There is no doubt that the Health & Safety regime in Ireland has saved many from workplace injuries and indeed saved lives.
However the downside of the regime is considerably more red tape and expense to businesses and their staff and a constant surveillance regime for all concerned.
Two articles in the newspapers over the weekend gave serious food for thought. In the first of those, a custard pie fight in Bakewell to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice will now go ahead next month after an Insurer came forward to underwrite it. It had been cancelled because of Health & Safety fears. Now I am quite partial to a Bakewell and I am also quite partial to a custard pie fight, but I can understand how throwing an overcooked Bakewell at somebody might cause them injury. Could we not have dealt with this by way of legal disclaimer that they sign before they start?
Second was a Gloucestershire grandmother who was warned not to donate her handmade wheels of Double Gloucester for the annual cheese rolling competition down Cooper’s Hill, near Brockworth after the Police visited her home to warn her that she would be held responsible for any injuries at the event. Again I am not too sure how the manufacturer of a lethal weapon used by others can be held liable for their injuries. I wonder does that mean that those injured by an assailant wielding a knife can now sue the knife maker.
Personally I wouldn’t be rolling the cheese down the hill I’d be too busy eating it but each to their own.