News for 2008
January
Questions raised over Indian event safety
Chennai: There can be no price put on human lives. Event organisers’ compromise on safety norms has caused irreplaceable loss to the families and friends of three youngsters who died in the stage collapse incident at a hotel here on the eve of New Year. Some of the questions people have raised are: Did the hotel management check if the stage was sturdy enough? And why was the stage over a swimming pool? Could not there have been enough trained lifesavers to rescue the victims from the pool swiftly? Why didn’t the event managers drain the water in the pool as lives could have been saved?
Be it public premises or a space belonging to private owners, the law makes it mandatory for organisers to ensure safety for crowds during events and shows. Any violation or neglect may lead to accidents, State Fire and Rescue Services Director K.R. Shyam Sundar said. From the rescue point of view too, it becomes difficult to reach out to victims quickly, he said.
Chennai has a long line of big public events this month. The Great Bombay Circus is holding shows at the SIAA grounds, the Trade Fair is on at the Island Grounds, the Book Fair at St. George School in Kilpauk and a 10-day international Islamic conference and exhibition is to be held at Madrasa-I-Azam School grounds opposite Spencer Plaza.
Syed Zakir Ahmed, chairman and managing director of Zak Trade Fairs and Exhibitions, is currently putting up stalls, tents and a stage for the Islamic conference. “We have to look into every safety aspect: roofing, electrical cabling, power points, quality of structural material, fire safety, food safety and crowd control,” he said. The PWD provides structural stability certificates after inspection, the Chennai Corporation has to give a health and hygiene certificate, the Fire Department gives clearance on the emergency exits and fireproofing and the Police Department depute personnel in case of emergencies. According to officials of the Public Works Department, few organisations come forward for stability certification when structures are raised for public events.
A senior PWD official said the Tamil Isai Sangam approaches the Department for a stability certificate every year to hold its annual event at Raja Annamalai Mandram because the building was constructed about 50 years ago. Few other organisations or institutions took such care, he said. Apart from safety during public events, institutions such as schools, cinema theatres, companies and offices are required to ensure visitors’ safety. Fire extinguishers need to be serviced at least once a year but this practice is not carried out even in some State government offices.
SEEDS India, a voluntary organisation working to make vulnerable communities resilient to disaster, wants to promote a culture of safety in schools. SEEDS India senior advisor R. Kuberan said schools must give awareness to students on do’s and dont’s during emergencies. “The stability of non-structural fixtures such as tube-lights, windows and blackboards is also important. They can topple and fall on children during earthquakes. Children must be told to first save their heads by going under desks or holding something hard above their heads,” he said.
Even in apartment complexes, mishaps occur when safety regulations are not followed. For example, safety in lifts gets very little priority. In 2003, a seven-year-old in West Mambalam died when the lift mechanism failed in her apartment complex.
Public safety
In crowded spaces, accidents can easily occur. Therefore, organisers of public events bear a great responsibility. In the case of the swimming pool accident at Hotel Savera, fire and rescue services officials said the stage stability should have been checked, the number of persons allowed onstage clearly displayed and repeated appeals made through a public address system to caution the youth.
Divisional Fire Officer V. Vijaykumar said the hirer of a hall or licensee intending to organise an event should make arrangements to have fire fighting equipment at the venue. Also, signboards such as ‘No Smoking” should be on display. He urged the public to carry out self-assessment of risk when visiting public places. People should take care of their children and elders when visiting public places, he said.
Car manufacturer fined for fall injury
Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd were fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £3,321 costs by Derby Magistrates after a worker suffered major injuries after falling from a step ladder. The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and contravening Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Paul Gale, of Tutbury, and Andrew Tunnicliff, of Stoke on Trent, were working from a pair of 2.5 metre high stepladders affixing a three metre length of steel channel (Unistrut) to the underside of a gantry when both fell approximately two metres to the ground. Paul Gale suffered several injuries including a fractured skull, cheekbone and sinus, fractured right wrist and multiple dislocations to his middle left finger. Andrew Tunnicliff was not injured as a result of the incident.
HSE inspector Samantha Farrar says: "Falls from height remains one of the common causes of fatal and major injuries in the workplace. All work at height should be properly planned and organised. This incident highlights how vital it is for companies to ensure that that the risks from such work are suitably assessed and that appropriate work equipment is selected and used."
Workers fired for not smoking
The owner of a German company is being sued for unfair dismissal - after he fired three non-smoking workers and replaced the with smokers who 'fitted in better'. They were sacked on the grounds that they would 'interfere with corporate peace', after they requested a smoke-free environment.
Thomas Jensen, the manager of the 10-person IT company in Buesum, told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper he had fired the trio because their non-smoking was causing disruptions.
Germany introduced non-smoking rules in pubs and restaurants on Jan 1, but Germans working in small offices are still allowed to smoke. 'I can't be bothered with trouble-makers,' Thomas was quoted saying. 'We're on the phone all the time and it's just easier to work while smoking. Everyone picks on smokers these days. It's time for revenge. I'm only going to hire smokers from now on.'
TUC advises on gender-neutral H&S policies
The TUC has published a checklist to help safety reps check whether their workplace health and safety policies and practices are gender sensitive. Recent research has shown that both sex (biological differences between women and men) and gender (socially determined differences) affect workers’ health and safety in many ways.
According to the TUC, these differences are too often ignored or misunderstood, leading to failures in prevention: “Gender stereotyping (e.g. ‘women’s work is light work’ or ‘stress is for wimps’) or stereotyping in relation to different categories or work (e.g. manual and white-collar jobs) can also lead to false assumptions about who is or is not at risk in the workplace. Important opportunities for prevention can be missed as a result. Everyone has an equal right to protection from harm at work but that doesn’t mean treating everyone as if they were all the same!”
The TUC’s checklist recommends a gender-sensitive approach to health and safety as a way of improving prevention for both women and men. The checklist asks questions such as:
- Does the employer's health and safety policy or workplace agreement recognise that there are sex and gender differences in occupational safety and health (OSH)?
- Are women as well as men involved in health and safety management in the workplace?
- Are the employer's occupational health and safety advisors / managers aware of sex and gender differences affecting men's and women's health and safety at work?
Insurance company warning over Corporate Manslaughter Act
The new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, due to come into force in three months, could potentially cost businesses £21.2m in legal bills should they fail to comply. This warning comes from specialist insurer Hiscox, which is also calling upon companies to review their existing risk management procedures before the Act is introduced, as they are unlikely to provide adequate protection to new exposures introduced under the new legislation.
For example, a standard Directors’ and Officers’ insurance policy will only provide cover for a senior individual within a company being prosecuted for management failure leading to a death of an employee or a third party. It will not cover the costs of the company’s defence of such an allegation and the wider stigma of being associated with a negligent individual.
Callum Taylor, Management Liability Underwriting Manager at Hiscox, says: "With less than 100 days to go until the Corporate Manslaughter Act comes into force, companies could face prosecution for breach of their duty in areas they have not previously considered. As well as having to cope with expensive legal bills, companies facing legal action under the new Act risk their reputation being damaged, and the day to day running of their business being disrupted.
"We don’t yet know how often or how rigorously judges will implement this law, but one thing very clear is that the Act is going to be another worry to add to the many already faced by businesses. However, it’s essential that companies stay abreast of the ever-changing regulatory environment and use the next three months to prepare for the Act’s introduction."
To prepare for the Act,Hiscox recommends that businesses:
- create a safe working environment;
- familiarise themselves with the Act;
- drive awareness through all levels of the organisation; and
- make sure the business is covered with the appropriate insurance.
Hearing loss raising concerns
In October, during an interview only he could conduct, CNN's Larry King had this exchange with rock legend Eric Clapton:
King: “You are deaf?”
Clapton: “Partially. I'm not sure which ear. One ear is almost gone. Just loud, loud music.”
King: “Too much of it.”
Clapton: “Too much of it.”
Clapton, the former Yardbird, could have been speaking for a good chunk of the baby boom generation, many of whose youngest members are just now experiencing the noise-induced hearing loss their older cohorts have been reporting for years. (Actually, Clapton, 62, was born in 1945, before the start of the boom, which generally refers to those born from 1946 to 1964.)
Of the more than 75 million Americans born during the boom years, more than one in five have some hearing loss. Increasingly, audiologists and otolaryngologists — ear, nose and throat specialists — are seeing hearing-impaired patients in their mid-50s to 60s, says Dr. David Boisoneau of Ear, Nose & Throat Associates of Southeastern Connecticut, a four-physician practice with offices in Waterford and Mystic. “They come in complaining of ringing in their ears (a condition called tinnitus). Ninety-five percent of the time that means there's already been some hearing loss.
“…We're seeing some teens and people in their 20s, too. Usually, at that age, it's because they've got ringing in their ears from a concert.” The popularity of iPods and other digital-music devices that come with “earbuds” that fit inside the ear canal have also put music-lovers, in particular, at risk.
“(But) among baby boomers, it's not just the effects of loud music,” says Krista Bachl, an audiologist at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital's Pequot Health Center in Groton. “It's lawnmowers, snow blowers, the noise on highways. You notice it when you get to the end of the ramp and you realize how high you had to turn up your radio just to hear it. You go, 'Wow, how'd it get so loud?' ”
For just about all of us, then, the world's gotten louder. The question is: What should we be doing about it? We should be using earplugs to ward off the effects of the loud noises we can't avoid, hearing experts say, such as those in the industrial workplace; holding down the volume on music-playing and other audio devices; and getting professional help when we or those around us notice we're having trouble hearing. Candidates for hearing aids ought to wear them.
If that ringing in your ears the day after the concert fails to go away, it probably indicates damage to the cochlea, the snail-shaped structure inside the inner ear that includes the hearing organ and tens of thousands of hair cells that send nerve signals to the brain. Damage to the cells is permanent and irreversible. The hallmark of noise-induced hearing loss, Bachl says, is the inability to hear high-pitched sounds, which, when it comes to speech, tend to be the consonants, f's, s's and t's.
How much abuse can the cochlea take?
Under standards set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the workplace limit is an average of 90 decibels over an eight-hour period. The agency requires that employers identify workers who could be exposed to such excessive noise levels and either reduce those levels or provide the workers with ear protectors. If the maximum volume on an iPod is around 120 decibels, Boisoneau says, then listening to one at a half to three-quarters of the maximum can still put you in the 75-90 decibels range, which is a lot.
“What I tell my kids is that if we're in the car and I can hear the music (coming through their earbuds) and I can tell what song it is, it's too loud,” Boisoneau says. Bachl favors what she calls the 3 Feet Rule: “If a person 3 feet away can hear sound — any sound — coming through your earbuds, you're playing your iPod too loud.”
One problem with earbuds is that people think they're safer than regular earphones, creating a sense of false security. “They're dangerous in two ways,” Boisoneau says. “They're directing sound directly into the eardrum — you can't move away from it. And they're allowing other outside sound to leak in, so you turn (the volume) up more.”
Some higher-end earphones from such manufacturers as Etymotic Research and Shure do block out other sound, and even iPod earbuds can be custom-fitted by an audiologist to limit “leakage.” iPods also feature an adjustable maximum-volume setting. Boisoneau uses a fitted earbud, which he says enables him to listen to his iPod at a quarter of the maximum volume.
When it comes to exposure to loud music — live or recorded — it's important to differentiate between concertgoers who experience “temporary threshold shift,” which is a short-term loss of hearing, and those who suffer lasting damage, says Dr. William Culviner of Eastern Connecticut Ear, Nose & Throat, which has offices in Colchester, Norwich and Willimantic. Prior to joining the practice in 1999, Culviner saw many patients with temporary hearing loss as a military physician.
“You can recover from temporary shift, although there's some cumulative effect (from repeat episodes),” he says. “But if you keep playing your iPod too loud, the damage becomes permanent.” The 40-year-old Boisoneau enjoys rock music himself, and says there's no reason people should avoid concerts as long as they're willing to wear ear protection. “I saw (Bruce) Springsteen in October and I'm going again in February,” he says. “I wore the foam earplugs you can get at Home Depot. People want to hear music, pure and unadulterated. I do, too. But I know I'll have ringing in my ears the next day if I don't wear plugs.”
Noise-induced hearing loss may be afflicting younger and younger people, but that doesn't mean they're eager to do something about it. “There's a huge amount of denial, especially at the upper range (of the baby boom generation),” says Culviner, who vouches for the 20 percent “take rate” for hearing aids — the percentage of those who could be helped by aids who actually use them.
Bachl says her experience suggests it's hard for baby boomers to admit they have a hearing problem and to seek help for it. “Among those in their 40s, 50s and 60s, it's often family members who persuade them to do something, to get their hearing tested at least,” she says. “They may come in to get their wife, their husband or their children off their back. But the person who comes in on his or her own is more likely to do something about it.”
The trend toward younger hearing-loss sufferers is evident in the marketing of hearing aids. Today's devices are high-tech looking, digital, smaller and more fashionable than their forerunners. Witness Oticon's leopard print model. But the best news is that they work better than ever, Bachl says. They can amplify specific frequencies and are largely free of the feedback problems that used to plague them.
For the person suffering noise-induced hearing loss, an aid or aids may be the only answer.
“I would ask how much is their hearing loss affecting them?” Bachl says. “I generally suggest an aid, tempering it with what the patient's feeling. ... If they're just really opposed to it, I tell them, 'Don't go home and tell your family I recommended against getting an aid,' but if it's going to live in a drawer then it's not going to help anybody.”
Costs can range from $1,800 for a single aid to as much as $7,000 for two, according to Bachl. The smaller they are, the more expensive they're likely to be.
Doubts cast over future of Hogmanay celebrations
Depending on your point of view, it's a beer-soaked fireworks party for under-30s, or a £40 million driver for the Scottish economy and a world showcase for Edinburgh. Either way, those behind Edinburgh's Hogmanay breathed a massive sigh of relief yesterday. In two of the last four years, stormy winds had wiped out the New Year celebrations. This year, the party and the fireworks went full steam ahead, despite the drizzle.
Questions are still being asked, however, about the future of Edinburgh's Hogmanay. It first took formal shape about 15 years ago, but after early rapid growth now faces growing competition from other UK cities, from Belfast to Cardiff.
Edinburgh city council will decide next spring whether to renew its contract with Unique Events, whose chief, Pete Irvine, has shaped the celebrations since they were founded. Three firms are said to be in the running, but there are concerns over whether the Scottish Government will continue its £750,000 annual funding.
Steve Cardownie, the council's deputy leader, has talked about scrapping tickets and barriers for the event. That would potentially open it up to far larger numbers than the 57,500 who paid £5 for tickets to the Princes Street party, along with about 15,000 others heading for the gardens concert and ceilidh.
But memories are still fresh of the near-disaster in 1996 when massive crowds in Princes Street resulted in 600 people being treated in hospital for crushing, and tickets were introduced for the first time.
Yesterday, Irvine said: "If you made it free for all, and still have the fireworks, maybe we would get 200,000 people coming, and that would be irresponsible to say the least. You have to ask what the police would say."
Irvine described what was special for him about Hogmanay. "The power of the event is in its human energy, the gathering of so many people who are good-natured and willing to be with one another," he said. "It's a mass love-in thing, that collective euphoria."
For many international visitors, singing the event's praises on New Year's Day, what mostly mattered was the giant party. "I didn't pay attention to the music, but it was good that it was there," said Lauren Cella, of New York.
London now spends £1 million on its fireworks, threatening to upstage the approximate £100,000 that Edinburgh forks out. Superintendent Andy Tarrant, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "The nature of New Year's Eve in central London has changed. What used to be a relatively low-key, spontaneous night is now a world-class event that attracts thousands and thousands of people."
It has fuelled calls for Edinburgh to market Hogmanay more aggressively as a four-day event. Irvine and others stress the growing success of the "Night Afore" events on the 30th, ranging from a pipes-and-drums procession to street theatre, comedy and a giant ceilidh in George Street.
But the entertainment is free, and that underlines the growing concern over funding. Bands' earnings from CDs are dwindling, and they rely more on concert fees.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay budget is £2.5 million, and tickets for the headline bands at the Concert in the Gardens were £37.50. Irvine said: "Ticket revenues have gone up year on year. The question is, do you call a halt to that or ask for more money from the public? The event has huge safety costs that cannot be covered commercially."
Other ideas have been floated, such as a network of six Scottish cities – Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness, Stirling – to celebrate the season.
Already, other cities are delivering their own Hogmanay street events, with Glasgow hosting Scottish singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald and Stirling putting on a family night with The Proclaimers. Inverness is holding fire until 12 January, with a fireworks show to mark the end of the Highland Year of Culture 2008.
Irvine cites surveys suggesting visitors spend as much as £40 million in Edinburgh over the Christmas and Hogmanay period. Meanwhile, plans to upgrade the Princes Street Gardens' Ross Bandstand for £14 million appear to be on hold.
"The pictures of Edinburgh went round the world last night, along with Sydney, Beijing or Moscow. Do we want to be up there or not? I would say most definitely yes," Irvine added.
It needs more money
DAVID JACKSON, a former manager of Edinburgh's Winter Festivals and now in charge of the Victoria Park outdoor events site in Southport, Merseyside, said: "Standing back from it, you can just see the way that London has put money into their celebrations, and other parts of the country as well.
"Newspaper coverage in the run-up to the New Year was interesting, because the big story was Edinburgh, but six or seven other cities were mentioned as well. The major thing about Edinburgh's Hogmanay is it runs four days, and it needs to be protected. There is the torchlight procession and the Night Afore. It's not flash, bang wallop – a few fireworks.
"No matter where you are in the world, everyone sings the Scottish New Year anthem of Auld Lang Syne. On a practical level, there is evidence that the marketplace is ripe for Christmas and Hogmanay to have a strong Scottish flavour.
"It comes down to resources and it comes down to ambition as well. If the Scottish Government is serious about making it a truly Scottish winter festival, they have got to put money behind it."
'Broadly right'
DONALD ANDERSON, a former Edinburgh city council leader and director of PPS Scotland, said: "Edinburgh's Hogmanay is one of the world's great events. It had a hard time because of two cancellations.
"Monday night seems to have been a success. I think we can look ahead with confidence. The big issue is the funding. As long as funding is there to allow Pete Irvine or whoever to adapt the programme, I see no reason why it can't go from strength to strength.
"When you've got year-to-year local funding, it's hard for the council to give unequivocal guarantees, but everybody wants this event to succeed – there's backing across all political parties. Broadly, the format is right, but I'd have liked to see more activities for people on the street."
Business plan
CLARE SMITH is a marketing events consultant.
"Edinburgh's positioned itself as the place to be for Hogmanay for years now but I don't think we've invested in the product enough to maintain that position. We need to go further afield to make it an internationally appealing event, and I'm not sure it is. You hear great accents around town but if you look at the statistics, in 2005 there were 13 per cent from abroad.
"Pete Irvine does a fantastic job with the tools he has but there's uncertainty about its funding; he can't plan in advance, he can't get bigger, he can't get creative. It does a lot for Scotland generally, so it's not just looking at public-sector investment but getting businesses involved as well."
'Evolving constantly'
STUART NISBET is the music programmer of Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations.
"We thought the night was a fantastic success. I was delighted with the way that the artists responded and took on board how special the event is. All the bands loved it, they were partying at after-show dos until the wee small hours. There were little ceilidhs after the show, with fiddle- playing at hotel function rooms.
"This year we made a concerted decision to make things a little edgier. We had a few years of it being very comfy and more towards the pop end, so we went a little more rocky this year and I think it worked well. There is an endless list of things I would like to see changed, and everybody involved has lots of suggestions. I'm sure there will be lots of changes.
"If you have more money you could do better. It's not easy. We can't spend money that we don't have. There are thousands of bands out there, and you've got other cities with Hogmanay celebrations, but Edinburgh is the one with real headline status for artists.
"The thing evolves constantly, and has its ups and downs. This year was one of the ups."
Warning over ticket touts
Concert goers and sports fans need better protection from ticket touts, a committee of MPs will warn next week. MPs on the Culture Select Committee are set to put pressure on websites, such as eBay, and the new breed of ticket exchanges, such as Viagogo and Seatwave, to prevent sales of fake tickets and to ensure that prices are not artificially inflated. The value of online touting doubled to an estimated £200 million in 2007, according to Tixdaq, a research company that tries to monitor the fast-growing but lightly regulated ticket sales business.
The MPs are expected to call for “a middle way” between banning touting – there is little expectation of formal government intervention – and asking the emerging industry to police itself. Calls for the banning of touting of tickets to a select group of “crown jewel” events are likely to be rejected.
Some gigs sell out in minutes, but tickets then become available on the internet at higher prices almost immediately. Recently, tickets for a Radiohead concert in London in June with a face value of £42.50 were on sale on exchanges at between £66.50 and £139 - a mark-up of between 56 per cent and 227 per cent. There are also allegations that touts are using special software to harvest large numbers of tickets online. The current tour of the teen star Hannah Montana sold out almost immediately amid such claims, although there is no clear evidence that this practice has reached the UK.
The marked-up prices and examples of fraudulent sales – sometimes tickets do not turn up – have prompted calls for tighter regulation. “I am against the idea that a ticket is a commodity,” said Harvey Goldsmith, the veteran promoter, who wants touting to be banned because fans increasingly are being sold fake tickets online. “There were tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s O2 dates on eBay before it was decided how much they would cost, before we had even announced the concerts.”
Resale of football tickets is tightly restricted, partly for public safety reasons, and it will be illegal to resell tickets for the London Olympic Games in 2012. However, there is little support among events organisers for broadening those rules. Instead, last month Britain’s music managers asked for a slice of the resale price in any “secondary ticketing sale” in order to generate income for artists.
Eric Baker, the chief executive of the privately backed Viagogo, argues that being able to resell tickets is an economic right. “We believe tickets are property: people who have bought tickets but cannot go to an event have the right to resell. They own it, just like they own a car or a book,” Mr Baker said.
He said that unlike some sites, Viagogo operates a protection scheme so that unsatisfied consumers could get an “equivalent ticket” or a refund. The site makes money by charging a commission on sales, with the buyer paying 10 per cent of the transaction value and the seller 15 per cent. However, the sources of the tickets on online exchanges have been questioned. Marc Marot, the manager of acts such as the DJ Paul Oakenfold and a leading figure behind the resale rights scheme, said: “I’d like to know how many tickets on the websites come from the event promoters.”
Seatwave said that promoters could help by making more tickets available. It estimates that typically 40 per cent of tickets do not go on general sale and instead are reserved for VIP packages, fan clubs, friends of the performer and for the record company.
Looking at the Corporate Manslaughter Act
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which comes into force in April 2008, appears to address the weaknesses of the law as it presently stands. Currently, a single individual, identifiable as the directing mind of the company, has to be personally guilty of gross negligence or manslaughter before an organisation can be convicted of corporate manslaughter.
The Act is Parliament's attempt to remove the barrier of having to identify the controlling mind of an organisation. It provides that an organisation will be guilty of corporate manslaughter if an organisational or gross management failing causes a person's death. This means that the actions of senior management below director level could still be deemed to be the actions of the organisation.
Significant roles
The Act defines a senior manager as a person who plays a significant role in an organisation in: Making decisions about how the whole or a substantial part of its activities are to be managed or organised The actual managing or organising of the whole or a substantial part of those activities.
Two specific disciplines of management responsibility are covered - taking decisions about the organisation of activities and the actual management of those activities. This seems to extend the definition of 'senior manager' to encompass operational managers alongside strategic decision-makers. An organisation is guilty of the new offence if the way its activities are managed or organised by its senior managers causes a person's death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased.
Failures in duty of care
So the new offence comprises two elements. The first is that a management failure must have caused the death. Explanatory notes to the Act indicate that such failure must be more than a minimal contribution to the death and there must be no break in the chain of causation. However, the management failure does not need to be the sole cause of the death.
The second element relates to the 'relevant duty of care' that the organisation owed to the deceased. Such a duty can arise from an organisation's role as employer, occupier, supplier of goods or services, constructor or maintainer, or keeper of any plant, vehicle or 'other thing'.
Once the duty of care has been established, the prosecution must demonstrate gross breach of that duty. Such a failure is defined as conduct that "falls far below what can reasonably be expected of the organisation in the circumstances".
To assess this, the proposed law will require a consideration of the organisation's compliance with health and safety legislation. Rather than consider the knowledge and motives of senior managers, the risk of death from any failure to comply with legislation will need to be evaluated in the first instance. Attention will then be given to the attitudes, systems, policies and accepted practices within the organisation which may have encouraged or tolerated non-compliance with the legislation.
The whole ethos of the legislation is to emphasise the importance of compliance with existing health and safety law and guidance. Statements in policy documents need to be clearly evidenced in practice and not exceed legal thresholds. If a statement of intent is unachievable and a fatality occurs, the organisation could be held accountable to its own declared standard rather than the legal minimum.
In this context, many organisations make laudable declarations as to their intent for their employees and stakeholders, but these very declarations, if not deliverable, should be re-evaluated.
What you should do
- Assess your organisational structure to determine who could be considered a 'senior manager' - these individuals should be appropriately trained and competent for their role.
- Review job titles and job descriptions to ensure they represent the seniority of the post-holders' position.
- Provide update training for senior managers on their health and safety responsibilities.
- Review all health and safety policies to ensure that statements made and standards set are achievable and do not exceed legal obligations, unless there are good reasons.
- Check that your insurance cover includes legal protection in the event of criminal charges for corporate manslaughter.
- Review your health and safety culture to promote a safer environment for your employees and, where relevant, the public.
- Revisit your disaster management plan and ensure there is a protocol for dealing with the authorities and working with legal advisers when a fatality occurs.
- Consider insurance and indemnity policies for staff members who may need legal support during the period of any investigation. This will need to cover expenses where they are not personally found guilty of such offences.
Quirky traditions under scrutiny
From pea throwing to bathtub racing, Sussex is full of quirky traditions. Hundreds of people turn up to compete in unusual events every year but with concerns about health and safety, could these traditions be facing extinction? Last summer defiant bathtub racers took to the water to keep a much-loved tradition alive. The organisers of the Adur bathtub race decided to pull the plug on the fundraising event after 35 years, saying health and safety issues had forced the organising committee of the Shoreham and Southwick Round Table to axe the event.
The race, using cast iron bathtubs which had been made 'seaworthy', involves the vessels being rowed down a six-mile course along the River Adur from Upper Beeding to Adur recreation ground. The organisers said excessive drinking and injuries caused by people throwing eggs and stones had contributed to the final decision to call a halt to the race. But in July last year, 15 teams decided to go ahead with the 35th race, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. This year, the race is set to go ahead after people living in Upper Beeding got together and decided the tradition must continue.
Louise Trott said the community was disappointed when the race was cancelled after it had raised £250,000 for charity over more than 30 years. She said: "The race is part of this community and for it to disappear would mean the world's gone mad."We can't keep having stuff taken away because people don't think it's safe. If we can keep the race going that's brilliant. It keeps Upper Beating on the map and keeps the village doing things as a community. There is so much going for it, we are making sure it will be back."
A spokesman for Adur District Council said: "The Adur bathtub race is a long standing tradition on the river and is enjoyed by many people and the council like everyone else welcomes it. "We are more than happy as long as the organisers carry out an adequate risk assessment to cover the event and we would expect them to work with the emergency services and other interested parties to make sure it is a safe event." Another tradition which has come under fire from health and safety rules is the International Birdman competition which has made Bognor famous across the world.
Each year camera crews from across the globe descend on the town to film contestants launching themselves over the water with their weird and wonderful home-made flying machines. Appropriately enough, the loony spectacle is dependent on the lunar calendar, as it can only take place on a weekend when the tide is high enough. The water must be at least six metres deep for health and safety reasons. This means the contest can be held any time between June and September, and this year it will be on July 5 and 6. The contest celebrates its 30th year in 2008 and to mark the occasion the jackpot prize for the overall winner has been increased to £30,000.
Paul Beckerson, of Bognor Town Council, which helps The Birdman Trust organise the event, said contestants have to find their own insurance and must sign a disclaimer to say they will not sue the organisers if anything goes wrong. The Birdman Trust must still pay thousands of pounds for insurance and must implement rigorous health and safety measures, such as having medical staff and rescue boats on stand-by. He said: "It's very difficult these days and there is a lot we have to do. We have not had any accidents so far though, touch wood."
Around 40 people sign up for the event each year, a number which has stayed consistent for several years now. Mr Beckerson said: "That's just the right number of people. We can't physically manage any more as we only have a two hour window when the water is deep enough. The comedy contestants are normally quite quick but the more serious ones often wait five or six minutes before jumping because they want to make sure the wind is in the right direction."
In Lewes the World Pea Throwing Championships is a popular event which has been running since 1999. It is organised by David Banner, the manager of the Lewes Arms in the town, and was dreamt up by a customer in 1999. There are three categories for men, women and under 14s and the world record for throwing a pea is 38.7 metres. Mr Banner said: "Last year was my first one and it was very entertaining and a lot of fun. "It is all very light-hearted although you might not have think so if you had seen some of the throwers. They really psyched themselves up for it. We have markers to make sure no one is in the line of fire."
The modern sport of lawnmower racing was dreamt up by drinkers at the Cricketers Arms in Wisborough Green by motorsport fans who were looking for a cheaper alternative. The first British Grand Prix meeting for lawnmowers was at Wisborough Green and attracted 35 drivers. By 1976 there were races at four different villages in Sussex. All the mowers have to be self-propelled and originally designed, manufactured and sold commercially to mow lawns.
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said: "It's all about managing, not stopping these events outright. "As long as the risks are managed sensibly our general outlook is that there is no reason for these events not to go ahead."
