Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Gender equality
Practice meets perfect
May/June 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • Topics
  • Safety
  • Incident management
  • Fire
Regulation/enforcement
Reporting
Agriculture and forestry
Catering and leisure
Sector: Central government
Chemicals
Sector: Communications and media
Construction
Education
Sector: Energy
Sector: Financial/general services
Healthcare
Sector: Local government
Manufacturing and engineering
Mining and quarrying
Retail
Third sector
Transport and logistics
Lexicon

T is for triviality

Open-access content Thursday 10th August 2017
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

lexicon-t-triviality

In defining "significant" the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uses the word "trivial" to define its opposite: "Significant risks are those that are not trivial in nature" (www.hse.gov.uk/risk/faq.htm).

The word trivial does not appear in the legislation. However, it does occur in court judgements.

R v Chargot (2008) concerned an untrained dump truck driver who died when his vehicle overturned. The House of Lords ruling made it clear that "when the legislation refers to risks it is not contemplating risks that are trivial or fanciful-¦The law does not aim to create an environment that is entirely risk-free-¦ It is directed at situations where there is a material risk to safety and health, which any reasonable person would appreciate and take steps to guard against."

R v Electric Gate Services Ltd (2009) made reference to Lord Hope's use of "trivial". A nine-year-old boy had been crushed between an electric gate and a pillar as he reached through to press a button to open the gates. Electric Gate Services (EGS), which installed the gates, was prosecuted but at the initial trial, the judge directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict because the accessibility of the gate opening controls did not represent an "appreciable risk".

One of the confusions in interpreting 'trivial' is whether we are referring to the risk or the hazard

However, at the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Dyson ruled that "the prosecution did not have to prove that the risk was appreciable or foreseeable. They had to prove that the risk was not fanciful and was more than trivial."

The Chargot and EGS judgments refer to the case of R v Porter (2008). James Porter was the headmaster of a private school where a three-year old child was taken to hospital after hitting his head when he jumped off some steps. The infant died in hospital -- not from the head injury, but from a hospital-acquired infection, MRSA.

A jury found Porter guilty of failing to ensure the child's safety, despite the judge's direction that "What you must decide is whether there was an unacceptable risk. The trivial risks of everyday life are not unacceptable. They are simply a fact of life, are they not?"

The conviction was quashed, with the appeal judge concluding that since children will jump, the risk did not meet the criteria for being more than trivial.

Lord Justice Moses explained "the absence of any previous accident in circumstances which occur day after day" might be grounds for considering a risk as "fanciful".

One of the confusions in interpreting "trivial" is whether we are referring to the risk or the hazard. The outcome of a child dying is certainly not a trivial severity, but in both Porter and EGS, before the event both parties would have considered the likelihood of that event as trivial. But while hundreds of children jump from steps every day and do not die, any child crushed by a moving gate will suffer harm.

N-is-for-near-miss_Lexicon_IOSH-Magazine-March-2017The evidence from case law is that we cannot ignore trivial risks if they are only trivial because we think the likelihood is remote. They can be ignored only where the most likely worst outcome is trivial.

There are plenty of legal cases looking at serious outcomes with a low probability; there are few cases where the worst outcome was a bruise or a papercut, however likely. Where the outcome is not trivial, we need to document our rationale for deciding the triviality of the likelihood.

In N is for near-miss (IOSH Magazine March 2017, bit.ly/2w6u55r) we touched on the problem of how near-miss reporting systems can be overwhelmed with reports of trivial risks which an organisation cannot control.

To encourage productive reporting the emphasis should not be on "how likely was that near miss to become an accident?" but on "if that near miss had been an accident, what is the worst that could have happened?"

Then it becomes easier to choose between reporting the "I bumped into an obstacle in the office, and the worst that could have happened is a bruise" and "I bumped into an obstacle in the corridor, and the worst that could have happened is that people were prevented from escaping in a fire".

You may also be interested in...

 How the gig economy brings responsibility to both sides

Wednesday 26th July 2017
As the Gig Guide feature (IOSH Magazine August 2017 issue) shows, in disrupting the markets in which they operate, companies such as Uber and Deliveroo are asking questions of the safety and health profession.Their workers are choosing flexibility and short-term contracts and this creates a fluidity in workforces that tests traditional methods of risk management.
Open-access content
Routledge (www.routledge.com

 The End of Heaven – disaster and suffering in a scientific age

Thursday 20th July 2017
  Rating: It opens with a first-person voice (Dekker’s) recalling the death of an unborn child.
Open-access content

 First global OSH campaign focuses on zero harm

Monday 4th September 2017
The initiative is supported by the World Health Organization, the US safety regulator OSHA and the International Association of Labour Inspection.ISSA, which represents social security institutions, government departments and agencies in more than 160 countries, is encouraging organisations to pledge to follow seven “golden rules”, including controlling risks, defining targets and developing programmes to meet them, improving worker competence and ensuring work equipment is safe.
Open-access content

 Permission for take-off

Monday 24th July 2017
News footage that followed the Grenfell Tower fire in west London in June featured London Fire Brigade remotely operating a small rotor-borne aircraft to survey the building’s damage and to search the upper floors for survivors.
Open-access content

 IOSH 2017 conference preview - part 1

Friday 21st July 2017
   Lawrence Waterman Managing partner, Park Health and SafetyWhy should people attend IOSH 2017?
Open-access content
Image credit: iStockphoto/LifeJourneys

 TUC charter to protect ill workers now covers half a million

Thursday 7th September 2017
The voluntary charter is part of a wider TUC campaign which calls for a terminal illness to be viewed as a “protected characteristic”. Charter signatories agree that terminally ill employees enter a “protected period” in which they cannot be dismissed because of their condition.Although the UK’s 2010 Equality Act does offer some protection for terminally ill employees, employers can dismiss them if they fail a capability assessment after “reasonable adjustments” have been made to their work arrangements, resulting in loss of income and loss of death in-service payments.
Open-access content
Topics
Fire
Regulation/enforcement
Reporting
Agriculture and forestry
Catering and leisure
Sector: Central government
Chemicals
Sector: Communications and media
Construction
Education
Sector: Energy
Sector: Financial/general services
Healthcare
Sector: Local government
Manufacturing and engineering
Mining and quarrying
Retail
Third sector
Transport and logistics
Lexicon
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Health and Safety Improvement Manager

Leeds
£35000 - £50000 per annum
Reference
5452992

SHEQ Systems Advisor

Up to £40000.00 per annum + Car Allowance
Reference
5452988

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ