Balance safety to protect freedom, says RoSPA
December 1st 2008 The Chief
Executive of
the Royal
Society for the
Prevention of
Accidents has
said people
need to be given the correct
information so that they can
decide for themselves what
risks they want to take.
A quest for "absolute
safety" was not feasible and
would come at a cost to
freedom, Tom Mullarkey said
in his report to RoSPA's
annual meeting.
Striking the right balance
was the key challenge for
health and safety experts if
they wanted to win the fight
against "nanny state"
accusations.
"The application of
common sense and
balance is much more
reasonable than the
seeking of mindless
increments towards
'absolute safety', a
destination which is neither
feasible nor, in all
probability, desirable, since
it would come at such cost
to our freedoms," he said.
"Accident prevention
involves so many technical,
legal and ethical issues,
ultimately defining life and
death, that there is no simple
shorthand for explaining how
the whole thing works for
the benefit of the 60 million
people who rely on it." More articles from RoSPA: | 
