Health and safety experts got a bad press as a result of efforts by some – mainly schools worried about potential personal accident claims – to ban the playing of conkers.

It didn’t do much for their reputation and made them look like a curmudgeonly spoilsports.

The good news for children, or anyone else preparing for the conker season, is that the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, Europe’s leading body for health and safety professionals, has hit back at claims that playing conkers is too dangerous.

It is calling on bans to be lifted after reports that some schools have banned it because it poses a risk. The top safety body even says that using goggles is ‘way over the top’.

Such is their concern to get away from the image of interfering bureaucrats that the safety people are putting their money where their mouth by sponsoring this year’s World Conker Championships at Ashton, Northamptonshire on Sunday, October 12.

I am grateful for this information to Rosita Rogers, marketing assistant at Bradford-based consultancy Envirocare. The firm, a leading independent consultancy accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service .

Based at St Blaise House in Vaughan Street, the consultancy was founded in 1994 and has become one of the UK’s leading environmental and health and safety specialists.

It deals with a range of businesses, from owner-managed firms to multi-national companies, assessing health and safety programmes and offering guidance and advice to enable them to comply with regulations and make the workplace safer.

Andrea Beswick, health and safety services manager, leads a team of experts who work with organisations and provide assessments and guidance to meet their needs.

In addition to commercial and industrial companies, Envirocare also works for schools, local authorities and hospitals to ensure their health and safety measures and procedures are top notch and meet increasingly tough standards laid down by the UK Government and the European Union.

There are two distinct sides to the business – health and safety and environmental, which focuses on emissions and pollution.

A key part of the health and safety work revolves around helping firms comply with the COSHH regulations covering hazardous substances.

Envirocare is also one of only a handful of UK consultancies accredited to advise on local exhaust ventilation systems in order to guard against asthma and other occupational lung diseases.

Vibration from using mechanical hand tools, such as pneumatic drills and other implements is also an area of focus for Envirocare experts. Vibration put users at risk of a condition known as vibration white finger and also whole body vibration syndrome. Regulations covering noise levels are another area of activity. Recent regulations requiring discos and night clubs to turn down the volume of music in order to protect employees is just one issue on which businesses turn to Envirocare for help and advice.

Its services include risk assessments and reporting on health and safety requirements at individual organisations.

Envirocare experts will also carry out health surveillance screening including hearing tests and lung function tests.

Andrea Beswick said they were particularly keen to help businesses be pro-active in dealing with employees’ welfare through consultation and advice.

The company also provides advice and training to help employees so they can run in-house assessments and take ownership of the issue.

Helping organisations to set up health and safety policies and management control plans and carrying out compliance audits is a central part of its work.

Said Andrea: “The media focuses on issues such as the ‘bonkers conkers’ stories give a wrong impression about what health and safety people do.

“We’re there to work with organisations to help them. It’s not just about complying with regulations but also realising that good practice on health and safety should lead to a healthier and more contented workforce that is more efficient and productive.

“For instance, we have worked with several call centres on ensuring that air quality in the workplace is good so that staff feel better. A bad atmosphere could have a direct impact, not only of people’s health, but also on their approach to work.”

Recent projects undertaken by Envirocare include a public sector company requiring a COSHH assessment and noise monitoring survey to comply with updated regulations.

A survey revealed high levels of dust in the air and Envirocare assessed the firm’s risk and exposure and suggested control methods to bring both noise and dust levels into line with the new regulations.

Envirocare undertakes consultancy for organisations around the UK.

The company is the first independent consultancy in the UK to be awarded MCERTS accreditation for environmental monitoring.

Envirocare says it has seen a big increase in the number of companies using its services with the number of quotes for consultancy work rising by around 25 per cent in a year.