tone. I think it's a bit soft and should "name & shame" (as the Mailtards are so fond of saying). The E.U. thing that does the same is a bit more critical and hard-hitting.

Anyway, I've subscribed.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:44 pm

With you on that. Certainly Littlecock's latest needs an explicit kicking.

hel · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:50 pm

This website is a really good idea and it would be nice to see it get equal coverage. The press's coverage of "barmy new elf 'n' safety rules" often make it sound like "barmy" rules are official HSE policy and more people adopt them as a result. Even if the stories are completely made up, the press still wins because they become self-fulfilling prophecy.
e.g. When I was at school there were some news stories and rumours saying that teachers couldn't hug or apply plasters to kids who had fallen over. A few of our teachers actually started following these "rules" as a result (they weren't in the school's official policy or any HSE regulations) until they had a teacher training day where they were told that the story was bollocks.

Big Rob · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:27 pm

There is always Foxconn... for those who complain about overzealous health and safety

Big Rob · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:28 pm

Bones McCoy wrote:

The Taxpayer's Alliance will complain about money being wasted (on stopping us lying).

Those who complain about overzealous health and safety are causing an unnecessary tax burden.

davidjay · **Joined:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:24 pm **Posts:** 3837

It'll make no difference. They'll still print the myths.

satnav · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:18 pm

The Mail were complaining yesterday that the Myth Busters might take 5 days to get to bottom of a story. In a lot of cases organisations can take a lot longer than that to properly investigated what has happened during a health and safety incident. My wife is a production manager in a factory and she is often expected to investigate incidence but she is often hampered by the fact that the person injured may be off work for a few days, other people who witnessed the incident could be working different shifts which makes it hard to interview them so it is not unusual for an investigation to take at least a week.

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:20 pm

Quote:

A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said:

“The RSPCA called us out as an emergency. Our firefighters rushed to the scene only to realise they’d been called out to a seagull with a plastic bag round its leg which was swimming around quite happily and wasn’t in any distress. This clearly wasn’t an emergency so the firefighters left it to a local animal rescue charity to deal with and swiftly left the scene.”

“Often, by the time our firefighters arrive at an incident, someone has waded in to try and rescue an animal only to get into danger themselves, so we send enough crews to deal with whatever we may find. The safety of the public and our firefighters is always our priority.”

Firefighters were not stopped from entering the water due to health and safety protocols. Just this week, LFB crews were called to rescue a man after the bulldozer he was driving fell 40 feet down into a quarry pit. When they realised the man’s life was at risk, the firefighters acted outside of normal procedures and risked their own personal safety to lift him out and save his life. London Fire Brigade’s firefighter are trained to make difficult judgement calls about when it is right to risk their lives in order to save another.

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:21 pm

Carlos The Badger wrote:

It's certainly a good idea, but I've got reservations about the general tone. I think it's a bit soft and should "name & shame" (as the Mailtards are so fond of saying). The E.U. thing that does the same is a bit more critical and hard-hitting.

Anyway, I've subscribed.

Absolutely. What's the EU thing you're thinking of?

Health and Safety Mythbusters Challenge Panel

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