Health and safety regulations not half-baked 06 August 2013

So many managers and administrators still don't get the health and safety message, says Judith Hackitt, chief executive of the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) in her latest blog.

Aptly entitled 'Half baked or overcooked?', it berates people for the "over interpretation and over application of regulations in inappropriate and disproportionate ways".

Says Hackitt: "The Myth Busters Challenge Panel has demonstrated this to be true in more than 200 cases we've looked at over the last 15 months. When health and safety is not being used as a convenient excuse – or non-existent rules being created – it seems even sensible regulations are being applied in silly ways."

Hackitt makes the point that no one would argue that an industrial electric pressure washer used by a variety of operators on a busy construction site should not be subject to regular tests to ensure that it is in a safe condition.

"Common sense and proportion would tell most of us [that] the same level of testing for kettles and computers in offices is over the top. Indeed, the regulations have never required it - but that didn't stop some people from interpreting them in that way," she states.

"I've seen all 200 or so of the mythbuster cases we've dealt with. I know the cases are not made up – many of them you couldn't make up, they're so silly. Only this week we heard of parasols being banned at a racecourse on grounds of you-know-what. Apparently, they could be used as a weapon," she continues.

"This problem of over application is a real one, but until we can get more people to see that the problem is one of 'overcooking' the rules, not the rules themselves being 'half baked', our rate of progress is going to be limited."

Brian Tinham

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