Health and Safety Madness - Bad Practices - Funny!

With ethics in business gaining more focus and emphasis, Health and Safety is increasingly a serious and important concern, and no-one would argue that people do not need to be legally protected from dangerous practices or environments.

However, everyone acknowledges that Health and Safety policy can at times go to such ludicrous lengths that it stops a person actually doing the job. Emergency Service workers may not jump in to save someone drowning - clearly this protects the rescuer from potential harm, but it seems to fly against natural human instincts and reason. Imagine the trauma of watching someone going under without being able to do anything! Just look at the following examples of the crazy world of health and safety rules - the nanny state gone mad!

At one university, students were told not to throw their hats in the air in photographs because someone may be injured by the falling headwear.

A Mayor had her limo flag bearing the town crest removed - council officials said it could be a hazard to drivers and pedestrians if it fell off.

A pensioner given the all-clear to leave hospital after suffering breathing problems, was kept in hospital while transport bosses deliberated over whether it was safe to do so, because of a four-inch step at her front door. Two safety assessments were carried out and she was only allowed home after a relative contacted the newspapers.

Cheshire Police last year forced all officers to pass a cycling proficiency test before they could go on patrol on bikes.

A pensioner spent hundreds of pounds of her own money on plants and garden tools for a council flower bed, but it was decided that her efforts breached safety rules because of a bend in the road beside the plot. To continue, she would have to employ a look-out, erect "Men at work" signs, and wear a fluorescent jacket.

A Tom Jones impersonator was used to dodging knickers as an occupational hazard, but the BBC studio bosses warned him he could trip and fall on the underwear as he strutted across the stage, so supporters were only allowed to wave their pants in the air!

Firefighters risk their lives running into burning buildings and climbing high ladders, but they could have been grounded thanks to the Fire Brigades Union last year. Officials said that using stepladders to fit smoke alarms broke the rules over working at heights!

Swimming Pools in Bournemouth were told to stop lending inflatables to families who hadn't brought their own as they couldn't guarantee they'd be free of bacteria (due to germs from blowing them up).

In the offices of the Health and Safety Executive, staff have been banned from moving chairs around in case they hurt themselves. Anyone wanting to move furniture has to book a porter and give them 48 hours' notice!

When Radio 1 breakfast show presenter DJ Chris Moyles arrived in the studio with a birthday cake for sidekick Dave Vitty, he was told candles were banned due to fire risk, and he'd have to cut the cake with a plastic knife so he didn't hurt himself.

However, the health and safety message has not reached all parts of the world. A recent TV programme showed a British refuse collector swopping places for a week with one in India. The Indian emptied open drains and sewers with his bare hands, and stamped down refuse in his cart with bare feet (see YouTube module below).

This seemed shocking, but not half as bad as the pictures beneath, which although amusing are evidently equally horrific. Not a laughing matter, but impossible not to laugh!