Events, speeches and articles on sensible risk

31 October 2007

Learning to manage risk is an essential part of growing up
At a Royal Society for the Arts (RSA) “Risk and Childhood” conference,Judith Hackitt, the new Chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) sent out a clear message to those who hide behind so called health and safety rules to stop children from enjoying a normal childhood and stated that learning to manage risks is an essential part of growing up.

• Judith Hackitt’s speech at 'Risk and Childhood' conference

25 July 2007

HSC says don’t over complicate health and safety
At a BRE event, Sir Bill Callaghan, HSC Chair, spoke on sensible risk and announced the launch of more example risk assessments to help businesses, which builds on HSE’s sensible risk campaign.He stated “We are saying you don’t need to overcomplicate things, keep your risk assessment fit for purpose, make it a living document and act on it”.

• Sir Bill Callaghan’s speech

20 June 2007

Calls for common sense approach to health and safety at Swansea seminar
Wales-based Health and Safety Commissioner Sandy Blair CBE told organisations that they need to manage risks sensibly and not use health and safety to justify unpopular decisions.

• ‘The challenges for health and safety’ – Sandy Blair’s presentation at Swansea seminar [105KB]
• Presentation Slides [400KB]

14 June 2007

“Keep a sense of proportion when it comes to risk” HSC Chairman tells safety specialists
"Ignore the trivia and headline-grabbing bans, and keep a sense of proportion when it comes to risk" said HSC Chairman Bill Callaghan speaking to members of the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) in Yorkshire and Humber.

• Sir Bill Callaghan’s presentation to IOSH Yorkshire [135KB]

May 2007

‘Saving lives, not stopping them’
An article by Geoffrey Podger, HSE’s Chief Executive for the Guardian’s Health and Safety supplement on sensible risk management (courtesy of Lyonsdown Publishing Ltd.)

• ‘Saving lives, not stopping them’ article [140KB]

20 March 2007

‘Childhood Matters’ – Barnados Annual Conference 2007
At The Barnardo’s Annual Conference: ‘Childhood Matters’ in London, Jonathan Rees, Deputy Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive, spoke to childcare professionals and explained the importance of risk and adventure in children’s lives and recognising the need to manage it.

• Press Release: “We are about saving lives, not stopping living”, HSE tells carers

29 November 2006

HSC Chairman told independent regulators to focus on sensible risk
In his opening remarks at a conference in November 2006, Bill Callaghan, Chair of HSC told Independent Regulators to take a leadership role and work closely with others to bring a sense of proportion and focus on sensible risk management.

• ‘Get a life’ – Bill Callaghan’s opening remarks

November 2006

‘Sensible Risk Management’ - Interview of Bill Callaghan, Governor’s Agenda Magazine
Bill Callaghan gave an interview to Governor’s Agenda magazine on how schools governors can help to ensure the health and safety of children and staff while at the same time allowing children to take risks that will enable them to develop important life skills (courtesy of ContinYou).

• ‘Sensible risk management’ – Interview of Bill Callaghan from Governor’s Agenda

2 March 2006

Safe schools, healthy schools conference
The Minister with responsibility for workplace health and safety Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, gave a keynote address to the Safe Schools, Healthy Schools Conference on 2nd March 2006.

• Lord Hunt – Keynote address: Sensible risk and the law [63KB]

28 November 2005

Compensation Bill: Problem or panacea?
An Association of Personal Injury Lawyer's (APIL) seminar - 'Compensation Bill: Problem or panacea?' - was held at the House of Lords on 28th November 2005. HSC Chairman, Bill Callaghan, was invited to participate in a panel discussion, and you can read his short introductory comments:

• Bill Callaghan - opening statement [98KB]

Other panel members included Julian Brazier MP, co-Chair of the All-Party Group on Adventure and Risk, and Alan Gore QC, the President of APIL.

17 November 2005

Ministerial steering group
On 17th November 2005, Department for Constitutional Affairs brought Ministers and stakeholders together to discuss perceptions of an increasing compensation culture. The Minister for Health and Safety at Work Lord Hunt, led a session on sensible risk management.

1 November 2005

Redressing the balance – sensible risk management
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) held a seminar ‘Redressing the balance – sensible risk management’ in November 2005. The event aimed to continue the debate on sensible risk management with the view to take this message forward through the CIEH network and to promote discussion around what is meant by ‘risk aversion’ and ‘sensible risk management’. The president of CIEH, Alan Higgins called for the HSC and regulators’ actions to ensure a balanced approach to their role and to provide clear advice to the public and those they enforced.

You can read some of the speeches on the CIEH website.

13 July 2005

House of Lords seminar
In a packed committee room in the House of Lords heard Lord Hunt, Sir Bill Callaghan and Jonathan Rees formally launched the sensible risk debate, including a discussion document [121KB] on public safety and the web forum. The audience included Lords, MPs and senior representatives from organisations representing health and safety professionals, business, the insurance industry and lawyers. You can read the speeches here:

• Introduction by Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission [24KB]
• Speech by Jonathan Rees, HSE’s Deputy Director General "A view from HSE" [25KB]

The speeches were followed by 45 minutes of lively debate. The web forum and other events during 2005 also provided further opportunities to debate the issues.

26 May 2005

Future challenges : Living with risk
Institute of Public Policy Research held an event in association with the Association of British Insurers on risk with a keynote speech given by the Prime Minister.

• 'Common sense culture not compensation culture'

The speech was followed by a panel discussion chaired by Nick Pearce, director of the institute for public policy research (ippr).

17-19 May 2005

‘Making sense of risk’ – Presentation for Safety & Health at Work Congress 2005
Vic Coleman's presentation at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) - Safety & Health at Work Congress 2005

• Making sense of risk [400KB]

22 March 2005

Risk and compensation - striking the balance
The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs gave the keynote speech at a seminar on risk and compensation, hosted by the Health and Safety Commission on 22nd March 2005. Lord Falconer set out the actions the government is taking to tackle the perceived compensation culture. He also announced the government's readiness to legislate on claims management where necessary, heralding what was to become the Compensation Bill.

• Lord Falconer speech [78KB]

In his address the Chair of the Health and Safety Commission, Bill Callaghan, criticised the concept of absolute safety as "pie in the sky", saying that it is neither obtainable nor desirable. He warned that frivolous or spurious claims that fuel the perception of a compensation culture distract attention from genuine, preventable harm to people's safety and health. Mr Callaghan announced that over the coming months the HSC intends to lead a debate aimed at establishing a consensus on sensible management of risk.

• Bill Callaghan speech [19KB]

The previous Director General of HSE, Timothy Walker, spoke about the approach HSE takes to managing risk, rather than trying to eliminate it altogether. He illustrated this with examples of the factors HSE has to weigh-up in making decisions on risk.

• Timothy Walker speech [19KB]

The speeches were followed by a panel discussion, chaired by Bill Callaghan. Panel members were: Colin Ettinger, President of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers; Lawrence Waterman, President of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health; and Stephen Sklaroff, Deputy Director General of the Association of British Insurers.