January 1 2009 sees the latest health and safety at work legislation come into effect.
Apart from making employers liable for accidents in the workplace, the legislation also places the onus on employees too. In theory this could mean that employees could be prosecuted for harming themselves.
As safety prosecutions lawyer Chris Green, a partner at law firm Weightmans points out: "Even any employees who fail to protect their own or colleagues' safety could face imprisonment if accidents occur after January, whether or not they are senior managers or directors." Daft or what?
Well up to point. After all there is something entirely logical in the notion that if a dopey employee falls over an obstacle that he has placed somewhere it oughn't to be - and breaks his leg - that he should be fined for his own stupidity. Hard but fair and a lesson for life and all that. But somehow it's hard to imagine an employee being punished twice for injuring himself through his own stupidity.
One body that seems immune from punishment for its ability to injure others wherever they may be in its manor is the Metropolitan Police. Now I don't suppose for a moment that the Met is covered by this legislation for injuries that occur outside its own premises but it would be rather nice if it was.
For, as the umpteenth investigation into the shooting of the Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes in July 2005 reveals, the Met could re-write the book on health and safety at work. For example a surveillance officer who was supposed to send images of de Menezes to colleagues failed to do so as he was too busy urinating into a bottle to use the video camera at his disposal. The officer - codenamed Frank - used a hands-free radio that was also faulty, which meant he couldn't film and talk at the same time, never mind take a pee.
It also emerged that just two of the 10 officers on surveillance at Stockwell - looking for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman - had photos of him taken from his gym card.
It's just as well the Met has already fallen foul of old health and safety legislation, otherwise former Met chief Sir Ian Blair, Cressida Dick and the rest of the gang could be facing a spell in the chokey.
