TUC Lays Out H&S Myths

To coincide with European Health and Safety Week (23 - 27 October) the TUC has published a report correcting 14 false and exaggerated myths and saying that they undermine the important role health and safety regulation plays in protecting people's health and well-being.

The most common health and safety myths including schools banning conkers, safety inspectors banning ladders, acrobats being forced to wear helmets and councils banning St George's flags.

The report, Health and Safety Myths, shows that popular examples of 'health and safety gone mad' are not down to bad safety law but are either untrue or down to the way that local schools or councils interpret the regulations. Employers will also often use 'health and safety' as an excuse for not doing something which they didn't want to do anyway or to save money, says the report.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Myths about 'killer conkers' and banning ladders undermine the whole concept of health and safety in the public's eyes. They perpetuate a false picture of Britain as a risk-averse country wrapped in cotton wool with a compensation culture gone haywire. Some employers, and others, are using health and safety as an excuse for making stupid decisions, but health and safety regulation in the UK is not out of control."

The report looks at the truth behind some of the blatantly untrue and grosslyexagerated items that have hit the news headlines and deliberately mislead the public.

The report concludes that Britain is a better and safer place because of health and safety regulation, siting the fact that since the Health and safety at Work Act was introduced the number of deaths caused by work have fallen by over 75%. 

The UK rate of fatalities is now one of the lowest in the world, much of that being because of strong, Trade Unions and their Safety Representatives supported by the law. 

The CWU's national health and safety officer, Dave Joyce commenting in a letter to union branches this week says,

"Despite the fact that every year in the UK around 300 workers - nearly one person every day - gets killed and 30,000 other workers are seriously injured at work because of criminal negligence in the workplace, Health and Safety often gets a bad press in the British Media.

Stories have appeared like Safety Inspectors banning ladders or games of conkers being halted on safety grounds and firms being put out of business because of health and safety regulations in this country. Reading some of these stories the public might be forgiven for wondering how anything actually gets done given this apparent raft of rules and regulations that seem to govern health and safety."

The full report can be downloaded here

Source: TUC, CWU

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