Health and Safety Gone Mad

This week David Cameron’s son Ivan died, and the country is united in mourning. Ivan suffered from a severe neurological condition that resulted in severe mental and physical disabilities.

Dea Birkett wrote in the Guardian about caring for her daughter with spastic quadriplegia: “Ivan’s death was tragic. His life was not.” One of the things she writes about in her moving article is how hard it is to get your child treated as an individual to be helped rather than a burden and worry for officials:

In this special place, everyday things - like playing in the park, boarding a bus, going on a school trip - become skirmishes in the war. Imagine the uproar if, indiscriminately, a group of children were picked upon and told they would be routinely excluded from these ordinary childhood activities. Yet my daughter was once banned from joining her class for lessons at the local swimming pool because she couldn’t walk, and the pool manager therefore decided she was a health and safety hazard. Ironically, she can swim. One of her few forms of physical exercise was denied her.

Alarming similarities with the problems experienced by Laura Lee Jenkins getting support for her wheelchair use. Health and Safety is used to justify discrimination against disabled people by junior jobsworths in a way that would otherwise be inexcusable.

You might think that wooden swords and plastic toy guns, on sale in any corner shop or even made out of a couple of sticks, aren’t really a threat to society as we know it. Real gun crime is a serious and growing problem: up four-fold since 1998, so surely the state is concentrating on this genuine problem?

Not a bit of it. Canon Downs village panto group has had to register its wooden swords and plastic guns with the local police, keeping them under lock and key and naming someone responsible for moving the “weapons” at any time. Linda Barker of the drama group said:

“Our only gun was a panto pistol which produces a flag with the word bang on it. Our local police at Truro were fantastic and they have registered the gun, the two plastic cutlasses and our six wooden swords.”

After the newspapers picked up on the story, the usual response was made: this was an overreaction, the rules don’t say anything of the sort, it’s a myth. Writing in the Spring 2008 edition of the NODA amateur-dramatics in-house magazine, Barry Baker of the Health and Safety Executive wrote:

“It seems that the theatre company may have got a tad over-enthusiastic. HSE publishes a guidance sheet on using weapons in theatrical productions, but it deals with real weapons and accurate replicas that could do someone a nasty injury or be used in a robbery - not toys! … The guidance makes clear it deals with weapons “designed for the purpose of inflicting bodily harm”. It’s not about harmless toys; you don’t need to lock them up, notify the police, or complete lots of forms.”

Let’s dig into this assertion that the “guidance makes it clear”. The theatre group relied on two sources: the NODA guidelines, and the Health and Safety website. Here’s what NODA writes in its March 2007 information guide, “Edged Weapons on Stage”:

The [1988 Criminal Justice and Public Order] Act does not define edge or point, nor does it say the construction material: wooden or plastic swords with an edge or point could be deemed to be a weapon.

So plastic swords do count! Well, maybe that’s NODA’s fault. Let’s try the experts, the Health and Safety Executive. The appropriate free leaflet, referenced from the NODA guide and described by Barry Baker from the HSE, is Management of firearms and other weapons in productions, which clearly defines plastic swords and wooden guns as “replica weapons” They are weapons whether or not you can actually hurt someone with them. Here’s the definition (my emphasis):

“replica weapon” means a prop designed to look like a weapon which, depending upon the material of construction, may or may not be capable of inflicting bodily harm;

And here’s how you must handle replica weapons from the same document (my emphases):

Replica (props) and deactivated weapons

Props and deactivated weapons should not be capable of discharging a projectile but could still inflict bodily harm if used to hit someone. However, the main hazards are theft or loss, public distress, breach of the peace or if the police respond to an apparent emergency. The police must therefore be informed.

The producer must ensure that the security arrangements for storage and transportation are adequate, in other words:

there is a dedicated and named person responsible for the security of the weapon at all times (including the collection, storage, transportation and safe return);

the named person will accompany the weapon if it is to be moved, for example a courier cannot collect it on behalf of the production;

when not in use, the deactivated weapon is locked in a secure case, which is stored in a locked room with restricted access.

So, the panto group is absolutely correct, and the guidance does make it clear: plastic swords and wooden pop guns must be registered with the police and kept in a safe every night. I know I’ll sleep safer in my bed knowing that my local police aren’t bothering their little heads with anything like out-of-control knife crime, but are instead spending time and money monitoring church hall amateur dramatic groups waving plastic swords around. The Health and Safety people once again deny both the existence of their own silly rules and deny that they are applied in such a ridiculous way even when their written legal advice requires it.

All together now - Boo! Hiss!

Ripon in North Yorkshire has had one of those public celebrations that make life worth living since pre-medieval times: an annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race! For six hundred years people have used batter and a bit of running around to make the miserable British February more bearable.

Not any more. Citing Health and Safety concerns, organisers have abandoned the pancake race. “We have looked at this and there are a number of reasons why it won’t take place and a big reason this year is, sadly, health and safety.” reported the Very Rev Keith Jukes, Dean of Ripon. Concern for H&S feeds into the increasing insurance premiums required by public events and new regulations on road closing and traffic management, all of which militate against our enjoying ourselves, building communities, having some exercise…

This current version of the pancake race has run for eleven years: the race has been held on and off since the fifteenth century, so we can only hope that the current bureaucratic panic subsides and people can enjoy themselves again.

A new Ofsted report explains that Geography suffers from a lack of field trips: wholly unsurprisingly schools cited Health & Safety concerns as a reason for stopping pupils and teachers learning about the world we live in while actually standing in it. BBC News story.

It’s great the Government is so concerned about global issues like climate change and migration and economic development: wouldn’t it be great if the citizens of tomorrow were allowed to go out and learn about them?

Laura Lee Jenkins is a an active kind of person, and has now graduated with a degree in Law, but she’s a wheelchair user and needs some help, including personal care morning and evening to let her wash and do the normal human things we all do every day.

She has a care agency, employed by the taxpayer. They had policies saying she should be helped. They had a back care policy for the staff assigned to assist Ms. Jenkins. They had a Health and Safety report from a senior physiotherapist.

Nursing & Caring Direct refused to provide the support she needed citing Health and Safety concerns with lifting her, though of course when challenged they “put in place policies” to provide the support that they should have done from the start.

For most of us Health and Safety is exasperating, and saddening, and makes us angry, and stops us enjoying our lives: but it doesn’t “make us feel more disabled than ever” in her words. Our hearts go out to Ms. Jenkins.

From the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, Tuesday 22nd August 2006, an interview with the Chief Executive of the UK Health and Safety Executive, Bill Callaghan, conducted by John Humphries. You can get the audio from the BBC website, here’s a transcript. He tries to argue that Health and Safety isn’t bad, it’s just misused:

John Humphries
Health and Safety has become one of those phrases that strikes fear and loathing in all our hearts, bit like “political correctness gone mad” and all that. Well, the chairman of the Health and Safety commission himself, Bill Callaghan, has said “enough already!” An end, let’s have an end to the cotton-wool culture. He’s on the line, good morning to you.

Bill Callaghan
Good morning.

John Humphries
You’re sick and tired of hearing how petty health and safety is preventing Britons enjoying recreational [activites] - well, isn’t it your fault?

Bill Callaghan
Well, I think that what we are trying to say is that people ought to be protected at work and children ought to be protected on school trips, but when petty rules stop innovation, stop learning and stop adventure then something’s gone wrong, and that’s why we’re launching this campaign today.

John Humphries
Well, you say stop adventure and all that sort of thing, stopping, it’s stopped all sorts of things, hasn’t it? I exaggerate a little bit but kids can’t climb trees any longer and you can’t have hanging baskets in shopping centres…

Bill Callaghan
Well, you see John, there are too many myths around and that’s, we’re trying to nail some of these myths. The fact is that the number of compensation claims has been falling, not going up, our rules and guidance on school trips make it very clear that we want these activities to happen. You know, if our children don’t get a sense of adventure, if they don’t learn to swim now, they’re going to be at greater risk in later life. So, we’ve got to have a sense of proportion, John.

John Humphries
Well, indeed we do, you say they’re myths, but they’re not all myths. It is a fact that schoolteachers cannot, they’re afraid to slap a bit of suncream on kids on a hot day because they might be accused of something.

Bill Callaghan
Well, I’m not, as far as school trips are concerned, I’m not aware in the last five years of one teacher being sued because of something going wrong…

John Humphries
But it’s the fear of it, it’s the culture that we have.

Bill Callaghan
I agree there is the fear, and that’s why I’m glad that you’re giving some publicity to our campaign.

John Humphries
So what is the campaign exactly? What are you trying to do?

Bill Callaghan
Well, we’re trying to put forward what we think are principles of sensible risk management, to make sure people are protected, that’s what risk management is all about, but it’s not creating a risk-free society, it’s certainly not creating useless paperwork mountains, but it is about encouraging innovation, learning, and promoting a sense of adventure.

John Humphries
But isn’t it exactly that, isn’t it risk management that’s got us to where we are today? Because it has been over-interpreted. I mean, you give this remit to a particular bureaucrat - not all, of course they are not all the same - and they will over-interpret it.

Bill Callaghan
I think there’s a grain of truth in that, John. What we’re saying is that we’ve got advice on how to do risk assessment. We’re saying very clearly, you don’t have to write pages and pages of a risk assessment form. Bullet points will often do. And the fact is sometimes I think people have been wrongly advised and I’m very pleased that the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, who represent Health and Safety professionals are very much on our side in this particular campaign.

John Humphries
So we mustn’t stop children throwing paper aeroplanes and playing conkers.

Bill Callaghan
Yes, and what we want to do is make children engage in activities such as school trips, adventure activities, sailing, rockclimbing, canoeing, because that’s good for them and it’s going to help them manage risk in later life.

John Humphries
Bill Callaghan, many thanks.

Myths, eh? Well, what about those “myths” as Callaghan calls them?

• Conkers have indeed been banned on Health and Safety grounds despite energetic efforts by yellow-tabard wearers to claim this is a myth.
• The River and Lake Swimming Society had to lobby the Government after lakes and rivers were closed off to bathers on Health and Safety grounds. Despite their lobbying lakes remain sealed off on Health and Safety grounds So much for swimming when young.
• Yes, schools really do ban paper aeroplanes for Health and Safety reasons. Sorry.
• Useless paperwork mountains? Not part of Health and Safety? Then why did the Executive itself launch a project to reduce the paperwork required in complying with Health and Safety regulations?
• Sailing? Nope. That involves the EU Working At Height Directive, according to the HSE. And mountaineering and caving too.
• Hanging baskets? Yep, banned by Health and Safety.
• Climbing trees? Well, if the conkers haven’t been removed to reduce the incentive to climb, or the entire tree cut down.
• Finally, and less comically, here’s a teacher who wasn’t sued, but got ten years sentenced to a year in prison after an accident on a school trip. Ten years.

It’s strange: whenever you hear a Health and Safety “myth” - it turns out to be true.

Goalposts are uniquely dangerous: while people at night are able to avoid vital health and safety signs on posts littering the pavements, white goalposts will maim and injure. So thought Cheshire County Council in 2007, when they forced Macclesfield County Council to cut down goalposts on a playing field. The effects on teenagers who are reduced to hanging round street corners was not discussed. Locals were unamused.

A local resident sent this lovely response to the Manchester Metro News newspaper, published 9 March 2006:

“I read with disbelief, yet considerable amusement, your story about Macclesfield Council removing the goalposts from the children’s playing field at Beech Road Park, Alderley Edge, over fear that “ramblers could walk into them at night”!

“I would imagine that any “night ramblers” visiting the historic Alderley Edge area are primarily concerned with seeing the town’s main attraction, the Edge itself and not the lesser known Beech Road Park playing fields. Given that the “actual” Edge is a treacherous, unlit and unsupervised drop, readily accessible by public rights of way 24 hours a day, I wonder why on earth Macclesfield Council has never deemed it necessary to secure this significantly greater health hazard and in doing so ensure safe passage for any intrepid pilgrims out on a nocturnal ramble.

“I’m sure the council needn’t worry about any immediate danger at either spot. The more hardcore ramblers, ever eager to experience the next adrenaline rush, will already have moved on to the de riguer rambling destination of the North - Bilson Drive in Stockport!”

- Craig Stowell, Stretford