"No pictures please" ... for health and safety reasons!!

[Shaun]

This ... at a tap and ballet show for 7 year olds.

We're not talking about high-flying trapeze or high jumping gymnasts who might be fatally injured if caught out by a stray flashbulb ... we're talking ballet and tap for little 'uns.

There was a whole bunch of us parents in the audience going "Huh?".


On a similar note, when my wife and I went to see Peter Kaye at the MEN Arena in Manchester (yes, I know he's gone off the boil a bit, but still ...) we were shown to our seats and I was sat in the row in front (and below) my wife.

Now my wife is disabled and on occasion uses her wheelchair for convenience. There was no one sat next to my wife so I asked an official if I could move back and sit next to her - there were some fold-out chairs leant against a post not being used.

"No, sorry sir, you can't do that for health and safety reasons" ... WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!!

He was. I didn't get to sit next to my wife.

Now I understand we should have possibly checked the seating arrangements beforehand, but what would it have cost anyone for me to sit on the row behind on a (less comfortable) fold-out chair? Really? Nothing at all.


It really is being trotted out for the most bonkers of things these days.

Anyone else got any similarly "health and safety" gems?

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[661-Pete]

Now my wife is disabled and on occasion uses her wheelchair for convenience. There was no one sat next to my wife so I asked an official if I could move back and sit next to her - there were some fold-out chairs leant against a post not being used.

"No, sorry sir, you can't do that because the insurance company will cut up nasty if you fall off, then you sue us, and then the ambulance-chaser no-win-no-fee shysters have a field day at our expense" ... WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!!

He was. I didn't get to sit next to my wife.

FTFY

Yes, I have plenty of examples. Like everyone having to sign the risk-assessment form before being allowed to use the showers at work. Ditto, the dishwasher. Like the fact that the kettle in the canteen has been put on a time-switch "in case it unexpectedly turns on in the night, then burns out and starts a fire". Etc. etc.

 

[snorri]

Anyone else got any similarly "health and safety" gems?

I could tell of a situation where two fingers have been raised to "Health and Safety" in the name of "Security", but that would be off topic.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

We're not allowed to use the kettle at one of the depots I deliver to for H&S reasons. What, so I'm allowed to drive a 60 foot long truck costing in excess of £100 000, complete with 28 tonnes of hazardous freight, but I can't use a kettle?

 

[User169]

Due to a bit of a mix-up, we failed to pick our 6 year old daughter up from school this week (we thought we'd arranged for another parent to pick her up).

No matter, her teacher brought her home by bicycle. Interestingly, the teacher had no child seat, so our daughter perched on the rear rack. I did wonder what the consequences of that might have been in the UK.

 

[bauldbairn]

No matter, her teacher brought her home by bicycle. Interestingly, the teacher had no child seat, so our daughter perched on the rear rack. I did wonder what the consequences of that might have been in the UK.

Well done to the teacher - and I bet your kid loved it!!

In the UK the parents would have sued the teacher to within an inch of her life and settled for nothing less than the end to her teaching career.


I've worked in and around the petrochemical industry for nearly 25 years and there's worse to come from the H & S brigade. We managed for years with just commonsense and experience but since Piper Alpha someone has to be held responsible for everything - it's all about accountability and who to blame if something goes wrong.

I'm a fan of H & S to a point but it's all gone crazy now.



Shaun - the kids tap and ballet organisers would probably be scared the video's/pics got into the wrong hands, you know how every second person is a "peado" nowadays. Then the question would be "who allowed cameras to be used here?"

 

[Shaun]

Shaun - the kids tap and ballet organisers would probably be scared the video's/pics got into the wrong hands, you know how every second person is a "peado" nowadays. Then the question would be "who allowed cameras to be used here?"

Yes, I think pretty much every parent is aware of that one - although, to their credit, the daughter's school are now ALLOWING photos and video for "personal" use. Which is great for us mums and dads because we get to have some cherished memories in digital form now too.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Oh yes I have come across many zarking daft H&S things in my time, mainly on the railways and involving 'jobsworth' platform staff who don't seem to have a clue what's going on around them half the time

I can see the use of H&S rules, but as others have said, it went WAY over the top years ago, and now everyone is scared shitless of being sued by everyone else should they so much as get a papercut.

If I had my way, I would ban all the 'No Win No Fee 'Have you had an accident?' adverts.
'Bob Smith tripped on his shoelaces, and got £8,000!' etc etc.

It is nothing but a cancer on this country, and I am sick of it. VIVE LA REVOLOUTION!

Oh and don't get me started on the other madness which is Political Correctness, where the thought Police are watching your every move, waiting for you to call someone 'black' so that they can pull you in for questioning.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Yes, I think pretty much every parent is aware of that one - although, to their credit, the daughter's school are now ALLOWING photos and video for "personal" use. Which is great for us mums and dads because we get to have some cherished memories in digital form now too.

The Dads?? THE DAD'S??!! Haven't you heard?? every man is now officially a Peado!

 

[bauldbairn]

Yes, I think pretty much every parent is aware of that one - although, to their credit, the daughter's school are now ALLOWING photos and video for "personal" use. Which is great for us mums and dads because we get to have some cherished memories in digital form now too.

At last "commonsense" has prevailed.

I don't have any kids, but plenty of my mates do and I can still remember "welling up" at one of their daughters singing at a primary school Xmas show(14 years ago). Unfortunately they weren't allowed to video it - for the reasons mentioned above - as you only get one childhood.
She's a mother herself now at 25 - hopefully she'll be able to video her kids proudest moments!!!

 

[bauldbairn]

If I had my way, I would ban all the 'No Win No Fee 'Have you had an accident?' adverts.
'Bob Smith tripped on his shoelaces, and got £8,000!' etc etc.

I agree - I believe they're(politicians) discussing dropping the ads.

 

[asterix]

Of course H&S is not a cancer on the UK. The problem is one of stupid people in positions of a little authority. Having worked on the docks for a couple of decades I subscribe to h&s. Npthing spoils your day like having a container lowered onto to you or your legs cut off in a shunting yard or a gangway dropped on you. The guy with severed legs survived, the others didn't.

Maybe the problem is one of shysters rather than rules and guidelines?

 

[asterix]

This IS café !

 

[Davidc]

The Dads?? THE DAD'S??!! Haven't you heard?? every man is now officially a Peado!

And since the case at the nursery in Plymouth every single woman as well from what I've heard recently.

 

[661-Pete]

Of course H&S is not a cancer on the UK. The problem is one of stupid people in positions of a little authority. Having worked on the docks for a couple of decades I subscribe to h&s. Npthing spoils your day like having a container lowered onto to you or your legs cut off in a shunting yard or a gangway dropped on you. The guy with severed legs survived, the others didn't.

....nor did the 24-year-old student, decapitated by a crane grab on his first day working at Shoreham docks in 1998.
http://www.simonjones.org.uk/campaign/index.htm

Of course H&S makes a lot of sense. Indeed my job is largely about H&S. And I think I can discern the difference between commonsense H&S that saves someone's life, and idiotic H&S that merely saves someone's @rse. Pity others lump them all together.