For an organisation that preaches a proactive approach to risk I am dismayed to find so many letters being sent out to the media by IOSH defending our profession from 'health and safety gone mad' media garbage. It has become the culture to 'bash' our profession and as we all know you cannot change a culture over night. However it's about time we started hitting back with some meaningful campaigns. HSE launched their 'sensible risk assessment' campaign which in my opinion is just spouting platitudes for the benefit of the media - isn't this what we all want? In truth risk assessments can often not be sensible because the standards written by third parties can be unclear and onerous. We see pictures of rows upon rows of memorial gravestones, no higher than someones upper leg, and they are secured by copious wooden supports and decorated with an equal amount of warning signs, when in truth the probability of someone, even a child, getting hurt is very small. When asking the professionals why this situation exists they rightly reply they are working to the publish standards. As professionals they also know that should an accident occur and the HSE prosecutes this same standard will be recited in the court - not 'sensible risk assessment'. It is about time we started to tackle the root causes of the media frenzy and not be reactive with meaningless letters which often do not get published because the story is yesterdays fish and chip wrapping. John Tremelling CMIOSH Former Health and Safety Inspector

I had a similar discussion only this week with Ray Hurst (former President of IOSH) about the conkers bonkers campaign. It is time IOSH moved on and tackled some of the real causes of ridicule of our profession. Indeed, I am considering writing a paper on some safety issues that need addressing and not just by IOSH, but also the regulators. I'm afraid to say the regulators have perpetuated some of the problems through gold-plating EU directives and over zealous guidance. Just my opinion. Ray

Martin No most of those issues you have highlighted have not been discussed (mores the pity) before, but dare I say, going a bit off topic. We need some new goals through a cogent long-term strategy to tackle the constant barrage of critism, weak enforcement, OTT guidance and general maliase of the industry. Sound bites are not enough. Ray

Cornish, I empathise with your position and would go as far as to say that the letters attempting or intending to defend or ‘de-bunk’ the media reports could almost be playing into the hands of the media and actually help to feed the frenzy. I don’t deny that sometimes people get it wrong or that they use health and safety as an excuse to do or not do something or other. However, I hope that most of us are able to realise that many of these stories were just that; stories, or at best ‘non stories’, and that the reporting was often ’selective’ in their interpretation of the situation or events, and clearly often with a specific agenda in mind. On the old forums I was, as many will know, particularly vocal in my condemnation of those people that simply posted a link to a ‘health and safety gone mad’ story in the Daily Mail. I would like to think that the days of members of this forum, particularly IOSH members sittimng in judgement of people on the basis of a Daily Mail report are a thing of the past. Somehow I doubt it.

Nonsense health and safety stories are not only very irritating to those in the industry but genuinely damaging to both people’s perception of health and safety and, potentially, their own physical health and personal safety. Such ‘bonkers conkers’ stories have been about as welcome to us all as a coned fake tree at Christmas or a bonfire without flames or Fawkes (only joking). Yet there have been times when this seemingly immovable cloud has had a silver lining. It’s often said that good news doesn’t hit the headlines: ‘No office accidents this year, thanks to health and safety team’ or, famously, ‘Small Mexican earthquake – few dead’, are unlikely to make page lead. So, from a media profile point of view, at least the ‘bonkers conkers’ stories have given health and safety some column inches. And while I’d never subscribe to the old, misguided chestnut that ‘all publicity is good publicity,’ this kind of myth making has given IOSH the chance to make its presence felt in the media through its rebuttals made in the letters pages. This aspect of our ‘Stop taking the myth’ campaign has seen IOSH-signed letters appear in The Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Observer, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail and various regional newspapers (though, of course, not all the letters we send get published). So these silly stories have given IOSH opportunities to fly the health and safety flag and get our views noticed. There are recent signs this has even started to temper some of the reporting (Daily Mail excepted, of course). John Tremelling, however, may well have a point in the sense that by making these rebuttals IOSH is, in fact, feeding the Myth. Certainly, the Myth shows little sign of going away, no matter how many letters we write. Our media relations are only a part of the equation. Maybe the health and safety industry needs to look at itself, assess its approach to sensible risk management and how this affects how health and safety professionals act and behave. Do we need to make decisions that give less encouragement to the myth builders and mickey takers? Despite all the bias and fabrication, is it even possible, in some instances, that health and safety gets the reputation it deserves? Is it time for our industry to look at itself and change some of its practices and behaviour? While IOSH isn’t intending to give up its letter writing entirely, we’re being much more selective now in deciding which negative stories are worth responding to, which ones invite us to move the debate forward and at least give health and safety the prospect of a fairer hearing. Yes, we’ll continue to work on our existing campaigns – Get the Best; Back to health, back to work; Putting young workers first; and Stop taking the myth – and look to create new campaign opportunities in the future. The Myth does, however, call for the health and safety industry as a whole to get its PR right, backed up by a commitment to practise what we preach on sensible risk management. As John Holden said in his opening IOSH Presidential address, it’s time for all those in the profession to stand up and become heroes for health and safety. Jeremy Waterfield IOSH Media Manager