Dear Sir,
The Health and Safety Executive agrees wholeheartedly with the sentiments behind the Sunday Express 'Save Our fetes' campaign.
Village fetes are an important part of British community life and no one at HSE wants to put a dampener on anyone's summer fun. All that is needed is sensible and proportionate preparation, not excessive paperwork and precautions.
The HSE has a five-step plan available online, for carrying out simple risk assessments, along with an explanation of what's meant by sensible risk management.
Three years ago Ben Fogle was the face of our 'sensible risk' campaign to combat the growing number of myths that are undermining important health and safety legislation. Our position hasn't changed. If anything, we have become more strident in our efforts to distinguish between real Health and Safety and health and safety myths. Our Myth of the Month section on the HSE website is certainly worth a visit.
The message is simple - do what's sensible and reasonable and then go ahead and enjoy yourselves!
Yours faithfully,
Judith Hackitt
Chair, Health and Safety Executive
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