Transcript HSE Is Just Common Sense - Health and Safety for Beginners

Health and Safety is Just
Common Sense?
John Johnston
of
Health and Safety for Beginners
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk
Are you fed up hearing the phrase…
Health and safety is just common
sense.
The following responses have been
collected from the HSfB discussion forums
and the IOSH discussion forums to help
people understand that it’s clearly not!
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk
HSE is just common sense…
• HSE is not common sense, it is based on the
law and needs to be approached with
intelligence and an inquiring mind.
• The sad thing about common sense is that it
isn't that common – Mark Twain.
• A control measure that would have prevented a
mishap is often glaringly obvious after the event.
In other words, hindsight tends to be a wonderful
thing. We have a tendency to call this common
sense.
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk
HSE is just common sense…
• Everybody gets so much information all day long
that they lose their common sense.
• Common sense is an excuse for not thinking,
and at its worse merely reifies the ignorance of
the man in the pub. Common sense will tell you
that the Sun moves round the Earth, that
humans were created by God, and that lightning
comes down from the sky.
• It forbids enquiry, and would, for example, permit
the egregious falsehoods in the 'amusing' piece
quoted by D Whiteleg above to stand
unchallenged.
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk
HSE is just common sense…
• No amount of common sense can tell you if an
electrical cable has a hidden fault or if ceiling
tiles contain asbestos.
• Most accidents happen on roads with a dark
coloured surface - Common sense is that
changing the colour to a light one will reduce
accidents!
• The increased use of police speed cameras is a
common sense response to prevent the public
from speeding.
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk
HSE is just common sense…
• An example of a young child putting their hand
into a cup of steaming water. Common sense
will tell adults that if there is steam rising then it
is hot, but as a child has not experienced this he
has no "common sense", which is not correct.
Common sense is based on experience and
training. Don’t wait for someone to have an
accident to get common sense.
• Once there has been and accident you realise
common sense is not quite as common as you
thought.
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HSE is just common sense…
• Common sense is learned behaviour.
Therefore, 'common sense' is only
'common' when you have an awareness
and understanding of the topic and/ or
environment in which it is to be applied.
• The majority of health and safety practice
is just GOOD sense.
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk
Health and Safety is Just
Common Sense?
John Johnston
of
Health and Safety for Beginners
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk
www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk