Tuesday, December 1, 2009

David Cameron wants to tackle jobworths in Health and Safety, risk assessment to hold that puppy?

















Dear All

Health and Safety is important, the state has a significant role to play in protection of its citizens to minimise risks.

But some times commonsense goes right out the window as the jobsworths make health and safety unworkable.

Tory leader David Cameron is calling for an end to the UK's "over-the-top" health and safety culture.

Cameron points out that the jobsworth created a "stultifying blanket of bureaucracy, suspicion and fear".

The Tory leader has therefore announced a review of the rules governing this culture.

Cameron makes these observations;

children are made to wear goggles by their head teacher to play conkers.

trainee hairdressers are not allowed scissors in the classroom.

office workers are banned from moving a chair without expert supervision.

staff at a railway station don't help a young mum carry her baby son's buggy because they are not insured.

Add my own experience of a bus driver who stood by as a woman who had a heart attack died and he didn’t do CPR, just stood there with his hands in his pockets.

Cameron also cited the case of Jordon Lyon who drowned in a pond, having rescued his young sister, because officers were told not to intervene. The reason, they hadn't undertaken their 'water rescue' health and safety training.

And were lacking in common decency, these people should have been sacked.

The health and safety culture practiced by organisations isn’t about what it was intended to do, it’s about stopping litigation.

So, it will be interesting to see what steps the Tories who are going to win the next General Election are going to do.

If you want to change a culture then the people at the top have to change before the ripple effect travels downwards to the grassroots.

But the question the Tories need to address is, can jobsworths be taught commonsense?

If they can’t then they shouldn’t be in the position in the first place.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You make good points there.

I remember being told, when I was clearing the snow off the pavement outside our house when I was a kid that, if someone fell on the cleared pavement then they could sue me. If I left it 6 inches deep in snow and the fell, it was their tough luck.

OK. Health and Safety is important, and employers used to exploit the fact that there was little in the way of laws, but you're bang on when you say that it has become an exercise in avoiding litigation.