Health and Safety Crazy!

A few weeks ago, I was chatting to a friend about amusing health and safety rules we’d heard. This came about after I’d sent her an article I’d spotted in the Telegraph about the Ladybird Books from the 60’s which would be banned by Health and safety these days! Things have changed hugely, and we are more aware of “doing things safely” which is fantastic, although are we now to health and safety cautious?

We’ve all seen the message on those disposable coffee cups – “Caution! Hot!” which begs the question, when would anyone want a coffee which isn’t hot?! Someone spilt their hot coffee, and someone said “Oh we must warn people!!” I guess it might warn other people who the coffee is hot? To avoid an innocent passing stranger bumping into the hot cup unwittingly, and scalding themself?

Someone once told me they’d seen a packet of batteries which came with a disclaimer “Cannot guarantee no nuts”, and I sat for a long time wondering who would eat batteries?! (I appreciate there is more to nut allergies than ingesting nuts, but at the time I didn’t!). I’ve often thought about this, and wonder if there had been any potential contamination with nuts, or whether it was just someone over zealous in the factory labelling everything with every caution possible?

I had a huge giggle when someone told me that they’d had to write a health and safety policy which asked staff NOT to drive golf buggies into one another as they may damage the buggies, or cause harm to the staff driving the buggies.. Surely common sense tells you that golf buggies aren’t bumper cars? Although strangely I now have an urge to try.. Not quite what the rule had intended

Health and Safety is a complicated business, and things like NEBOSH Certificate courses are a great way of understanding legal obligations as well as progressing your career in many work places.

Disclaimer: Collaborative post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.