I AM writing in response to Sue Carter’s Sassy & Single column in Wednesday’s Oxford Mail, headed ‘Health and safety is snow laughing matter’.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health did not issue a warning about clearing snow from pavements – nor would it ever do so.

The statement the column is referring to was produced after The Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday misreported the IOSH in January last year.

The institute is the world’s leading body for health and safety professionals, with more than 38,000 members worldwide, and actively encourages good neighbourliness.

In the Arctic conditions at the end of last year, we called for employers and individuals who wished to clear snow from public pavements to do so, if they had the resources to do it properly.

As far as we are aware, there have been no cases where anybody has been sued for clearing snow or ice from the front of a home or business, and thus people should not shy away from helping others for fear of litigation.

More often than not, the crazy health and safety stories reported in the media are a result of lack of advice, fear of being sued, or people not wanting the cost and trouble of running an event properly.

Real health and safety prevents illness, saves lives and allows people to live life to the full.

Rob Strange, Chief executive , Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, Wigston, Leicestershire