I've summarised David Eager's latest article that explains the concept of benefit-risk and the historical development of the new benefit-risk assessment standard. His article will be a pivotal resource to help New Zealand get back on track, balancing safety with the benefits of risk in play. Let’s embrace this approach and bring vitality back to our communities!

Benefit-risk assessment (BRA) is the practice of including the benefits of an activity (whether it's for a product, facility/infrastructure, or activity delivery) as part of the health and safety (H&S) / risk management (RM) documentation and decision-making process. This is crucial for the play, active recreation, and sport sector in New Zealand.

In 2015 I wrote an article talking about my thoughts on the looming health and safety reforms from a parkour perspective. Besides cringing at reading old writing (like listening to your own voice?), my opinions have only been reinforced by experiences in the world of parkour, play, and parenting. I was given the prompt to write this topic again after reading an article series on ‘overprotective parenting’ that pulls together themes relating to the myths and realities of childhood risks and health and safety.