Health and Safety - What a Barmy World

Published on July 11, 2008 By Zydor In Everything Else

The trend towards Health & Safety is overall a good thing. As always with good things, they can go off the rails at times. In UK its getting to the stage where you have to wonder about individual sanity, or if they are just having a laugh. I'm curious to see if this trend has gone overboard in other Countries by way of posting the gaffs you have come across. A few to kick off the principle,

- Seen on packets of peanuts (etc) "Allergy Warning: Product may contain Nuts" hmmmm ....

- Today in UK news, mother has a child that needs specialist equipment with them at all times to combat Fitting. It needs specialist training to use. Mother has that training (naturally). Child goes to school in a Council provided taxi due to lack of local transport. Council bans mother from travelling alone with the child in the taxi without a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check. The Council is however very happy for the child to travel alone with the Taxi driver - despite the fact that driver cant cant operate the equipment, placing the child at risk if he Fits.......

- Bognor Regis (a seaside town) insisted kids wear crash helmets when riding donkeys on the beach ....

- Product packaging: "Place in a microwave and heat at a minimum setting of 250 degrees Centigrade. Warning: Product gets HOT" .....

- All ringing rooms, bell chambers and bell towers have been designated "no smoking" and a prominent red light must be illuminated above the outside door (like a broadcast studio) to indicate when bells are being rung. Presumably, just in case a deaf person without a gas mask is about to walk into the ringing room while peals are in progress...

- Track workers at Wimbledon rail depot were issued with 500ml bottles of SPF30 suncream to be applied at all times. Sensible? You might think ..... well ok ..... a bit extreme but, hey, thoughts in the right place, and you could be right. The problem was, all the workers in question were on permanent night shifts.....

You couldnt make this stuff up ...

There is hope ..... the UK Chairman of the HSC wrote - “Some of the ‘health and safety’ stories are just myths. There are also some instances where health and safety is used as an excuse to justify unpopular decisions such as closing facilities. But behind many of the stories, there is at least a grain of truth – someone really has made a stupid decision. We’re determined to tackle all three. My message is that if you’re using health and safety to stop everyday activities – get a life and let others get on with theirs.”

Give the man a coconut

Regards
Zy

Comments

Annatar11

on Jul 11, 2008

Haha, good stuff. UK is not the only place, though.

People in the US sue Starbucks because they weren't "warned" that their steaming coffee was actually hot, after they spill it all over themselves.

WIllythemailboy

on Jul 11, 2008

Of those, the peanut one is somewhat legitimate. Peanuts are NOT nuts, so someone with an allergy to nuts could be harmed in a way they didn't expect.

I worked at a Cargill plant at one time. Each safety meeting had some sort of bizarre safety warning, suggestion, thing to avoid, etc. As the safety officer told us at the time: "Whenever you see something like this, you can be sure some dumbass has killed himself or someone else learning this bit of common sense."

The point he used to illustrate this: two guys were servicing an auger in a grain bin (a known hazard for low oxygen conditions) when they collapsed. A third guy, whose sole job was to raise an alarm in the event of an emergency, FAILS to call the emergency response team, straps on a carbon-filter gas mask, and rushes in to pull the two men out - exactly what the manual instructs NOT to do. While attempting to pull the first victim out, the third man passes out himself. All three perish because they are not found for hours.

Thus the warning on our gas masks: This mask not effective in low oxygen environments.

Even better were the monthly safety newsletter, as they always had a photo on the back with the caption "what's wrong with this picture?" Each one was a gem, as not only was someone doing something outragously stupid, but they got caught on film doing it! My personal favorite was a guy working on a lamp post from a fully extended scissor lift. Nothing wrong with that, until you look down and see the lift is being supported on a fully raised forklift. Hope it wasn't windy

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