Health and Safety Myths!

January 2010

I like to have a chuckle, let's face it we all need these in our profession, and often do so by visiting the HSE Myth of the Month.

However, the latest myth revealed by Judith Hackitt, reported in the November edition of SHP, is one not to chuckle over.  Ms Hackitt said “The HSE and Senior Police Officers want to stamp out the myth that health and safety duties prevent the police from doing their duty.”  In the same edition one commentator reported “Police Officers will run toward danger while others run away.”  As an ex-Principal H&S Officer for one of the larger police forces I can empathise with both statements.  Police Officers, and other emergency services, rely heavily on the dynamic risk assessment, often made in haste and in the face of significantly high risk.

We, in our industry, also rely on the engineer carrying out their own dynamic assessment of the situation they are faced with and, at times, do face significant risk.  The massive difference, even given the pressure of work, is that ours do not need to be made in haste.  There should be no reason for the worker to make improvisations, usually increasing the level of risk to themselves, just to get the job done.  The dynamic assessment is a tried and trusted method of ensuring risks are kept to a minimal level and these are backed up by generic risk assessments and, when required, a local on-site assessment if the engineer is in any doubt on how to proceed with the job and maintain an acceptable level of risk.

BBC Radio 2 has a feature called “Pause for a Moment” where a guest speaker will take a moment out to consider things that may affect them and others.  Isn’t this what we implore all our employees to do?  Just ‘pause for a moment to contemplate the things that may affect them and others’.  It’s not a huge ask, so why does it often fail?  Why do people stand on chairs and tables when there is a plethora of access equipment?  Why do they walk across joists and not use crawler boards?

I believe the answer lies in human logic.  It’s often easier and incidents always happen to others never to the one taking the short-cut at the time.  Unfortunately when it goes wrong at best there’s humiliation at worst a serious injury or fatality.  So please get your people to:

Pause for a while!

Dave Dixon MA MSc CMIOSH

Disclaimer - please read this

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Where the content includes discussion and information about UK law or occupational health matters, this should not be regarded as legal or medical advice. Where legal advice is required, a suitably qualified lawyer should be consulted. Where medical advice is required, a suitably qualified medical practitioner should be consulted.