Consultation

[kerry davies]

Consultation

 

Proposed changes to H&S enforcement by Local Authority regulators could have consequences so find out and have your say.

[paulears]

I registered, read it, re-read it and to be honest wish there was a simple summary, because I can't decide if it's better or worse for me personally, and so little seems to be relevant.

 

Kerry - can you attempt to explain how this impacts on us. I think I've lost the plot?

[kerry davies]

In theory, Paul, it will not affect you at all. In practice handing over regulatory power to councils tends to have unintended consequences. Reductions in unannounced visits are fine for metalwork shops but since EHO's and Licensing Officers are often one and the same it may affect theatres differently.

 

Because many venues are council owned and run I can see that paperwork could escalate and the Inter-Authority peer review system smells of a possible "race to the bottom" where paperwork becomes the be-all and end-all. See item 48.

 

The really big change for theatre, especially council run venues, is that the public will be directed to address H&S complaints to the LA and we all know that the public, the LA's and the Daily Mail have a very strange view on what is H&S. See item 38.

 

You have not lost the plot at all, I am just a lot more suspicious of bureaucracy and "if it can go wrong, it surely must" where local authority is concerned. It SHOULD be a good thing but where EHO's are concerned I fear the worst every time. The very mention of the words EHO and competence in the same sentence sends shivers down the spine.