Dear Sir,
Not for the first time, in his article of 22 June, Simon Jenkins completely misrepresents the Health and Safety Executive’s standpoint on risk both as regards to theory and practice. HSE’s role is not to seek eliminate all risk but rather to help ensure that risks are identified and managed in a sensible and proportionate manner. Far from being ‘an unregulated, unaccountable realm of the State’ we are accountable to Ministers through the Health and Safety Commission and are subject to full Parliamentary scrutiny. Finally, to claim our inspectors are ‘zombies’ is simply abusive nonsense. I frequently accompany our inspectors in their work and am invariably struck by their expertise, their good sense and their moderation. Their dedication is to reducing the 212 deaths and 146,000 injuries in the workplace (2005/06) not to the figments of Mr Jenkins’ imagination.
Yours faithfully,
Geoffrey Podger
Chief Executive
In my role as an Amicus Safety Representative, having met a few inspectors, and through my many contacts with HSE personnel, at conferences and on committees in which I’ve participated, I’ve always found the people working for the HSE to be intelligent, personable, reasonable, and just as dedicated as Geoffrey Podger claims. Mr. Podger isn’t just speaking up to protect his ‘troops’ — he’s telling it like it is. The Guardian paper, for which I have a great deal of respect, can’t be held accountable for the rubbish that journalists will print, just for the sake of ‘coming up with something’. But Mr. Jenkins should be… He wants to open his eyes (though, if he hasn’t by now, it’s probably too late) and find a better target for his abuse. There are plenty of them out there. Get out of your ivory tower, mate, get the blinkers off and try to find your way back to doing the job that once inspired you.
#