Bonkers Conkers
Health & Safety has frequently been quoted as the reason for not staging an event. a display, or undertaking an activity. In recent years we in the UK have developed a risk aversion culture and a generation, including our children, that have not been exposed to risk for fear of injury. There are many stories where this is the case; school children having to wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to play conkers: trapeze artists having to wear helmets: Christmas festive lights restrictions due to use of ladders: etc; etc. This philosophy has re-sulted in the creation of a generation not possessing the skills or knowledge of hazardous situations, which in turn exposes them and makes them more vulnerable in the workplace!
These extreme situations are thankfully not the norm, though they are examples of headline grabbing sensationalism! Indeed the HSE and Professional organisations have confronted and successfully challenged many of these stories. The HSE has even introduced a ‘Myth of the Month’ campaign on their website in an ongoing effort to promulgate a sensible approach to risk management.
A recent report from RoSPA argues that we should expose our children to skinned knees or twisted ankles to prepare them for our complex and dangerous world. We concur with the view that says we should have a balanced and robust activity curriculum that allows everyone to experience challenging and exciting leisure activities whilst adopting the sensible approach to risk anagement.
This can then easily be transferred to the workplace by introducing a collaborative, structured and systematic risk management system. Need assistance with your risk management or any other Health, Safety, Environment or Facilities Management issue please contact Tern Associates and a member of our team will be there to help!
If you require more information on risk assessments, please contact Tern Associates on 0871 223 9800.
Ternarius: This article was featured in the Winter 2007 edition. Please click here for more information about Tern Associates newsletter.
