Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2007 | Page 9

ANDREW TURNER MP life Andrew Turner MP If you would like to contact our island MP (Andrew Turner) then please either write to: 24 The Mall, Caisbrooke, Isle of Wight PO30 1BW or call 01983 530808 email: [email protected] I am sometimes asked what legislation I would pass if I had the chance. Well, I am unlikely to get such an opportunity but, if it arose, I would have to pass the Application of Common Sense Bill. Clearly, I would have to give a lot of thought to how it would be drafted and there would be no end of objections from vested interests but I am sure it would be a popular measure with the public. Why do we need such a Bill? Well, it seems pretty obvious to me, it is because we have a compensation and risk culture gone mad. We hear of children being stopped from playing conkers and banned from using playground equipment. We read of teachers reluctant to restrain unruly children or even to comfort those who are upset for fear of unfounded accusations. The omnipresent ‘health and safety’ brigade is determined that every possible event must have a risk assessment and an army of inspectors to assess, measure and evaluate everything. Even when I offered work experience to a youngster in my office I was supposed to do a full risk assessment. I suppose a teenager could unplug the photocopier and stick their fingers in the electricity socket but none have tried to do so yet. Don’t tell anyone but I didn’t return the assessment and nobody noticed! Government tries to protect citizens. That may be well intentioned but things seem to have spiralled out of control. Our traditional festivals, regattas and celebrations face ever-higher insurance costs, fire safety rules and complex forms to fill in. Yet accidents still happen. I am not saying you don’t need basic insurance and obviously public places and events should be safe but too much Government and European interference have spawned a whole new industry and, unhappily, it is slowly strangling some of our finest traditions. The danger of trying to legislate for every eventuality is that people lose the ability to evaluate risk for themselves. As a boy my parents let me climb trees, they didn't need a health and safety inspector to judge whether I could fall and hurt myself, they just let me get on with it and, if I hurt myself, tough! I did fall sometimes but I learnt from that not to go too high or to venture out onto rotten branches. I was not really a daredevil even then. As I said, accidents happen and of course when they do they can demonstrate new risks nobody has yet thought about – a self perpetuating argument for even more inspectors to think up ever more unlikely scenarios and plan how they can be avoided. So my Application of Common Sense Bill will, I am sure, be welcomed by the majority of right-thinking people. Unfortunately, I predict the newly redundant health and safety inspectors will simply retrain as common sense inspectors to ensure the new legislation is applied in a proportionate and proper way according to the enormous book of regulations and guidelines they are sure to produce. Or am I being too cynical? Island Life - www.isleofwight.net 9