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Sign-up to sensible risk

Suffolk Local Authority signs up to sensible risk

Suffolk County Council HSE Head of Operations for the East, Geoff Baker joins Graham Dixon, Director of Resource Management, to publicly sign up to ‘ten principles of sensible risk management’ which gives practical advice on what risk management should – and should not - be about.

Manchester Local Authority signs up to sensible risk

Greater Manchester Local Authorities joined HSE's David Ashton to sign-up to the principles of sensible risk together. In signing-up together theses authorities are sending out a strong message that they are about practical steps to manage real risks, not bureaucratic back-covering.  The event was hosted by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), and the authorities attending include Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan. Warrington as an associated member of AGMA also signed-up.

Geoffrey Poder with some people

Geoffrey Podger (HSE), Paul Coen (LGA) and Gareth Daniel, (Brent Council), sign-up to the campaign

Local Authorities, HSE and others are too often criticised for making "nannying" health and safety decisions that stop people living their lives. Many of the stories are outright myths, but some contain a grain of truth, where a manager has – usually with the best of intentions – gone beyond what the law and common sense require. Whatever the background such stories do no one’s reputation any good and they distract attention away from the real priorities and the wealth of good work done by local authorities.

Sign-up to sensible risk was launched at the Local Government Association’s national conference on 3 July 2007.  The chief executives of HSE, the Local Government Association and a number of Local Authorities became the first to publicly sign-up to    to HSC’s ten principles of risk management.

Local Authority Chief Executives can join the campaign – just email us at: sensiblerisk@hse.gsi.gov.uk. Alternatively, if you are a local authority employee and would like to see your authority signed up to the campaign, why not get in touch with your Chief Executive and encourage them to join?

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