The Wardman Wire

It feels a bit like one of those meetings where a group sits in a circle in some bleak church hall waiting for one of their number to begin. Finally someone braver than the rest stands up and says “Hi, my name is Not Important and I’m a health and safety professional.” So begins a week or so of ramblings from me based on nearly 20 years in the H&S profession.

I’ll be talking this week about stories that try to use “elf ‘n’ safety” as an excuse for not getting things done, when the real reason is it’s too difficult, too expensive, too time-consuming or simply no-one can be bothered to do the paperwork. In the “Bonkers conkers” culture we live in there are examples every day.

This is all about risk avoidance not risk assessment. It’s usually about the counting of beans. It needs a scapegoat and we, in the safety profession, are it. We’re a bit fed up of it.

And talking of risk assessment, did the very phrase make your heart sink? Ask yourself why. Bad experience with one of my fellow professionals or are you just a bit bonkers yourself when the words health and safety get mentioned? Stick with me this week and I’ll see if I can change that!

We might even get round to talking about conkers.