Posted By C. Hartman
We’re doing a noble job, right?

We don’t like how the media assume we’re all hell bent on stopping everyone from doing anything that’s remotely risky, right?

So why are the media so relentless?

Fear and controversy sells papers. The fact that your work may have saved a persons life and prevented a few more injuries is completely inconsequential to the press, even when considered as collective profession. OK you may not be seeking praise in the press but it would be decent if they just met half way and stopped their rants.

Unfortunately for us the media print negativity, that’s their job.

So why give the bully exactly what it wants…retaliation.

The face of our ‘professional’ retaliation is participation in the World Conkers Championships; seemingly a stroke of PR genius but in effect a very costly exercise that guarantees ‘elf and safety’ is back in the press again...every year. I suspect IOSH participation in this annual event is doing more to keep the media fire burning brightly than is it anything else.

I should also draw to your attention that in the dynamic, trendy and ipod world of ‘media’ that (retaliatory) letters from IOSH Presidents are the Top Trumps of editors, they are trophys!

Editors know what our profession has achieved, they know the ‘banning of snowballs’ is not a professional, balanced approach to risk management but negativity just sells papers…that’s their job.

As your Mum may have once said, the best thing is to ignore the bully and it will go away. Quite clearly our skill is in the successful conduct of our profession, not in retaliating with the press (conkers and Presidents letters are my case in point).

Please, please stop trying to engage with the press…we’re not winning!

C. Hartman
Safety Manager (33 years)

Posted By Neil R
I agree, you can't fight the media. They are the scurge of this country, they have the brainwashed masses in their hands. I do find it sad how they control the way people think but i guess its partly the peoples fault for believing everything they say. How many people died so people could make their own mind up is this country only for the media to make peoples minds up for them?

The best thing to do is not rise to the bait, they will soon get bored and find another victim. AND PLEASE NO MORE CONKER COMPETITIONS!!!

Posted By Dave Merchant
There's a very good reason why most scaremongering stories in the media involving government departments, police/fire, military etc. tend to include the phrase

"...declined to take part in this interview..."

To "win" against the media takes a great deal of time and effort, even if you think what you're saying is harmless. It can take days of meetings to formulate the "safe" answer to a single awkward question. People like Max Clifford may be infamous for forking celebrities on the world, but they make their real money advising organisations how to avoid being bent over a barrel. As to the conkers question; editors don't generally believe the excuse an organisation is doing something ironically, even if it's true. People have a sense of humour; organisations do not.

I don't think bodies such as IOSH should stop responding to the media entirely, but they should make sure it's only done with the advice of a decent PR expert.

Posted By Jay Joshi
If we did not refute these silly stories, it could also mean that by being silent, we have no views on this.

It is a part of a published 2008 to 2012 strategy and was also included in the 2006 to 2010 strategy.

http://www.iosh.co.uk/fi...OSHCorporateStrategy.pdf

Even the Health and safety executive and other safety organisations refute/comment on it:-

refer to:-
http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/record.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/record/2008.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/inthenews.htm

Posted By Boh
I was just about to say I didnt agree with a word of that, but as soon as I read '33 years'...I was convinced that you must obviously be right then.....

Posted By S T
LOL LOL LOL

Boh - You made my day. Thank you

Posted By John Richards
Not much in the 'papers about H&S with respect to their employees.
How many reporters have been killed in the last few years ?
Any risk assessments done, do you think ?
Maybe they're shouting loudly about general H&S to cover-up their lack of concern, or interest, in their employees ?
You know, divert attention ?
Money talks ?

Posted By Dave Merchant
Merv - it appears the currently-accepted method of securing maximum publicity is to climb out of a taxi without wearing undergarments; though it may not be entirely what you had in mind, the cost-benefit analyses are excellent.


The media have well-established rules of engagement, which are not too far away from those used in the Somme. If someone is shooting at you, you have the options of shooting back, or running away. Your choice depends solely on the size of your weapon. If nobody is shooting yet, it's not considered sensible to poke your head out to see where the other guy's looking.

Unprompted "chum" press releases fall into that category. Hardly anyone in the mainstream press writes an original H&S story; they notice something on the wires and think "hey, it's a quiet day, I can shoot at that"

Posted By Jimber
I speak as a layman (having found this forum most useful during risk assessments for our local carnival*) ...

... I believe the HSE / IOSH's "charm offensive" to counter the negative image of H&S issues as portrayed in the media to have been a great success ...

... for example, it certainly provided us with an angle to help get the message across to our float builders that the so-called "RAFT of elf'n'safety red tape" so beloved of the hacks on the local rag were in fact just applied common sense ... that red tape wouldn't be enough to stop anyone falling off a moving float but a proper handrail should ... ergo their risk assessment of their own float was their LIFERAFT!

Folks now see the truth that H&S is not there to spoil their fun just ensure their safety whilst having it. Hopefully, those responsible for ensuring compliance with the Licensing Act 2003 can learn to adopt a similar approach, i.e. it is not there to seek prohibition (cf risk avertion) but to ensure responsible public consumption of alcohol/entertainment.


* You could do an IOSH float to highlight best practice, myths, etc. ... you could seek sponsors to help defray costs.

Posted By Raymond Rapp
I've got an idea, radical though it is, we should start by getting our own house in order first and ensuring that practitioners apply some principles of common sense in their own industry. Once some consistency has been applied we can then start to tackle some of the 'elf and safety nonsense in the media.

Ray

Posted By Nigel Bryson
OK another idea.

Let's not bother with the media; keep all our successes to ourselves [failures tend to get publicised]; don't communicate anything with the outside world; don't respond to anything they say; and keep our fingers crossed that people know what a good job we do.

It has the advantage that nobody has to bother themselves doing anything.

Cheers.

Nigel

Posted By jeremy waterfield
“A sense of humour is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done”
Dwight D. Eisenhower


I joined IOSH as its media manager, less than three weeks ago. So most of you will have quite a few years on me when it comes to expertise in health and safety. But my career is in PR and media and I know just how big a deal it is to get positive profile on the BBC’s Today programme… the national radio flagship that’s listened to by politicians and the country’s key influencers and decision-makers, the show that sets the news agenda for the day.

This is profile to die for and there we had the IOSH president playing conkers in the Today studio, moving John Humphrys, that notoriously snappy combatant to say, “You’re destroying the image that’s been lovingly nurtured of you health and safety-types – the image of killjoys.” To a PR guy, it doesn’t come much better than this.

It was conkers that got us there (and a whole range of other national media channels, including the primetime Chris Evans Show on BBC Radio 2), giving the lie to the myth that ‘elf ‘n’ safety’, in true jobsworth fashion, seeks to ban anything that sounds like fun. This was, without doubt, a stroke of PR genius. As for it being a ‘costly exercise’, it really wasn’t and, anyway, you can’t buy the level and quality of national coverage the conkers sponsorship brought to the profile and cause of health and safety.



“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”
Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird


I agree that the Littlejohn/Daily Mail school of journalism seeks to trivialise the noble task of protecting people in the workplace. But like other offensive ‘jokes’, bonkers conkers stories will continue to take hold – and become more brazen – if they’re allowed to continue unchallenged. This can’t be right.

That’s why IOSH has taken every opportunity to tap into the ‘elf ‘n’ safety’ debate – and not simply to pull people up when we’ve felt health and safety has been sold short. Responding to all the silly stories has enabled IOSH to establish a much stronger national media presence, admittedly from a low base. Media coverage secured has increased ten fold over the last four years.

All very impressive but it’s not target ticking or vanity that’s driven this. The point is it’s difficult to influence debate, change opinion, make things happen if people don’t even know who you are.

As we move forward, the challenge for me and the IOSH media team will be to raise the bar yet further, maybe not so much in terms of the quantity of secured editorial coverage as its quality. We’ll be looking to build on our increased visibility as a media commentator, to become more of a heavyweight shaper of debate than a lightweight follower.

Surely your profession, faced with repeated attacks on what you do, should seek to take on those challenges and opinions – especially if it means saving lives and preventing injury. Don’t you owe this to those who do not have the same depth of understanding of health and safety as you?

We in the communications department know the majority of IOSH members are not content just to ignore the ridicule, the trivialisation, those insulting Nazi and Stasi jibes, all the accumulated myth of ‘elf ‘n’safety’ in the hope they’ll fade away. Bullies don’t stop that easily. When it comes to upholding the critical importance of genuine, good health and safety, neither will we.

Jeremy Waterfield
IOSH Media Manager

Posted By nigelhammond
Make H&S cool! - IOSH could work with a TV network to come up with 'HSI' (A H&S version of CSI).

I share your concerns about Conkers. It was a great idea at the time but is in danger of making our profession perceived as a bit of a joke.

Posted By Pete Chidwick
Interesting response Jeremy, thanks. But being new to IOSH and this Forum don't expect too many posters to take the time to read it.

Could it be that perhaps the element of underlying truth is the problem here? Could it be that H&S has, in layman's terms at least, gone OTT? Despite rolling out the now very tired 'we're about fun but safely' response and we are 'facilitators not blockers' is the uncomfortable issue that many stories have some basis?

Our president elect replied to the press the other day about the school music teacher noise exposure story - this arose from HSE publishing guidance on this, not some complete invention. Let's face it, it is laughable. How many of us are going to be ringing our kids schools to enquire about how the guidance has been implemented? I think I'd gladly accept music lessons for my kids with all their inherent risks because the life long creativity and benefit would be worth it if only they were universally available and well taught! And, sometimes, I even stand on the top of a small set of stepladders!

Posted By peter gotch 1
...and to add to Merv's comment - my father was a viola player in professional orchestras. He has significant noise induced hearing loss as do lots of other musicians even where technoligical amplification is not done.

This is a real issue, which the music industry has put a lot of effort into trying to find solutions that protect the workforce whilst not impacting on the audiences.

Regards, Peter

Posted By Nigel Bryson
Dave

Trying to score points in newspapers, I agree, is quite often wasting time; they have tonnes of ink and loads of pages on which to print their opinions. And they have editorial control. However, the media consists of a variety of outlets and not all of them are sensationalists.

If I had a mind to I could get loads of articles in the local newspaper: they are nearly always after copy.

When I was working for the GMB trade union the Communications Department targeted the regional press and - with their help - the Health and Environment Department got loads of health and safety articles and features into that medium. There are trade magazines: women's Magazines; documentary programmes; and a whole load of other outlets that may be receptive to targeted articles.

Yes there are 'top ten' lists of all sorts of things. What can be done is to find a story that the media will be interested in. There may be an occasion when such information can be used in a news item. There may also be occasions where more detailed feature articles could result. So long as the information is timely and relevant or provides a different angle of interest.

My point is that we have to take our successes - including historical - and present them in a way that will interest the media, not just national newspapers.

Cheers.

Nigel