Tag Archives: risk benefit assessment

A broken limb, the Health and Safety Executive, and a good outcome

broken arm in plasterThe Health and Safety Executive – the nation’s safety regulator – is so often the fall guy for everything that is wrong about the way risk is managed. But last week I heard an anecdote that brought home to me – in an unexpected way – the positive role HSE is playing in building support for a balanced, thoughtful approach to risk in children’s play. I was running a workshop on risk-benefit assessment at a playwork conference, and one of the participants – a manager of an after-school club – shared a revealing story. It begins last September, with a boy breaking a limb.

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It’s health and safety gone sane!

Glamis Adventure Playground double swingI see what you did there. So I take it you are not about to share another crazy story about kids being wrapped in cotton wool.
Indeed not. Today is a good day for getting rid of the white fluffy stuff. You see, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a statement that promotes a balanced, thoughtful approach to safety in children’s play.

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Risk benefit assessment in my own backyard (Part 2)

Jozef toasting a marshmallowThe good news: the two fire-making sessions went very well. I felt that all the children engaged positively with the activities pretty much throughout. Six or seven parents emailed me afterwards to say how much their child enjoyed the evening. I don’t think they were just being polite. Continue reading

Risk benefit assessment in my own backyard (Part 1)

Girl toasting marshmallow over a fireThis Thursday, I am running the first of two sessions in my back garden, for my local Woodcraft Folk group. The children will get the chance to use a fire steel to light a fire. I thought it would be interesting to carry out a risk benefit assessment (RBA) to help with my session planning. Continue reading

Taking a balanced approach to risk in childhood: Why and how

Rosa on a tree swingWhere was your favourite place to play as a child? The chances are, it was out of doors, and out of sight of adults. A place where you felt a sense of freedom and possibility. Where you could follow your impulses and your imagination, even if that led you into situations that were scary, challenging, perhaps even downright dangerous.

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3 things HSE must do to end the zero risk childhood

HSE web page Myth of the month - Egg boxes are banned in craft lessonsJudith Hackitt, head of the Health and Safety Executive, was right recently when she said that the muddle about health and safety cannot be laid solely at her door. To take one example: no credible organisation has ever advised that egg boxes and toilet roll holders should be banned from the classroom. The HSE itself has labelled the ban one of its ‘myths of the month’. Yet despite this, many early years teachers and childcarers are convinced that egg boxes are a biological risk too far.

However, the HSE remains at the very centre of the mess. Continue reading