Time to tackle health and safety myths

07/06/2009

By Alex Drake, Associate in Personal Injury. Featured in Kent on Sunday.

Nearly £2 million was paid out in playground accident claims in England during 2007/08. Politicians and the media are quick to blame personal injury lawyers for the lack of school trips. But is it really the fault of lawyers that our children are being wrapped up in cotton wool, or is it due to a misunderstanding of health and safety law?

Myths have been reported as fact, such as health and safety law preventing teachers from being able to put a plaster on a child's knee, children having to wear goggles when playing conkers and schools not being able to use egg boxes in art lessons over fear of salmonella.

These myths fuel the national neurosis about the so-called compensation culture and the perception is that parents are claiming for any injury a child sustains at school or on a school trip. This is not the reality. To bring a successful claim it is necessary to prove there has been a breach of a duty of care or a duty imposed by statute and each case turns on its own facts. Just because one case is successful it doesn't necessarily mean that every time there's an accident doing that activity there'll be a claim.

Most children go to school safely each day and go on school trips without incident. We do not hear about the many schools which are managing risk responsibly and proportionately. If schools are using health and safety reasons to stop an everyday activity, chances are they have misunderstood the law. Risk assessment is about protecting lives, not stopping activities. Risk assessment isn't difficult. We all do it subconsciously every day, for example, when crossing the road. Neither does it require mountains of paperwork. There is nothing wrong with exposing children to well managed risks, provided that these have been thought through and all reasonably practicable steps have been taken to ensure children's safety.