A panel set up to expose ‘health and safety’ excuses has clocked up 150 cases in its first year – helping the public fight back against jobsworths who use safety laws as a convenient ruse to ban legitimate activities.
Health and Safety Executive Chair Judith Hackitt, who heads a team of experts that rules on cases when ‘health and safety’ is suspected of being cited for bogus reasons, has called for those making daft decisions to own up to their real motives.
Among the more crackpot cases exposed as myths by the panel in 2013 alone were:
Evidence of the panel’s power emerges with another case study when, after being told the experts had ruled that banning a bubbles machine from a birthday party was health and safety humbug, the venue backed down and let the bubbles blow.
Judith Hackitt said:
"We never cease to be amazed by the cases we consider.
"Why on earth do people think that they can get away with banning pint glasses with handles, bubbles at a birthday party, or burgers served anything other than well done, claiming they are a health and safety hazard? The reality is that people hide behind ‘health and safety’ when there are other reasons for what they’re doing – fear of being sued perhaps, or bad customer service. It’s time for them to own up to their real motives.
"The sad fact is that while all this nonsense is being spouted, it overshadows what health and safety is really about – ensuring people return home without injury from their day’s work, every day.
"We’re helping people to fight back – and I’m delighted to hear of cases of our panel making jobsworths back down and admit they’re wrong."
Employment Minister Mark Hoban, who has the Government portfolio for health and safety, said:
"I despair when I read cases like these. Health and safety is there to protect people from serious risks, not to be abused by jobsworths who stop people getting on with their lives.
"Thanks to the panel we've already exposed 150 myths and we'll carry on holding people to account when they give health and safety a bad name."
[A photograph of Judith Hackitt holding a supposedly ‘dangerous’ pint glass with a handle will be tweeted today @H_S_E – encourage others to tweet @H_S_E with a similar picture showing how they’re equally prepared to take the ‘risk’, using #bustedmyth]
[The cases below were all submitted for consideration by MBCP in 2013]
The bars that refuse to pull pints in glasses with handles (case 118)
A woman (who prefers not to be named) contacted HSE’s panel after she was refused a pint glass with a handle. She says that in various pubs and hotels she’d been told such glasses were now illegal, due to health and safety reasons. However, she was subsequently served with them in other pubs and bars.
The panel told her: "There is no occupational health and safety law preventing the use of glasses with handles. Health and safety should not be an excuse to justify decisions made for other reasons and the pub should be challenged to explain the real reason for no longer offering glasses with handles."
The burger that could not be cooked rare (Case 102)
David Hope, 40, from London, was told by a hotel chain that it was unable to serve burgers rare because of health and safety laws – something the panel was quick to rule out.
David said: "I’d ordered a steak and asked for it to be cooked blue. The waiter then came back from the kitchen to say they had run out of steaks. I asked what else they had and the waiter said they had burgers, which were made from mince taken from the same steaks. I asked for it to be cooked the same way and the waiter said they were not allowed to, for health and safety reasons. I spoke to the manager, who was insistent this was the case. I said I would contact the HSE challenge panel.
"I find the whole idea pompous that, rather than think about something, people just spout 'health and safety'. When you challenge them, and they can't justify it, they then invent something - and the easiest one to hide behind is health and safety. It's usually nonsense. I think the sooner you can burst the bubble of pomposity and get people to live with the consequences of their actions, the better.
"We have to challenge this – otherwise, when it’s something that matters and when it’s something that might put someone in danger, people will be turned off and won’t pay attention because of all the trivia that gets blamed for health and safety."
The toothpicks removed from the table of a restaurant (Case 121)
After eating a meal in a restaurant, Joel Gordon, 42, from Glossop, Derbyshire, requested a toothpick, but was told he could not have one on health and safety grounds. The panel told him: "There is no health and safety regulation which stops toothpicks being handed out in a restaurant…whether or not to provide toothpicks is about cost and customer service NOT health and safety."
Joel said: "I'd finished the meal and I asked for a toothpick. The waiter said we don't have them and that was down to health and safety. I said ‘what is it about health and safety that stops me having a toothpick?’ He said ‘dunno, it's just about health and safety’. I'm a grown adult - I'll take the risk of putting a toothpick in my mouth. It was just nonsense. I come across this all the time. My local charity shop says not to leave coat hangers in the clothes you send them, as it's down to health and safety legislation. Why can't they just give the real reason? Perhaps it's just that they don't want them, or they've got too many."
HSE recently learned that Joel’s friend has since bought the hotel which houses this restaurant – and toothpicks are now available to all!
The shredded paper banned from a school fete’s lucky dip stall (Case 103)
Facebook friends of Jackie O’Connell, 39, from Yateley, Hampshire, requested help in getting hold of polystyrene chips for use in the school fete’s lucky dip stall. They’d wanted to use shredded paper - the mainstay of many such stalls - but according to the school, shredded paper wasn’t an option, ‘for health and safety reasons’.
Our panel told Jackie: "There are no health and safety laws which prevent the use of shredded paper or tissue paper in lucky dips. It is hard to imagine what ‘risk’ people might believe is associated with using shredded paper, but it seems a rather extreme example of risk aversion."
Jackie said: "I’d donated wrapping paper to wrap up the gifts for the lucky dip. My friends also asked for polystyrene chips, which aren’t easy to get hold of. The school said they couldn’t use shredded wrapping paper for 'health and safety'. I thought, 'don't be daft, that's stupid, what is dangerous about shredded paper?!"
The cot bed that could not be made up by a hotel chamber maid (Case 117)
Laurence Warren, 40, from Seaton, Cumbria, booked a cot bed for his toddler son Henry when he went on a family holiday to a popular UK resort.
"When we got there, there were lots of things wrong with the place, like fire doors being blocked, electrical sockets hanging off the walls, which we complained about. We also mentioned that the cot bed hadn’t been made – and we were told that was because of ‘health and safety’. I was not aware we had any cot bed regulations. I said ‘are you sure it’s not for another reason’ and they were not really able to answer. We have been to other hotels and resorts and they have made the cot beds. The other issues were more important, but this excuse just topped it all off for us."
HSE’s panel ruled: "There is no health and safety regulation which prevents any hotel from providing cot linen or from making up the cot. The holiday park have taken their decision not to do this for other (unknown). They should also ensure their staff stop using health and safety as a convenient excuse to give to customers."
…and the child’s birthday party where bubbles finally blew (Case 111)
A venue banned the use of a bubbles machine at a girl’s 6th birthday party for ‘health and safety’ reasons, but then reversed the perverse decision after her disgusted dad (who asked not to be named) made contact with the Myth Busters Challenge Panel.
The panel ruled: "There are no health and safety regulations which would prevent the use of a bubble machine at a party. The so-called risks which have been cited (slipping on damp floor, bubbles in eyes, etc) have been grossly exaggerated. This is a sad case of a council hiding its own corporate policy behind the health and safety excuse and preventing young children having great fun at their party."
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