Political correctness has long been the reason we all feel unable to say things which could be construed in an offensive way.  But what if we use political correctness with health and safety as the excuse to promote something as legislative correctness?

Two recent examples of a landlord and an insurer trying to use health and safety as an excuse to impose their rules on tenants came to light.

One was an insurer wanting their policy holder to establish a key holding service with a professional security company for intruder alarms, and told them it was to comply with health and safety regulations. The HSE said this may be good policy, but it is not part of regulations.

The second was a local council banning a tenant from using a mains extension lead from within his house, using health and safety reasons.  Again the HSE said not.  Instead it was suggested tenants are referred to available guidance from Electrical Safety First or the Local Government Fire Safety in shared or rented accommodation.

Bottom line is neither the insurer or the council was asking for something that was not good practice or common sense.  Did they think they were being politically correct to cite health and safety instead of being honest?  They could have said this was a policy and the way they worked as best practice.  Citing H&S legislation to force policies they wanted, is dishonest and amounts to abuse of a client.