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SOCIETY WATCH: International
We’ll Never Win Gold If Kids Can’t Even Do the Sack Race
Ross Brewster, News & Star (UK), February 8, 2007
British columnist Ross Brewster is “hopping mad” at what he sees as the hypocrisy between the amount being spent on the London Olympics and the fact that students in Hartlepool, England, cannot compete in sack races due to liability concerns. He writes: “The regeneration of part of our capital city leaves me cold when I think that, up here in the north, one bunch of kids can’t take part in a sack race on school sports day because of the high cost of insurance. … How on earth do we expect to produce the Olympic champions of the future with these attitudes?” He relates that the Hartlepool school in question spends £600 insuring sprinting and badminton events, but that that amount “would double if events like the sack race were included.” Brewster concludes: “If the government is serious about getting kids off their fat backsides, away from the television and computer games, and into healthy exercise, then they should do something about it. … Abandon all these gimmicky initiatives and do something positive to stop this compensation culture from wrecking kids’ sporting lives.” article »
Sir Digby Attacks Risk-Averse Schools
Rebecca Smithers, Guardian (UK), February 7, 2007
Britain’s new “skills envoy,” Sir Digby Jones, has set his sights on the country’s “growing aversion to risk and enterprise, warning that [its] national obsession with safety is paralysing [its] youngsters' creativity and creating a new generation of ‘cotton wool kids’.” With the belief that “schools should be doing more to encourage pupils to take risks on a regular basis,” he has launched a national campaign to “urge[ ] headteachers and business leaders to work more closely together to rekindle – with government support – a culture of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.” A former business leader, appointed in December 2006 to be the government’s first “skills envoy,” Jones writes: “‘Today's pupils are tomorrow's innovators. Many UK schools are doing excellent work in promoting innovation and risk-positive skills and attitudes, but there still aren't enough of them and they don't get much recognition. An understanding of risk underpins essential enterprise skills that are vital to the UK's capacity to innovate and compete in a global economy. Yet we are all complicit in creating a more risk-averse society – our growing fear of litigation, excessive regulation, distorted media reporting, parental paranoia and a confused understanding of risk only serve to reinforce risk-averse attitudes.’” article »
Let the Children Go Out to Learn
Guardian-series (UK), January 12, 2007
Responding to the reluctance of some British teachers “to take children on school trips because of fears of legal action if something went wrong,” “more than 100 public sector bodies, private companies, local authorities and teaching organisations” signed the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto. The document “calls for school trips to become a more integral part of school life” and “pledges to help schools, local authorities and other organisations to manage school trips more safely and efficiently.” Leyton MP Harry Cohen, who supports the initiative, states: “‘Every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as a normal part of going to school. They are the most memorable learning experiences and help us to make sense of the world around us and stay with us into adulthood.’” The manifesto also follows a call from the Association of School and College Leaders that the British government “do more to cut bureaucracy and protect institutions from the threat of litigation.” article »
Mourners Ordered to Sign Safety Waivers
Evening Standard (UK), December 2, 2006
“It seems that not even a funeral is safe from the compensation culture sweeping Britain,” relates London’s Evening Standard, reporting on how “pallbearers are being asked to sign waiver forms in case they hurt their backs carrying the coffin into church.” The paper reports on one particular incident where former comrades of a Welsh Guardsman who fought in WWII “were approached by a top-hatted undertaker as they prepared to carry [their friend’s] body into a crematorium in Cardiff – and asked to sign a form.” “’We were flabbergasted,’” says one of the pallbearers. “‘The undertaker explained it was a declaration that absolved them of any liability if we slipped a disc lifting the coffin. The pallbearers were in their 70s but they were all six-footers and thought it was ridiculous. … I think even the undertaker was a bit embarrassed. This is health and safety gone mad.’” Dominic Maguire of the National Association of Funeral Directors explains: “‘It is very sad but it's an indication of the increasingly litigious and health-and-safety obsessed society in which we live. When volunteer pallbearers present themselves, they may appear robust but it is only sensible for the funeral director to ask for their signatures. Funeral directors should use their discretion but I expect this to become a routine procedure in the near future.’” Tory MP Phil Davies is less understanding – of the movement to have pallbearers sign waivers, he states: “‘It is absolutely ridiculous. It just makes me despair. The whole compensation culture is getting out of hand.’" article »
Parade on Saturday
Langley Times (British Columbia, Canada), November 26, 2006
After a year hiatus, the “Magic of Christmas” parade returns to the Canadian city of Langley, British Columbia, “[m]uch to the delight of thousands of Langley children.” The parade, which is expected to draw over 3,000 onlookers, and which will include over 50 entries, “including bands, horses, and, of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus,” was cancelled in 2005 due to an increase in the cost of insurance. Teri James, Downtown Langley Merchants’ Association coordinator, explains: "‘The cost for liability insurance went from $1,200 to $3,200 and it just wasn't in our budget …. This year the City agreed to partner with us and we are able to use their insurance.’"
Backstory: Everyone's Going Conkers
Brendan O'Neill, Christian Science Monitor, November 14, 2006
Britain’s “health and safety culture,” the Christian Science Monitor reports, is threatening “the cherished (British) childhood game of conkers.” Brendan O’Neill writes that while opponents of the 200-year-old game – which, in a nutshell, involves two players attempting to smash the other’s “conker” (or horse-chestnut) off the end of a shoelace – “do not share one overriding concern,” they do, as a whole, “have a lower tolerance for liability and bodily injury than previous generations did.” Accordingly, schools are banning the game from their playgrounds and municipalities are going so far as to “chop[ ] down the ancient chestnut trees that tempt conkers players.” O’Neill relates that “[o]ne survey of playground life in schools in central England suggests that individual teachers, afraid of lawsuits, are unilaterally banning conkers.” The researcher of that study concluded: "‘The lunch break is now in danger of becoming a sterile, joyless time as schools overreact to an increasingly litigious society.’” Conn Iggulden, author of The Dangerous Book for Boys, agrees that opponents of the game are overreacting. “’[Conkers opposition],’” he tells O’Neill, “’has reached absurd levels.” He continues: “‘If we wrap our children in cotton wool all the time, then they will never develop the skills and independence required to become fully adult. I say let them climb trees, and let them play conkers.’” article »
It's Time to Curb 'Claim Culture' in Our Schools
Kathryn Torney, Belfast Telegraph (Northern Ireland), October 3, 2006
The Belfast Telegraph reports that there is a growing sentiment in Northern Ireland that “[a]ction must be taken to curb the compensation culture afflicting [the province’s] schools.” Because of “[f]ear of legal action or being accused of inappropriate behaviour,” the paper relates that, “[i]n some schools, school trips have been curtailed or banned and in others parents now have to give permission for teachers to put plasters on pupils if they hurt themselves.” And, in at least one school, “‘health and safety rules’” prohibit children from running on the school’s playground. Sammy Wilson, a former teacher and current education spokesman for Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, states, speaking of the current “‘mad’” situation in the province’s schools: “‘In the past if youngsters fell or were sad, teachers would give them a hug – just as a parent would do – but now school staff are afraid of any physical contact with pupils at all. … It also takes away a lot of the fun that young people have in school if they cannot take part in rough and tumble in the playground. Inevitably children will fall at times and may skin their knees or elbows but that is part of growing up.’” He believes that “courts and others” have “unrealistic expectations … about just how much protection you can give to children.” “‘I think the courts need to take a more common sense approach,’” he argues. “‘A few cases knocked back may create a more realistic attitude.’”
Rabbits Risk Cull Over Lawsuit Fear
Royston and Buntingford Mercury (UK), September 29, 2006
Rabbits, the Royston and Buntingford Mercury (UK) reports, “could become the latest victims of (Britain’s) compensation culture.” The paper relates that the “Norfolk Road playing fields (in Buntingford) are overrun by cotton-tailed terrors which have tunnelled extensive burrows under the cricket and football pitches” and that the town council is concerned that, if someone were to injure themselves in one of the holes, a lawsuit could ensue. The town clerk states: “‘The rabbit burrows are rapidly becoming a health and safety issue. We have the cricket club using the field at the moment and we'll have football matches on the pitches in the coming weeks. The risk is if someone injures themselves playing on the pitches and says the town council should have done something to prevent it. In this age of compensation culture we have to do something to stop it happening.’” Unfortunately for the rabbits, the options before the town – besides installing “expensive rabbit-proof fencing” – include exterminating them either through poison gas or killer ferrets. article »
Children's Commissioner: We Need a National Debate on Parental Paranoia
Jenifer Johnston, Sunday Herald (Scotland), September 17, 2006
Kathleen Marshall, Scotland’s children’s commissioner, has called for “a ‘radical rethink’ about the way children are being raised in Scotland.” Addressing the “parental paranoia” she believes has restricted children’s play, Marshall tells the Sunday Herald: “‘We have to allow children to play and accept that there is an element of risk about it. It really is time to reflect on this … one of the perhaps sad things about society today is that some children will have been brought up never knowing outside. … We have to acknowledge we are in a different world … but if you took into account what children like to do, you’d find they like being outside, they like unstructured play.’” Impeding children’s enjoyment “‘of the richness of childhood,’” she argues, are parents’ fears of pedophilia and child abductions, as well as Britain’s “‘compensation culture.’” She relates: “‘People contact us saying they would like to get involved and volunteer with children but they think it’s too risky and that there are too many barriers. … People who want to be Scout leaders are a good example. As well as worrying about being accused of improper behaviour, they are contending with the compensation culture: what if someone fell over in the playground, would there be legal action? There is a fear of getting sued for a lot of people.’”
Letter from London; Even Safety Czar Thinks British Are Too Risk-Averse
Sarah Lyall, New York Times, September 13, 2006
Even the head of Britain’s Health and Safety Commission, Bill Callaghan, believes Britons are too risk-averse. Appearing on television recently, the New York Times reports, Mr. Callaghan “urge[d] Britons to ‘get a life.’” The Times continues: “Britain has indeed become more risk-averse in recent years, largely because of a pervasive public fear of American-style litigation. But as Mr. Callaghan points out, payouts in liability cases in Britain are far lower than they are in the United States – about one-third as much per capita – and most lawsuits are dismissed before ever getting to trial. By the same token, [Callaghan] said, he believes that many of the decisions made in the name of health and safety in Britain are indeed asinine. These include schools requiring children to wear protective goggles when playing with nuts that have fallen from trees; schools banning bandages because of fears of latex allergies; and village fairs forbidding people to sell homemade cakes in case they contain contaminated eggs.” His 17-year-old son has been personally affected by “annoyingly overzealous regulations” when, on a recent class ski trip to upstate New York, he “[was] forbidden to swim in the hotel pool with children from other schools, because their school’s risk assessors had determined that it was too dangerous.” article »
Junk Culture Killing Childhood, Experts Warn
Helen Mooney, Guardian (UK), September 12, 2006
The Daily Telegraph published an open letter in which “110 teachers, psychologists and children’s authors [call] on the government to prevent the death of childhood.” The letter states: “‘Since children's brains are still developing, they cannot adjust as full-grown adults can, to the effects of ever more rapid technological and cultural change …. They still need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to 'junk'), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen-based entertainment), first-hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives ….’” article »
Cleaning a Church Is Just 'Too Risky' for Teen Volunteers
Telegraph (UK), July 16, 2006
“For a quarter of a century young people have spent holidays helping to maintain some of Britain’s most important historical buildings while learning traditional skills in cleaning stained glass windows and restoring ancient monuments,” writes Jonathan Wynne-Jones of the Telegraph. But now, Cathedral Camps, “the charity which has sent thousands of teenagers on its week-long camps,” is closing down shop. The reason? Rising insurance premiums and “the introduction of more stringent legislation [that] raised concerns that it could face claims for compensation.” The Very Reverend Richard Lewis, Chair of Cathedral Camps, recently wrote to the churches and cathedrals that had benefited from his organization’s volunteers that “[h]ealth and safety is very important and it has implications for the sort of work we are now allowed to do; it involves complex risk assessment for everything; and the cost of insurance has risen greatly." The organization’s insurance premiums went from 2,500 pounds in 2000 to 10,000 pounds in 2005 – this despite not one person being injured during the camp’s 25 years of existence. article »
High School Children Sick of Sitting on Their Classes
Caroline Milburn, Age (Australia), July 10, 2006
A recently released study chronicles how Australian “students at private and government schools … were forced to sit and talk during breaks because they were not allowed to run, play informal games or have access to sporting equipment.” Commenting on the study’s results, Boyd Swinburn, an Australian childhood obesity expert, argued that “fear of litigation stopped schools [from] encouraging physical games at lunchtime but [that] principals had to overcome that fear to help fight obesity.” “‘The Education Department, the minister and the principals' association,’” he related, “‘need to take a leadership role here and promote the concept of active lunchtimes. We've gone too far in wrapping our kids in cotton wool, fearing that they might get injured.’” article »
Clampdown on No-Win, No-Fee 'Cowboys'
Press Association (UK), June 8, 2006
In an article on the second reading of Britain’s proposed “compensation bill,” the Guardian Unlimited relates that “[t]he government is to clampdown on no-win, no-fee 'cowboys' abusing Britain's compensation culture and deterring school trips and volunteers who fear litigation.” The proposed legislation, which targets disreputable claims management companies, “aims to stamp out spurious claims which raise false hopes and protect people from poor quality advice.” It also seeks to “allow courts to give special consideration to what the bill terms ‘desirable activities.’” Bridget Prentice, Britain’s Constitutional Affairs Minister, argues that “[t]he voluntary sector is one of the worst affected areas with the threat of litigation having a ‘real and damaging effect on people's behaviour.’” article »
Sorry Kids, Fun Is Banned
Elissa Lawrence, Sunday Mail (Australia), February 27, 2005
In Australia's Sunday Mail, urban design expert Danny O'Hare discusses how the fear of being sued can undermine the goal of creating unique and enjoyable public spaces: "'We design and manage everything according to a worst possible situation, instead of having our mind on creating spaces that are lively or enjoyable and which contribute to the enjoyment of the city as a whole,' Dr O'Hare said. 'It's boring . . . you end up creating places that aren't very different to anywhere else, or that people will remember. This over-concern with risk can really reduce the amount of enjoyment we get out of the city. ... I have small children and I took them back to the area where I grew up, to a playground I enjoyed when I was a child. I was quite saddened to see the swing we used to play on had been removed because it was seen as too risky and yet a couple of generations at least had grown up in that town and hadn't been killed or maimed by it.'"
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