Sensible risk management will be the theme for next month's Europe-wide Week for Safety and Health at Work event.

The 2008 campaign - which will run from 20 to 24 October - will focus on the benefits of completing and implementing a risk assessment.

Aimed at demystifying the risk assessment process, the campaign will show that risk assessment is not necessarily complicated, bureaucratic or a task only for experts.

During the week awareness will be raised on this issue.

Information and practical advice will also be provided on encouraging activities that have a positive impact in the workplace, as well as identifying good practice.

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HSENI Chairman, Peter McKie, said: "Risk assessment need not always be long and complex. Okay, if you’re running an oil refinery, you’re going to need a fair amount of paperwork. But for most organisations simple bullet points can work very well indeed.

"After all, paperwork on its own never saved anyone. It is a means to an end – action is what protects people. Risk assessments should be fit for purpose and acted upon.

"HSENI believes that risk management should be about practical steps to protect people from real harm and suffering - not bureaucratic back covering.

"If you believe some of the stories you hear, health and safety is all about stopping any activity that might possibly lead to harm. This is not our vision of sensible health and safety - we want to save lives, not stop them.

"Our approach is to seek a balance between the unachievable aim of absolute safety and the kind of poor management of risk that damages lives and the economy," he added.

(PR)