About Time

Misguided "jobsworths" have turned playgrounds into joyless no-go zones and risk harming children’s education for fear of being sued, the chairman of the Health and Safety Executive has warned.  Bureaucrats were using health and safety rules as a “feeble” excuse to stop people enjoying themselves and “cynical” authorities employed them as cover for cost-cutting, Judith Hackitt told TTel.

“The creeping culture of risk-aversion and fear of litigation also puts at risk our children’s education and preparation for adult life.  Children today are denied– often on spurious health and safety grounds, many of the formative experiences that shaped my generation.

Playgrounds have become joyless, for fear of a few cuts and bruises. Science in the classroom is becoming sterile and uninspiring.  In many cases, the people behind these unreasonable rulings are well-meaning but misguided jobsworths. They may have the public interest at heart but they simply make the wrong call.

But a trend of far more concern to me is the use of health and safety as a convenient excuse by employers and other organisations cynically looking for a way to disguise their real motives.”

She added that the “gloves are off” and her organisation would target officials or employers who wrongly used health and safety to stop everyday activities.

Jolly good.