Access Key	Description
1	Home Page

News and events

News release

21 December 2010 - NR 60/10

Councils should “stand up and be counted” over event cancellations – urges leading health and safety body

Proposals to introduce more clarity and transparency around council decisions to ban public events have been welcomed by a leading health and safety body.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) said the new Government proposals would force officials to stand up and be counted rather than hide behind vague references to ‘health and safety’. The introduction of such rules should help with decision-making and reveal the true reasons behind many of the cancelled community activities publicised in some sections of the media.

Former employment minister Lord Young of Graffham made the recommendations in a UK Government-commissioned review of health and safety. In findings published in October, the peer suggested people should have a formal method of challenging decisions made by their local authority.

In ‘Getting the Balance Right’, its response to the review, IOSH says councils should get professional health and safety advice up front, before decisions about public events and activities are made in the first place.

Health and safety professionals “have the knowledge and knowhow” to find a way to make things happen, the Institution said.

IOSH, the world’s largest body for health and safety professionals with more than 38,000 members, publishes its response this week ahead of a line of Government consultations on Lord Young’s recommendations.

The organisation said ministers would risk weakening public health and the national economy if they implemented all recommendations made by Lord Young.

His report – ‘Common Sense, Common Safety’ – was published after Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a fresh look at health and safety and the perceived compensation culture.

IOSH welcomed the review as a “long overdue attempt to restore the reputation” of the profession.

But in ‘Getting the Balance Right’, the Institution says there are problems with a number of the proposals, and that the review has “missed opportunities”.

IOSH is also calling for:

• Safety standards to be maintained in the drive to simplify school trip planning
• School, professional and vocational training curriculums to include balanced risk education
• More clarity on the scope of the proposal to consolidate health and safety regulations
• A clear, accurate way of capturing the full national picture of deaths, injuries and illness at work
• Work-related road deaths, injuries and illness to be included in the reporting regulations
• A proper pragmatic review of how multi-site retailers are inspected
• The HSE’s role to be reviewed – the regulator is facing a 35 per cent cut under the Comprehensive Review, but Lord Young’s proposals would expand its remit

At the same time, IOSH believes Lord Young’s review has missed opportunities. The Institution is concerned that the former Government adviser largely ignored the ‘health’ in work-related health and safety.

And IOSH thinks the Government is missing the chance to get “risk thinking” right from the start, by including properly co-ordinated, balanced risk education in schools and in vocational and professional training.

IOSH chief executive Rob Strange said: “We welcome the coalition government’s review, and its scrutiny of what David Cameron describes as the ‘damaging compensation culture’ that has over-shadowed genuine health and safety issues over the last few years. For that alone it marks a turning point.

“But we urge the government not to opt for overly simplistic solutions that compromise standards and leave hard-working people vulnerable. Weaken health and safety, and you risk weakening both public health and the national economy.”

- Ends -

Notes for editors:

IOSH is the Chartered body for health and safety professionals. With more than 40,000 members in 85 countries, we’re the world’s biggest professional health and safety organisation.

We set standards, and support, develop and connect our members with resources, guidance, events and training. We’re the voice of the profession, and campaign on issues that affect millions of working people.

IOSH was founded in 1945 and is a registered charity with international NGO status.