Posted By andy.c. The question was asked on another thread this evening, so i thought i would canvass for honest opinions. Why do we want to control it Legal compliance and avoid prosecution,protect against personal injury suits or Stop people getting hurt. i know people will say all three, so ask yourself this when you see an unsafe practice is your first thought, you can,t do that its against reg 84 of xyz, if he gets hurt he,ll take us to the cleaners, or he's going to injured if we don't do xyz. just interested in your opinions Andy

Posted By clairel Actually Andy I disagree that I would want to do all three. My job is to give advice that hopefully minimises the risk of injury or ill-health and to ensure that advice also is in line with H&S legal requirements and best practice. I don't try and prevent personal injury claims. I don't believe that personal injury claims aren't necessarily related to H&S (not the H&S that I was taught). Many are about claims based on risk aversion instead of being about risk management. And that is why I participate in dangerous sports in my personal life becuase it's not about eliminating risk it is about managing risk to an acceptable level. That means accidents can and do happen. Tragic when they do happen but accidents do happen. Fact of life. It doesn't mean someone should always be held accountable. I know many don't agree with me but that is what I believe.

Posted By MikeW I agree with Clairel in the main. A fear of risk should not prevent something being done. Good safety management is about managing risk in a thorough and sensible way to enable us to do what we need/want to do. In the same vain accidents do happen but with regards to occupational safety they should not happen as a result of poor management, condition or behaviour. Personal time is the opportunity to risk take and have fun with hobbies and dangerous adventure. I say this as a happy rugby player with two bruised ribs! To give a little focus to the original blog. When employed by an organisation a safety managers job is to: Prevent injury- normally with a business KPI (it's reality) Prevent personal injury claims to that company - remember you work for the company! Keep the company compliant with the law As a director of a company and having been a senior safety manager in several multi national organisations my experience is that being on a safety crusade is simply not good enough. Business is business and my business is to ensure it is done without causing unnecessary harm to anybody, ensure my company stays on the right side of the law and do what we need to do efficiently. It's a huge debate and I'm pleased to see safety chat is alive and kicking. Some great comments from everybody. Good to see. Mike