Stop taking the myth!
Nearly two thirds of employees think that
health and safety either saves lives or means people don’t get ill
or hurt at work, according to a survey we commissioned. But ‘health
and safety’ is an increasingly easy excuse to give when the job of
making something work takes more effort than stopping it. The daft
stories we see or hear in the media trivialise health and safety
and take our attention away from the real issues. Our Stop Taking
the Myth campaign challenged popular misperceptions.
Making our voice heard
• We worked with journalists to get important health and
safety issues into mainstream media
• We responded to news reports that featured ‘elf ‘n’ safety’
as a poor excuse
• We sponsored the World Conker Championships to show that
health and safety professionals aren’t killjoys – it delivered
unprecedented national media coverage
• We ran a national photography competition called ‘This is my
life!’ to celebrate the positive effects of health and safety –
nearly 400 people entered
• We championed intelligent health and safety, through our
events, free guides and lobbying
Quote me
“We’re not about stopping people having pancake races, we’re not
about stopping people throwing sweets from the stage into pantomime
audiences and we’re certainly not about stopping kids from playing
conkers, which is why we sponsored the World Conker Championships,
and I came out of that without a bruise.”
Ray Hurst, IOSH president, Chris Evans Show,
BBC Radio 2, 2008