It’s good for children to hurt themselves at play, says safety charity chief
Health and safety “extremists” are preventing children from enjoying normal play and preparing for adult life, the head of an accident prevention charity said yesterday.
Suffering from a twisted ankle or skinned knee should be an everyday part of childhood, according to Tom Mullarkey, the chief executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). He said that overzealous bureaucrats were undermining legitimate concerns about health and safety by applying guidance too literally and failing to use common sense.
In his annual report, Mr Mullarkey said: “People have this perception of ‘elf and safety’ as something that restricts your life, rather than helping you to live fully and successfully. “We do not believe in extremist health and safety ideas which would keep children wrapped in cotton wool. Our argument is that a skinned knee or a twisted ankle in a challenging and exciting play environment is not just acceptable, it is a positive necessity.” He said Britain should be made “as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible”, adding: “We need to prepare our children for a complex, dangerous world in which healthy, robust activity is more a national need than ever before.”
Accidents at home, at work or on the road kill 12,000 people a year, cost an estimated £25 billion, cause hundreds of thousands of serious injuries and lead to millions of visits to accident & emergency departments. But Mr Mullarkey said RoSPA was working to dispel fears about excessive safety measures, which gave ammunition to those seeking to ridicule health and safety, and could lead to casual indifference to accident prevention.
Health and safety rules should be applied sensibly, he said, and not used as an excuse to cancel events or to save money, for example in situations such as the banning of Christmas lights. He said: “There is no reason they cannot be used for health and safety reasons. I also heard recently that a swimming pool would be closed for ‘health and safety reasons’ but in fact it was because the roof was falling in, and they did not have the money to fix it.
“It is a concern that health and safety is used as an excuse for cost-cutting. We think people should climb mountains, and sail boats and have children – we are trying to help them in a practical way.”
The charity is calling for an intelligent debate about health and safety issues. Last week Rospa said there should be an expansion of schemes that teach children about risk, so that they would be better prepared for adulthood. Only about 6 per cent of primary school children participate in a scheme called Learning About Safety By Experiencing Risk (LASER).
The project uses realistic settings, such as roads or building sites, to stress the importance to children of taking responsibility for their own safety. Of the 12,000 fatalities a year caused by accidents, the charity estimates that 4,000 people die in the home, 3,200 on the road, 240 at work and the rest during travel and leisure activities.
Nicola Woolcock
12 November 2007