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I'd be interested to know whether You and Yours listeners believe they are living in a country which is "elf and safety mad," so do write and let me know your views. We'll be discussing this soon in relation to an outbreak of E-Coli at a petting farm in Surrey.

The H and S-sceptic viewpoint is certainly a popular one. Last week of eradicating an epidemic besetting Britain.

sighed a huge sigh of relief, taking an opportunity to reiterate the symptoms - schools banning conkers, goggles outlawed at swimming pools, restaurants banning toothpicks.

But is Lord Young of Graffham looking for a needle in a haystack - if such a plainly hazardous activity is still permitted in "elf and safety" UK?

After all, right now we have the safety record of being right across the world.

Admittedly this is under the US regulatory system, though BP is 44 per cent UK-owned. Much closer to home, five British-based companies have now either been found guilty or admitted health and safety offences connected to theat the in Hertfordshire in 2005.

If you're thinking the oil business is one of those industries - like coalmining - that is just inherently dangerous, and remain convinced that the UK's health and safety regime needs dismantling I would urge you to consider the relatively tranquil pursuit of running a "petting farm".

In August and September of last year the in Surrey suffered an outbreak of the serious and potentially fatal . This is a highly virulent organism, which the young and old are particularly vulnerable to. Ruminants carry the disease (it's harmless to animals) and it's passed on via contact with infected faeces.

At Godstone 93 people contracted the disease, 17 of them children. No-one died, but 27 people were admitted to hospital with a severe kidney condition, eight children required dialysis and some have been left with permanent kidney damage.

Worried parents featured in the national media - criticising the health authorities for not closing down the farm sooner - thus preventing further cases of the disease from occurring. Some of them in newspapers which, ordinarily, are not keen on the UK "elf and safety culture".

Last week an into the incident was published. Written by George Griffin, Professor of Infectious Diseases at , it recommends 43 separate changes to the regulatory regime.

Essentially the report confirms that the outbreak could have been limited to fewer cases had the various agencies involved, reacted more decisively, sooner. But it also reveals a fog of responsibility.

Working farms are regulated by the as they are regarded as a workplace. Yet when a farm becomes an "Open Farm" - primarily to attract visitors, it is officially regarded as an entertainment and become the responsibility of local authority environmental health departments (EHDs).

Local environmental health officers (EHOs) carry out inspections of Open Farms but don't have the knowledge that HSE staff have about health risks in an agricultural setting. Yet it is EHOs that have enforcement powers (it was down to them to force Godstone Park to close).

Furthermore the environmental health department responsible for Godstone Farm was responsible for food safety, hygiene and health and safety at over 2,000 premises, some of them requiring a visit every six months. The Griffin report reveals that at the time of the outbreak:

"...only two out of four posts...were filled . Given these circumstances it is unclear to us how much time was available to ...spend on Open Farm risk assessment. We believe the council should consider carefully whether the EHD is adequately resourced."

Inspections were carried out at non-peak times to "reduce the regulatory burden to the farm operator." The EHD "recorded that they were very confident in the Godstone Farm management and scored the premises above average."

Godstone was also required to appoint a "specific competent person in respect of health and safety." This was identified to be an Assistant Farm Manager who confessed to having received no training for his role. The farm later said the owner was this "competent person."

Meanwhile in the regional operation, which was responsible for leading and co-ordinating the official response to the incident a "computerised case management and decision support system" was malfunctioning "due to insufficient broadband capacity at the Leatherhead office." This system was key to identifying linked cases which would have allowed the seriousness of the outbreak to have been discerned sooner. It had been "in use" since 2006.

Now I don't know about you but the picture I'm getting is less Health and Safety Stasi and more Inspector Clouseau.

Specific shortcomings identified at Godstone Farm were: staff inadequately trained in health and safety; paths badly designed allowing the spread of contamination; "limited opportunities for hand-washing" in certain areas and the "deep litter" system which allowed an accumulation of faeces in the pens.
The risk assessment was out of date, insufficiently detailed and not "site-specific."

And it is the risk assessment which sits at the heart of modern UK health and safety regulation. No longer do businesses fear the knock of the all-powerful, all-knowing "inspector," who can close them down with a single tap of pencil on clipboard. Instead we have a cheaper and "light touch" system which puts companies and organisations in charge of identifying their own safety risks and acting appropriately. And according to the Griffin Report on Godstone it's a responsibility businesses don't necessarily want.

"The....approach which allows employers to choose how to comply...suits large businesses with in-house resources and expertise enabling them to manage a variety of risks competently...This is not true of smaller, less well resourced firms who will often say 'just tell us what we should do'."

Perhaps Lord Young should take note as he waves his sickle at the UK health and safety thicket.

Winifred will be investigating the issues raised by the Godstone Farm E Coli O157 outbreak soon. Unfortunately the owners of Godstone have said they can't appear because some parents are bringing against the farm.

Andrew Smith is the Editor of You and Yours, In Touch, Fact the Facts and The Media Show on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4.

You & Yours is on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4 at 1200 weekdays. Listen to today's episode on the Radio 4 web site.

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