'Compensation culture'... ...does it really exist?
October 20, 2010
Posted by:Marilene Antoni
I was reading an article this week in the Evening Standard about ‘health-and-safety experts’ deciding that visitors could no longer walk on Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds installation, an interactive piece of art at the Tate Modern, in case fine dust, created by footfall upon the millions of porcelain seeds covering the turbine hall floor, damaged their lungs. However what bothered me about this article was that "no win no fee" lawyers were being blamed for the fact that the concept of health and safety had been "reduced to a laughing stock" and that "common sense" should prevail. This representation of a ‘compensation culture’ is very misleading. As we all know health and safety laws are implemented to provide genuine protection against negligent acts caused by others, but in claims for personal injury the issue of ‘common sense’ is a factor that is also taken into account in any event.