It all kicked off yesterday. Snuggled cosily in Twitter’s collective bosom between Diane Abbott’s own #tweetgate affair and something to do with So Solid Crew was David Cameron, who went public with the Coalition’s New Year resolutions (with the help of the BBC, we may add).
The Prime Minster felt the need to put to the British people that health and safety is synonymous with monsters and a sea bird popularised in a popular poem. It was a strange day all round...
Cue hurrahs and LOLs from the legions of tabloid-reading zombies and the odd Conservative Councillor with too much time on their hands. “About time,” said one tweet. “Good on him,” said another. The London Evening Standard, bless them, forgot all about stabbings, economic woes and the 2012 Olympics and devoted precious column inches to the PM, so every Londoner had the opportunity to dwell on the Government’s resolutions on their Tube journey home. That’s democracy right there...
But when it comes to New Year’s resolutions Dave, most people join a gym. Give up smoking. That kinda thing. What one doesn’t do is pillory a profession who strives to protect workers from injury and death. The funny thing is: while Cameron was slinging soundbites around like confetti outside a registry office, IOSH was holding talks with Professor Ragnar Lofstedt in London about how best we can take his report forward, particularly in Europe. What the Coalition also fails to realise is that without good, sensible health and safety the economy would be worse off than it is now.
So take note anyone who goes public with their New Year’s resolutions. You probably will fail. Sadly though, David Cameron’s promise of halving all current health and regulations within this year will probably be realised.
Shaun.
Friday, 6 January 2012
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Christmas 'elf and safety
Well, I certainly wish it could be Christmas every day, but I don’t think my bank balance could quite stretch that far.
Only four days ‘til Christmas (not that I’m counting), but this year we have seen absurd Christmas-related health and safety stories in the press since November.
Sure, you can understand genuine health and safety concerns relating to Christmas, like this one published on 18 November on the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard website. I mean, the Christmas tree had a 25ft split in its trunk- certainly didn’t sound very ‘safe’ and stable to me, and I’m no health and safety professional. Rather it be taken down than have it fall, injuring an innocent member of the general public – and then there would be some headlines.
On the other hand, you hear a large number of stories where health and safety is used as an excuse for inaction. In my opinion, these illegitimate excuses normally appear where a lack of funds is concerned. Check out this story where Santa was banned from riding through Alnwick town centre on his sleigh. This story is not the first, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Just like the ghost of Christmas past, I want to take you back to some of the cracking headlines used to contribute to some of the health and safety ‘myths’ we tend to see in the ‘and finally’ stories at this time of year.
2010: Christmas tree a bureaucratic tangle for George Osborne
2009: How health and safety is killing Christmas
2008: Safety costs force couple to scrap Christmas lights
2007: School bans mums’ mince pies... for health and safety reasons
2006: Christmas lights ceremony banned for being popular
2005: Do Christmas decorations really pose a danger in the workplace?
2004: School bans killer tinsel
These stories are crazy page-fillers. Realistic, good health and safety wouldn’t put a damper on festive cheer - the over-zealous, risk-aversion has to stop.
It was great to see that the Government played a part last weekend in tackling some of the myths surrounding health and safety and Christmas. They even published a list of so-called 'Christmas elf and safety myths', which included topics such as children being banned from having snowball fights, office workers told they cannot put up Christmas decorations and being sued for clearing snow from outside your business or home.
As well as the list, Work and Pensions Minister Chris Grayling said: “Christmas is a time for celebration and fun... We've always been clear that 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.”
But, will the Government’s current mission to review and make changes to health and safety legislation really have this much of an impact? – I’ll leave you with that thought.
Have a lovely Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
Amy
Only four days ‘til Christmas (not that I’m counting), but this year we have seen absurd Christmas-related health and safety stories in the press since November.
Sure, you can understand genuine health and safety concerns relating to Christmas, like this one published on 18 November on the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard website. I mean, the Christmas tree had a 25ft split in its trunk- certainly didn’t sound very ‘safe’ and stable to me, and I’m no health and safety professional. Rather it be taken down than have it fall, injuring an innocent member of the general public – and then there would be some headlines.
On the other hand, you hear a large number of stories where health and safety is used as an excuse for inaction. In my opinion, these illegitimate excuses normally appear where a lack of funds is concerned. Check out this story where Santa was banned from riding through Alnwick town centre on his sleigh. This story is not the first, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Just like the ghost of Christmas past, I want to take you back to some of the cracking headlines used to contribute to some of the health and safety ‘myths’ we tend to see in the ‘and finally’ stories at this time of year.
2010: Christmas tree a bureaucratic tangle for George Osborne
2009: How health and safety is killing Christmas
2008: Safety costs force couple to scrap Christmas lights
2007: School bans mums’ mince pies... for health and safety reasons
2006: Christmas lights ceremony banned for being popular
2005: Do Christmas decorations really pose a danger in the workplace?
2004: School bans killer tinsel
These stories are crazy page-fillers. Realistic, good health and safety wouldn’t put a damper on festive cheer - the over-zealous, risk-aversion has to stop.
It was great to see that the Government played a part last weekend in tackling some of the myths surrounding health and safety and Christmas. They even published a list of so-called 'Christmas elf and safety myths', which included topics such as children being banned from having snowball fights, office workers told they cannot put up Christmas decorations and being sued for clearing snow from outside your business or home.
As well as the list, Work and Pensions Minister Chris Grayling said: “Christmas is a time for celebration and fun... We've always been clear that 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.”
But, will the Government’s current mission to review and make changes to health and safety legislation really have this much of an impact? – I’ll leave you with that thought.
Have a lovely Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
Amy
Monday, 19 December 2011
A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year from the IOSH Media Team
(No elves were injured in the making of this film...)
Love from Shaun, Amy, Ruth, Annalisa and Tim.
Friday, 16 December 2011
Tabloid editors and the art of not saying sorry...
Elton John knows it. And we all know it too: that newspaper editors find “sorry” the hardest word to say...
Let’s take a recent case. On Friday 9 December, the Daily Mail published an article suggesting that people had “died in agony” on 7 July 2007 as a result of health and safety procedures. The article claimed: “Some victims of the 7/7 London bombings were left to die in agony because health and safety protocols meant firemen were unable to go into the train tunnels without official confirmation.”
Let’s take a recent case. On Friday 9 December, the Daily Mail published an article suggesting that people had “died in agony” on 7 July 2007 as a result of health and safety procedures. The article claimed: “Some victims of the 7/7 London bombings were left to die in agony because health and safety protocols meant firemen were unable to go into the train tunnels without official confirmation.”
Monday, 5 December 2011
Ok, so I was wrong...
Not for the first time in my life, I’ve been proved wrong. So, fist-biting-ly/toe-curling-ly wrong, in fact, that I feel the need to get it off my chest and atone for my mistake...
I wrote a blog last week praising Messrs Grayling, Osborne and Co. for listening to Professor Lofstedt and accepting the findings of his report into UK health and safety. (I know, what was I thinking? I put my uncharacteristically good nature at the time down to a cup of espresso). Not a few hours after posting my caffeine-fuelled blog did George Osborne stitch me up like a proverbial whatsit...you know. Mackerel.
I wrote a blog last week praising Messrs Grayling, Osborne and Co. for listening to Professor Lofstedt and accepting the findings of his report into UK health and safety. (I know, what was I thinking? I put my uncharacteristically good nature at the time down to a cup of espresso). Not a few hours after posting my caffeine-fuelled blog did George Osborne stitch me up like a proverbial whatsit...you know. Mackerel.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Reasons to be cheerful: 1, 2, 3...
Yesterday’s much anticipated report into UK health and safety was published. One the whole, the profession has been pleasantly surprised by its findings. IOSH was name checked in Professor Lofstedt’s report who obviously took on board our opinions and thoughts during the rounds of consultations earlier in the year. Yet, watching and reading events unfolding yesterday, what struck me yesterday were three things...
Friday, 25 November 2011
Monday: judgement day for UK health and safety
There’s a palpable sense of anticipation surrounding the outcome of Monday’s review of health and safety legislation.
A lot’s riding on the content of Professor Lofstedt’s announcement. For IOSH, it feels a bit like waiting to find out whether you got that job you made such a good impression over at the interview. Not that the man tasked with reviewing the UK’s health and safety legislation bears much resemblance to Lord Sugar. But all IOSH can do now – just as other organisations who’ve made their point and put their suggestions across – is sit and wait to hear whether their pitch made enough of an impact to play a part in forming the framework that will shape the future of health and safety in the UK.
A lot’s riding on the content of Professor Lofstedt’s announcement. For IOSH, it feels a bit like waiting to find out whether you got that job you made such a good impression over at the interview. Not that the man tasked with reviewing the UK’s health and safety legislation bears much resemblance to Lord Sugar. But all IOSH can do now – just as other organisations who’ve made their point and put their suggestions across – is sit and wait to hear whether their pitch made enough of an impact to play a part in forming the framework that will shape the future of health and safety in the UK.
Monday, 21 November 2011
Lobbying: don’t tar everyone with the same brush please, Mr Werritty...
Andrew talks in a soft, well-spoken voice as we chat over a cup of tea in a first-floor office looking out above the grounds of IOSH headquarters. His eyes fixed on a ring-stained coaster of a rather unflattering caricature of Gordon Brown with sagging jowls, bulbous red nose and bags under his eyes. (In the interests of political neutrality, Nick Clegg stares out from beneath my cup and I’m sure David Cameron is suffering from a similar fate somewhere else in the building...)
Andrew emphatically shakes his head with disapproval when I, perhaps mischievously, mention the recent Adam Werritty affair and how it’s damaged the image of lobbying.
Andrew emphatically shakes his head with disapproval when I, perhaps mischievously, mention the recent Adam Werritty affair and how it’s damaged the image of lobbying.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Fallen between the cracks in the pavement
You can’t open a newspaper, power up your iThingy or switch on the television news without being bombarded by facts and figures. The size of Greece’s structural deficit, percentage falls on the FTSE. Whatever the story, the media can usually sum it up in a number.
So why then, given the media’s insatiable love affair with numbers, did yesterday’s figures showing a rise in workplace deaths barely get a mention? Bad news and those pesky little magic numbers sell newspapers, right? Maybe, but maybe more to the point: stories on health and safety got in the way.
So why then, given the media’s insatiable love affair with numbers, did yesterday’s figures showing a rise in workplace deaths barely get a mention? Bad news and those pesky little magic numbers sell newspapers, right? Maybe, but maybe more to the point: stories on health and safety got in the way.
Friday, 21 October 2011
A week of stark contrasts in health and safety
It’s felt like a dark week for the entertainment and leisure industry.
On Sunday, two-time Indy500 champion Dan Wheldon lost his life in an horrific 15-car pile-up in Las Vegas. Safety concerns surrounding the IndySeries have been on the steady climb as of late, but post-race reports in the wake of the tragedy talk of the drivers’ palpable fear prior to facing the 300, 20-second laps of a track with steep banking and concrete walls...
On Sunday, two-time Indy500 champion Dan Wheldon lost his life in an horrific 15-car pile-up in Las Vegas. Safety concerns surrounding the IndySeries have been on the steady climb as of late, but post-race reports in the wake of the tragedy talk of the drivers’ palpable fear prior to facing the 300, 20-second laps of a track with steep banking and concrete walls...
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Conference lessons learned
16:59
Tim.
So, another party conference season ends for the three main Westminster parties and what have we learned.
Here are five things for starters:
- He may have a spiky reputation as interviewer, but Jeremy Paxman knows comfy shoes are the way to go for a day on your feet at conference
- It is nigh on impossible to get a good signal for your laptop at some conference venues - this comes to you via pigeon
- Having a quiz and chocolates on your exhibition stand is effective in attracting unsuspecting delegates for a chat about health and safety. The trick is to then turn their bemusement into a nodding agreement that H&S deserves a better press. It can be done
- The man charged with reviewing health and safety visited our stand and is currently saying all the right things about H&S. We await Chris Grayling's findings with judgment reserved
- And, party conference-goers, whatever their political hue, by-and-large understand the difference between real H&S and the tripe you read about in some sections of the press
MP Chris Grayling visits the IOSH stand
Tim.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
15.16
Andrew Bridgen MP, member of the Löfstedt working panel, gives IOSH an update on the progress of the Löfstedt report. He also considers the critical need for better health and safety education in schools, including first aid training, which can teach children a more responsible approach to risk now and later on as working adults.
Andrew Bridgen MP, member of the Löfstedt working panel, gives IOSH an update on the progress of the Löfstedt report. He also considers the critical need for better health and safety education in schools, including first aid training, which can teach children a more responsible approach to risk now and later on as working adults.
IOSH quizzes top Tories
14.20
The exhibition hall at the Conservative Party Conference is buzzing and people, including some top Tories, are loving our 'Who wants to save a million?' quiz.
The exhibition hall at the Conservative Party Conference is buzzing and people, including some top Tories, are loving our 'Who wants to save a million?' quiz.
Attorney General Dominic Grieve has just visited our Li£e Savings stand and had a go at the quiz game, and he is with us on the benefits of good health and safety at work.
He told us: "Health and safety is very important. Well-targeted health and safety regulation is essential.
"If it is applied correctly it can bring immeasurable improvements to the working environment and prevents accidents."
Attorney General Dominic Grieve playing the IOSH quiz
Lord Taylor of Holbeach is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Government Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and his portfolio includes waste, chemicals and environment regulations.
He agreed businesses can make great savings by looking after their workers, and provided his own examples.
And it was good to see Leicestershire County Council leader and Deputy Chairman of the Local Government Association David Parsons on our stand. We go a way back - I covered his authority while politics reporter on the Leicester Mercury - and he has not lost that 'say it how it is' style.
So what do you think of our central message on the benefit of occupational health and safety, David?
"I care about people at work and that includes keeping them safe," he said.
Tim.
So what do you think of our central message on the benefit of occupational health and safety, David?
"I care about people at work and that includes keeping them safe," he said.
Tim.
12.26
We've caught up with Sarah Wollaston MP, who has visited our IOSH stand and played our interactive 'Who wants to save a million' quiz. We talked about changing the perception of health and safety and having sensible regulations in place, praising the many achievements health and safety has made in industry when good measures have been adopted.
We apologise about the low sound quality of this clip
We've caught up with Sarah Wollaston MP, who has visited our IOSH stand and played our interactive 'Who wants to save a million' quiz. We talked about changing the perception of health and safety and having sensible regulations in place, praising the many achievements health and safety has made in industry when good measures have been adopted.
We apologise about the low sound quality of this clip
10.06
IOSH talked to Sarah Lee, head of policy for the Countryside Alliance, at the Conservatives Party conference about debunking health and safety myths that stop people from doing things. She also talked about giving teachers the confidence and authority to take lessons outside the classrooms, enhancing children's learning and positive experiences.
IOSH talked to Sarah Lee, head of policy for the Countryside Alliance, at the Conservatives Party conference about debunking health and safety myths that stop people from doing things. She also talked about giving teachers the confidence and authority to take lessons outside the classrooms, enhancing children's learning and positive experiences.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)