I cannot think of a government that has ever given a rats bum about H&S. The insurers are better, they get to pay the bills for disasters. They have driven H&S for years now anyway....if a company is too bad they just don't get insurance, or it is very high. Job done either way.

Interesting point OP. I'd tend to agree that insurance companies are a greater driving force in many instances than the HSE / EHOs. In part this is due to over zealous nature of insurance company requirements (which has been discussed before) which are sometimes above and beyond the minim legal requirements (I've ranted about this before..). This can be positive, but often the requirements aren't risk based (or sensibly risk based enough). Taking the example of flooring as you mention, an insurance company may stipulate a specific specification for flooring, where as the legal requirement is to prevent slips / trips ALARP. In the former there is little room for maneuver, which may spur the company to review their floor. The latter may be achieved by implementing a spillage procedure and ensuring the existing flooring is in good condition etc.

Has any government ever been interested in h&s? None that I have ever seen.

H&S remains a Government priority scapegoat, nothing more.

tend to agree. Safety is still a 'bolt on' activity, considered as an afterthought to the main task. However, it'll take many generations before societal culture encompasses safety. I think the Governemt have tried to do their bit through legislation change, but changing the law doesn't change the culture of a society. At the moment, we're still forcing people through regulation to be safe and amend their behaviours with the predictable outcomes.

To answer JJ Prendergast's query at #6 it is commonly said that the Robens Report of 1972 and the subsequent passing of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 had all-party political support at the time. Furthermore, there were changes of government from Labour to Conservative in 1970 and then back to Labour in 1974. One factor which probably heightened everybody's awareness of OS&H in those days, including politicians of all hues, was the Flixborough Disaster on 1st June 1974 in which a major explosion at a chemical plant in Lincolnshire killed 28 people and seriously injured 36 others. It is claimed that the death toll would have been around 500 if the explosion had happened on a weekday rather than during a weekend.

Just a few comments about insurance. Engineering Insurance: V different to EL since every policyholder gets a visit. That what it is all about. Policyholder is buying an inspection service with insurance bolted on. EL driving risk management: In contrast to above most EL policyholders never get to see their insurer. The number of H&S professionals employed by insurers is low and visits/inspections are few and far between. No chance to drive H&S or risk management. Insurance is competitive: If an insurer makes a stand about improvement of risk management the policyholder can go elsewhere - and often does. There are other insurers keen to get new business who may not make such rigorous demands! Insurers making excessive demands: This "challenge" keeps coming up but apart from one or two "alleged" examples I am not so sure it is as big a problem as people - or Mr Cameron - would have us believe. I refer to my comment above. If an insurer makes excessive demands the policyholder just walks away. The HSE obviously believes that insurers make excessive demands from their press release about the Challenge Panel - perhaps some policyholders should take up the HSE's offer and refer their insurer to the Panel...! Phil

I don't want to knock the Insurer here, but in asking for the pendulum test they're only looking at a part of the risk. In a shop environment we should be looking at the whole design of the entry-way to ensure there are sufficient measures to ensure water etc. isn't tracked in. (If this particular shop is in an inside Mall, please ignore my post!) I don't want to knock EHOs either, but I wonder if such matters would even feature on their checklists.