NANNY STATE

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Parents of children under five are to get home checks to ensure they are keeping their children safe from harm. Inspectors will check whether parents have fitted smoke alarms, stair gates, locks on medicine cupboards, windows and ovens, and temperature controls to stop bath water getting too hot. Recommendations for home health and safety inspections have been drawn up on the instructions of the Department of Health in a bid to prevent unintentional injuries among under 15s in the home. Draft guidelines call for all families to have the option of home safety inspections to be carried out by trained staff from the NHS or local councils.

Health and safety organisations are told to identify homes where children are thought to be most at risk of accidents and 'offer home risk assessments to the households identified.' In some cases, the offer will come after GPs, health visitors or school nurses have raised the alarm because a child has been to hospital repeatedly for emergency treatment. Inspectors will check on whether safety equipment has been installed by parents. "A home risk assessment involves systematically identifying potential hazards in the home, evaluating those risks and proving information or advice on how to reduce them", says the guidance.

There will be repeated return visits to check that parents have maintained their safety devices and kept them in good repair. Devices specified by the guidelines including smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, hot water temperature restrictors, safety and stair gates, and oven, window and door guards and locks. Such locks may stop children falling out of windows, burning themselves in hot ovens, or taking dangerous medicines from cupboards. Equipment should meet British or European safety standards and inspectors should take into account the developmental age of the child, cultural and religious beliefs, disabilities, literacy levels, and whether English is the family's first language when making checks.

Nice public health excellence centre director Mike Kelly denied the watchdog is promoting a 'nanny state'. The recommendation is part of a range of measures aimed at cutting unintentional injuries. Mr Kelly said, "It's a normal part of growing up for children to sometimes hurt themselves in day-to-day life, but we also need to prevent serious injuries from happening. These can have a profound effect on a young child right through to adult life, as they may need lengthy treatment and could be permanently disabled or disfigured. Our aim is not to promote a nanny state where children can't have fun or lead normal lives, but there is an important balance to be struck between good and bad risks."

Simon Davies of the Privacy International pressure group said, "Most new databases are walking disasters. But the problem here is the additional powers that would go to Government authorities. If the database identifies you but you are unco-operative or you refuse to comply, the next step will be your door broken down at five in the morning. That will happen as surely as night follows day. Anybody who stands in the way of inspections will be considered suspect. This represents a landmark expansion of Government intervention in home life. It must be regarded with great concern and suspicion."

Author and researcher on the family Patricia Morgan said, "This is a nightmarish prospect. People will remember that the Independent Safeguarding Authority began as a scheme to protect children from a handful of paedophiles, and now 11 million people are going to be checked out. This is vetting and barring extended to the home. It is a major step towards total state control. When state intervention creeps into your home, where does it end? Will you have to have cameras in your house?" A spokesman for Nice said all parents of young children could take advantage of the scheme to have a home inspection, including middle class families. (Source: Daily Mail, May/10)

David Cameron is to unveil sweeping changes to ‘mad’ health and safety rules which are putting a massive burden on British business and public services. The Prime Minister will launch a bonfire of rules and will declare war on the mushrooming compensation culture. A whole slew of regulations on police, teachers and ambulance workers will be lifted so they no longer face the threat of being sued for making common sense decisions. Mr Cameron will tear up Labour rules which have been blamed for creating a culture where someone must be to blame for every mishap. Teachers will no longer have to fill in reams of ‘risk assessment’ forms before taking youngsters on school trips, and killjoy council officials will find it much harder to ban firework displays and street parties.

Ambulance-chasing law firms will also be targeted. Personal injury lawyers will face restrictions on advertising and the fees they can charge. And Mr Cameron wants to slash red tape which means even ‘low risk’ work places like offices are subject to the same tough rules as factories. The changes aim to exempt the emergency services from lawsuits or prosecution for breaching health and safety laws when they are taking necessary action or risking their own safety to help others or stop crime. The rules will include part-time police officers. And it says claims should no longer be considered by courts after ‘Good Samaritan’ situations which have seen people sued for trying to give first aid.

It will mean people will no longer be able to be sued for causing a personal injury through no fault of their own, when they had been trying to do the right thing, or had been trying to stop someone else injuring themselves. There is likely also to be crackdown on lawyers’ ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements, which encourage lawyers to take on speculative lawsuits because they can demand huge costs from defendants like the NHS if they win. Personal injury law firms will be limited in what they can say and what sort of advertising they can engage in.

Other changes would see success fees charged by lawyers in ‘no win, no fee’ agreements no longer recoverable from defendants, instead they would take their cut from the victim’s pay out. Judges would also be given the power to cap the costs individual claimants can recover in personal injury cases. Lord Young would also like to see a reduction in the huge number of risk assessment forms that teachers have to fill in before going on trips. There will instead be a simple consent form for parents to sign. (Source: Daily Mail, Sep/10)

Health and Safety Executive Judith Hackitt warned that misguided "jobsworths" have turned playgrounds into joyless no-go zones and risk harming children’s education for fear of being sued and that bureaucrats were using health and safety rules as a “feeble” excuse to stop people enjoying themselves. She said, “Cynical” authorities employed them as cover for cost-cutting. The creeping culture of risk-aversion and fear of litigation also puts at risk our children’s education and preparation for adult life. Children today are denied, often on spurious health and safety grounds, many of the formative experiences that shaped my generation. Playgrounds have become joyless, for fear of a few cuts and bruises. Science in the classroom is becoming sterile and uninspiring.”

Miss Hackitt said the “gloves are off” and her organisation would target officials or employers who wrongly used health and safety to stop everyday activities. “In many cases, the people behind these unreasonable rulings are well-meaning but misguided jobsworths. They may have the public interest at heart but they simply make the wrong call,” she said. “But a trend of far more concern to me is the use of health and safety as a convenient excuse by employers and other organisations cynically looking for a way to disguise their real motives.” These included concerns over the cost or complexity of an activity, requirements for insurance, and, “most of all”, a fear of being sued for personal injury.

That had nothing to do with health and safety law and but related to the rise of no-win, no-fee claims, she added. A litany of what she called “daft decisions” in recent years has included ordering children to wear goggles to play conkers, banning running at a pancake race and stopping firefighters using the station pole. Miss Hackitt’s intervention came as Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, told teachers not to cancel school trips because of “misguided” concerns. The Department for Education cut its guidance on health and safety for schools from 150 pages to eight.

Miss Hackitt spoke out after publicly criticising Wimbledon authorities for closing Murray Mount, where fans watch on a big screen, because of fears that people would slip. She said, “Health and safety has surely become one of the most well-worn and dispiriting phrases in the English language. From news reports to TV dramas, it has become convenient shorthand for someone, somewhere, stopping someone from doing something they want to. Our message to bureaucrats who perpetuate these myths is clear. Own your own decisions."

She added, "Don’t use health and safety law as a convenient scapegoat or we will challenge you.” Judith Hackitt demonstrated her belief in the importance of taking risks for children by deliberately setting fire to her hands in a science experiment during a school visit. She emerged unharmed and told the children that said the demonstration made the point “that risk can be managed if you know what you are doing”. (Source: Daily Telegraph, Jul/11)

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