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Posted By JEB
Bill Callaghan, Chair of the HSC, has advised people to “Get a Life” and undertake risk management for the serious risks. So at last we’ll be able to drink hot coffee, use a sharp knife for our steak and our children will be able to play conkers without wearing safety glasses. Seriously though. As Safety professionals we should follow this initiative by the HSE and take a close look at our risk assessments in industry, have we sometimes gone OTT. Have we created to much paperwork, spent to much time on graphs and charts. How many of you have actually been on the shop floor recently and discussed the risks with the workers. Obviously the safety of employees is paramount as they need a life to be able to “get a life” during their leisure time. Enjoy the weekend in safety, we need you all back to work on Tuesday.
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Posted By Descarte
Well I will be downhill mountain biking on the weekend, wearing my full face helmet obviously :D
Have a good weekend too
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Posted By Raymond Rapp
Could not agree more!!!Indeed, I have been advocating for some time that h&s has gone totally OTT. In many areas I also believe too much triviality is also counter-productive.
However, combatting the current trend is not easy because too many Directors/Senior Managers impose safety policies on the workforce that h&s practitioners have to enforce. Generally these people do not have the in depth safety knowledge to dictate these policies.
I work with project management staff and operatives and h&s is often held in contempt for some of the ridiculous restrictions imposed on these guys. It is often very difficult to defend some of these restrictions because there needs to be a practical element of 'getting the job done'. Unfortunately these same people cannot always differentiate between the good, bad and indifferent safety policies and practices.
I know many people will counter the argument with comments such as risk aversion is driven by litigation, too much legislation and enforcement, perhaps quoting the number of injuries and fatalities that still prevail at work. These are all valid points. However, health and safety at work has reached a level where for most workers the greatest risk is travelling to and from work in a vehicle! I rest my case.
Regards
Ray
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Posted By Bob Shillabeer
Good morning,
It makes me think what influence some H&S practitioners have on the senior management teams they work for. Yes it is a struggle to convince senior managers that something should be done or a policy and arrangements implemented to ensure the whole organisation both understands the requirements and can do their bit to achieve it. But a senior manager dictating policy on H&S is somewhat new to me. From recent experience it has taken me six weks to convince a director of the need to manage work related driving although my company does very little of it. It took some compromises but there is now a policy drafted and hopefully will get endorced. What is needed is a common sence (there thats new) approach. By the way I have three grandsons who do things that make the hair on the back of the neck stand up, but they enjoy climbing trees, riding bikes like madmen, mothers worry dads say OK slow don a bit but let them enjoy and grandads say its my turn next. Kids learn by mistakes as long as the activity is not too dangerous then let them learn. The fear of getting sued has almost ended enjoyment so what has been said about getting more focused on real risks is good news for everyone not just H%S practitioners.
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Posted By Peter Hamilton
Have you checked out the HSE website since the announcement. They now have a risk assessment page that outlines the approach and also has some worked examples that are free to access. I think they are a refreshing change from the usual heavy, verbose, risk rated pieces of paper that I often see when asking for a sight of a risk assessment. More importantly they demonstrate that risk assessment for most activity need not be a science, more a case of recording the "common sense" controls and then checking that they are adequate.
I think the HSC/HSE should be congratulated for this initiative, now all I have to do is to get them to see that we need better practical examples for children on work experience and my life will be complete!!
p.s. I am not employed by the HSE
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