Huhne says Health and Safety Executive needs to be more sensitive to people's grief

10.52.32am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 20th Apr 2005

Eastleigh parliamentary candidate Chris Huhne says that the Health and Safety Executive has been extraordinarily high-handed and over-zealous in the way it handled the dangers of tumbling tombstones in cemeteries.

In a letter to HSE chairman Bill Callaghan, the Hampshire MEP asks for a review of the policy and for details of the evidence that there have really been serious risks to those grieving in cemeteries from falling tombstones.

Many local residents have complained to Mr Huhne about the taped warnings that have been fixed to tombstones in local cemeteries, such as that on Brookwood Avenue (where Mr Huhne is pictured, attached). "The HSE has not been sensitive enough to people's grief" he said.

"The HSE's material on this matter refers to the dangers of memorials falling down, but is hard to believe that the risks are really from tombstones rather than the much grander memorials that can clearly be a danger. So I have asked Mr Callaghan to provide clear evidence on this.

"The HSE's initiative follows its own figures that suggest that there have been 21 serious accidents including 3 fatalities to members of the public over the last five years. However, the HSE has not made clear what type of memorial is the problem, and I find it hard to believe that falling tombstones can really be the cause" said Mr Huhne.

"The HSE has a tendency to want to remove the risks of everything in life, but there has to be a sense of proportion. If taken to extremes, the HSE would abolish ladders and stairs and have us all wandering around swathed in cotton wool" said Mr Huhne.