In a world where the latest headline in a paper claiming to share ‘news’ that shouts out that pancake races are to be banned, apart from making me want to bang my own head against the proverbial wall, makes me think how hard it has become to promote risk enabling practice.
A paper making an issue out of a non-issue does not promote the right kind of environment, nor does it seek to understand the subject.
Health & Safety very rarely bans things, it seeks to enable. How else can dangerous chemicals be transported around the country, health & safety legislation is about the assessment of risk and the safe practice. Only when something is deemed to be unmanageable in terms of the level of risk would a ban come into place.
Banning something is rarely to do with Health & Safety and more to do with laziness and fear of litigation.
Organisations can promote fear by having to oppressive a view of risk, not having the time to assess risk properly, not having people who know about risk and the subject of that risk in pace. Staff who are not competent will not lean towards risk enabling but towards defensive and risk averse practice.
Staff who do not feel supported will again lean towards risk aversion, or paradoxically they may take a leap and whilst having the best of intentions it goes wrong. Staff should be supported in undertaking risk assessments and practicing in a risk enabling way, they should receive the necessary and relevant training to do so too.
So go ahead, do your risk assessment and have your pancake races. Don’t forget, you can always walk and not run!!