Workers should be educated about potential risks of their environment and employers should be required to take reasonable precautions to protect employees. Let's make an example of something risky. A welder should be required to wear skin, face, and eye protection by the employer, and should be warned to ensure that all surfaces are clean and dry before welding (the average person, even the average welder, probably does not know that a welding torch will decompose chlorinated brake cleaner into hydrogen chloride and phosgene gases.) Even though anyone who is a certified welder should know it, they should be told that they are required to use ventilation equipment, and a respirator if appropriate to avoid metal fume fever. It is not necessary to warn a welder that a welding torch can cause third degree burns, that it should not be left burning unattended, that it should not be used to light cigarettes (seriously, the guy who did the exhaust on my old car did this as well as aiming, covering his eyes with his arm, and welding for a few seconds before checking his work instead of getting a mask,) and that it will be hot after it is extinguished. Safety equipment or reimbursement for it should be provided by the employer.
The UK has a reputation for being a nanny state because of the regulations you're mentioning. Also for things like banning the sale of steak knives and pizza cutters to minors, banning goggles in swimming classes, and recommendations that fire extinguishers be removed from common rooms in apartment buildings because they are a safety hazard (although that was from the Daily Mail and I'm not so sure about their credibility, they seem like a tabloid.) There is a fear of giving people responsibility or holding them responsible for their actions, and I feel that it is creating a society that is afraid to evaluate risks and whether they can be taken.
|