Health and safety 'hides motives'The cry "health and safety" is too often invoked to disguise someone'e real motives - such as concerns over costs or complexity, the Health and Safety Executive has claimed.
Too many people use health and safety as an excuse to hide behind, according to chairwoman of the Health and Safety Executive Judith Hackitt.
She said this while welcoming a review into health and safety law and practice initiated by Prime Minister David Cameron, which will be carried out by Lord Young of Graffham.
And Ms Hackitt has offered to help gather evidence for the inquiry.
Lord Young will also touch upon the compensation culture when he reports to the Prime Minister in the summer.
In her letter, Judith Hackitt wrote: "The terms of reference of your review extend beyond HSE's remit, which is concerned with addressing real risks and preventing death, injury and ill health to those at work and those affected by work related activities.
"However, we in HSE have been saying for some time that health and safety is being used by too many as a convenient excuse to hide behind.
"We welcome your review and stand ready to make available to you whatever information or insight we can."
HSE said it has been running its myth of the month campaign since 2007, hitting back at some of the ridiculous decisions that are wrongly blamed on health and safety.
Often health and safety is invoked to disguise someone's real motives - concerns over costs or complexity, or an unwillingness to honestly defend an unpopular decision, the organisation said.
HSE added that it continues to champion a sensible and proportionate approach to dealing with risks in the workplace - not eliminating them from all aspects of life.
Copyright (c) Press Association 2010
| 
