Lord Young

[Lincsbodger]

has been appointed to review all the looney labour elf'n'safety ******, with a view to tearing it all up, reverting back to common sense and curbing the compensation culture.

About bloody time. Apparently, the NHS alone has shelled out £8Billion to the ambulance chasers in the last 10 years.

 

[joe-90]

He'll look at it and then kick it into the long grass. If the NHS is lax in its duty of care then they will get sued - that's fair enough isn't it?

 

[Johnmelad502]

There is no loony elf and safety laws. Just loony elf and safety jobs-worths.

Health and Safety is on the whole, just common sense in most work situations.

 

[joinerjohn]

IMHO, health and safety has gone too far these days. I think that the compensation culture is to blame. It's a case these days of covering your own back, before undertaking any job. Even the emergency services , have to conduct risk assessments, before tackling a situation.
I remember some years ago, my brother was sent to a place to do approximately 2 sq meters of plastering. A half hour job turned into a day and a half, due to the pre-requisite of sitting through hours of H&S induction, before being allowed onto the site.
When I worked for the local council, almost every job entailed around an hour of risk assessments.

 

[Lincsbodger]

Health and Safety should be concerning themselves with major risk, such as preventing train crashes, and not petty interference in the lives of ordinary people.

Unless you allow people (and especially children) to take risk, they dont learn about evaluating danger. You see it already in teenagers.

The whole nanny state health and safety thing is set to backfire one day where theres a major catastrophe caused by someone unable to think for themselves.

We MUST allow people to chooses risk, to teach danger.

 

[joinerjohn]

Well said Lincs. When I was young, me and the neighbours kids would spend hours, climbing trees, walking along the tops of walls, playing near deep ponds, rivers. Fishing off rocks next to the sea etc.
Nowadays if some youngster climbed a tree, fell out and broke his arm. His parents would soon be demanding thousands in compensation off the owner of the tree.
When I did this , all I got was a trip to the hospital, a plaster cast and a lollipop for not crying too much. (also got a good hiding afterwards for being so stupid in the first place)
Yep life was hard ( but fair)

 

[joinerjohn]

Just read this one.

http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/uk/2010/06/14/windscreen_water_infection_risk

No doubt, some jobsworths with councils , will now be checking the water in windscreen washer reservoirs on all council vehicles before they set out this morning.
I wondered why the binmen were late today.

 

[Richardp]

If this new government is serous it could grab back loads of money by stopping grants, there's just too many and all these different wildlife agencies, natural england, wildlife trusts,etc, get rid of them, get ride of the whole grant culture till we can afford such indulgences,also council offices have far too many staff on very high pay, in some ways its good that labour set up all these agencies because it means that theres plenty of scope to makes massive cuts!

 

[Infidel]

Health and Safety is a victim of the no win no fee ambulance chasing Lawyers, It is a very good piece of legislation.

It's actually the jobsworths with no experience that slap labels on things to cover their own backs that are the problem, and these are usually untrained lower managers who had a quick one day course on risk assessment.

For example would you like to do away with environmental health and take a chance on where you eat being OK ?

 

[joinerjohn]

For example would you like to do away with environmental health and take a chance on where you eat being OK ?

Environmental health have their own laws to protect the public. Under environmental health laws , a restaurant/fast food takeaway could be fined for breaches of those laws. Health and Safety laws such as we are discussing here are a different kettle of fish altogether.

 

[Lincsbodger]

Health and Safety is a victim of the no win no fee ambulance chasing Lawyers, It is a very good piece of legislation.

It's actually the jobsworths with no experience that slap labels on things to cover their own backs that are the problem, and these are usually untrained lower managers who had a quick one day course on risk assessment.

For example would you like to do away with environmental health and take a chance on where you eat being OK ?

No, but the point there is that its a third party that needs to be compelled tpo ensure your not poisoned. There a place for H&S - restaurants, public places, trains, planes, factories.

What they should not be doing is telling individuals what to do, effectively removing personal choice. it shoudl be up to me if i wear a seat belt of a crash hat. It should be my choice if i take any notice about the (stupid) warning on windscreen washers. Has there ever been a recorded case of someone catching legionnaires off there windscreen washers ? I doubt very much!! Its all in there minds.

Time and time again ,H&S interfere where there is no real danger - they imagine accidents that have never happened, and then enforce pointless rules to prevent these imaginary accidents. Theres been cases of, for example, butchers barred from using knives (idiotic), people barred from using goggles in swimming pools (even more idiotic). Its not hard to find such examples.

Its a consequence of the Nanny State and the Compensation Culture, all three need tackling simultaneously, and the choice about risk handed back to individuals as part of making people responsible for there own lives and choices again.

 

[joinerjohn]

The place I used to work at was designated as a place where safety boots and hi viz vests must be worn at all times..
The H&S representative for the company we were contracted to, used to do a walkround every Monday morning. She never wore safety shoes/ boots, but pulled our subbies up on every perceived breach of regulations. One day she came into my office demanding to see PAT test records for every electrical item on site (including my company laptop).
I asked her what she understood by PAT testing and did she think IT equipment should be PAT tested and at what frequency.
She told me all IT stuff has to be PAT tested on a 3 monthly basis (wrong),. This woman even asked the subbies to have their cordless tools PAT tested!! (chargers etc were PAT tested).
I bided my time until one morning she came around with her boss. I asked her where her safety shoes/ boots were and got the reply that she wasn't actually working!!. I pointed out that as she was doing her walkround as part of her duties as H&S representative, that she was in fact working and as such , should wear the proper PPE provided by the company. Her boss even agreed with me.
After that, her H&S walkrounds suddenly became a quick walkround once a month and she never visited my office again.

Her actual excuse for not wearing boots/ shoes was that she couldn't drive her car whilst wearing them.
What a plank.

 

[Johnmelad502]

Not sure why a reference was made to seat belts and crash helmets, that is covered by the Road Traffic Act or some such, nothing to do with health and safety, which only covers the work place.

I have never come across any Health and Safety at work advice issued by the Health and Safety Executive that could be considered ridiculous.

As I and another have pointed out, stupid advice comes from jobs-worths who know little or nothing about H&S.

 

[geraint]

the start of health and safety laws began with the building industry, which was lacking... when it started, it was a superb thing for all of us... and still is.. but sadly it went heywire with the cling ons.....

the building industry still need these laws, and maybe at times, some more....

 

[joinerjohn]

The thing with H&S laws these days is the way authorities are trying to make them impinge upon the general public.
Originally it was called the Health and Safety at Work act. Work being the operative word. Nowadays, Joe Public can't mow his own lawn without breaching some part of the law.
Wanna change a lightbulb in your own home?? Nah better do a risk assessment first, check the stepladder your using, inform your neighbours, have the fire brigade, ambulance on standby, make sure your wearing Snickers workwear, safety boots, hard hat and a hi viz vest. Oh nearly forgot, turn the bloody electric off first !!!!