Health and safety myth buster panel receive around 300 complaints
(PRWEB UK) 19 September 2014 -- It seems health and safety has gone mad; everyone is worried about doing something wrong or someone getting hurt. Health and safety reasons are being misused and too many rules are being put into play.
'Staff at a café in Bedfordshire refused to put strawberry sauce on a customer’s ice cream for supposed health and safety reasons' according to the Department for Work and Pensions. 'Laws have also been used to ban donkey rides on beaches and prevent workers wearing open toed shoes in the summer.'
The popular Cumbria dog show has 'dropped their Frisbee catching game over fears someone would get hurt during the game', and 'a child in Cardiff was banned from going on a bouncy castle because he was wearing glasses', despite his plea that he needed them to see. Meanwhile 'some universities have banned the throwing of hats on graduation day and one pub has banned confetti.'
Health & Safety Minister Mark Harper said “Enough is enough. It’s time we were all allowed to enjoy our summers, rather than have them spoiled by ridiculous, arbitrary and downright unreasonable application of apparent ‘health and safety rules’”.
Leading UK law firm Accident Advice Helpline commented saying “Real Health and Safety laws are in place to protect people from injuring themselves or others, but sometimes people just go overboard”.
Health and Safety Executive senior staff have been shocked and alarmed about the number of stories that they have received from the public about precautions imposed in light of ‘health and safety’. The Myth Busters Challenge Panel was set up in October 2013 has received 300 complaints so far.
Tracy Brown who wrote a book entitled ‘In the Interests of Safety’ talked about some of the more unusual rulings and said to Sky News that “A lot of these are things that have been dreamt up with no evidence behind them”. She went on to say that people “Go round looking for things that might sometimes… lead to a problem. But, really, I think a lot of this, when people say ‘In the interests of safety’, what they really mean is ‘in the interest of covering my back’”.
Accident Advice Helpline went on to say “People are using ‘health and safety’ as an excuse rather than for actual protection. We urge all businesses and work places to familiarise themselves with the real Health and Safety laws so that they can properly educate their staff”.
You can call Accident Advice Helpline at any time on 0800 689 7221 to speak to an advisor if you’ve been involved in a non-fault accident. They will be able to let you know if you are entitled to make a compensation claim for your injury and talk you through the process.
This press release was created in accordance to the information from the official ‘Busting the health and safety myths’ page through the Health and Safety Executive alongside information from ‘Petty rules ‘give real health and safety a bad name’’ published on 25th August through The Independent. You can view the original press release through Accident Advice Helpline here.
David Brown, Accident Advice Helpline, http://www.accidentadvicehelpline.co.uk, +44 8006897221, [email protected]
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