Posted By Arran Linton - Smith Has anyone noticed this new TV national banking advertisement last night, showing a scaffolding dismantling operation without a harness been worn?

Posted By Nigel Hammond Aren't you a bit old to be watching Teletubbies Brian?!!! Another programme for dodgy health & safety practices is Fireman Sam. They have cellophane coming out of their hoses when they try to put a fire out! Also what about Ground force. The big bloke never wears eye protection when he smashes up concrete, Charlie Dimmock is going to get a prolapsed disc (because of dodgy manual handling techniques) and the male viewers get short-sighted.

Posted By Keith Archer. What about Bob the Builder hanging on to the side of moving plant. Good job most kids have fallen out with him by the time they get to do his job for real?

Posted By Ken Taylor Perhaps you lot could offer your services to the television companies as health and safety advisers?

Posted By Kevin West A number of television programmes show a variety of bad work / unsafe practices. I often refer to these programmes in my H and S courses as examples of 'What not to do!'. The examples already listed are by no means exhaustive. I often chuckle to myself watching some of the DIY type programs when they pay 'lip service' to safety by emphasising the wearing of a mask only to be obviously lacking in other PPE requirements etc such as hearing protection, skin protection etc. I have yet to see a certain Handyman by the name of Andrew wear his mask correctly! I think the television people are providing a good service allowing us all free access to examples of bad practice. They should, however, list it as such so that members of the public aren't left thinking it is acceptable. Kev

Posted By Robert K Lewis The problem is that all stations do employ safety personnel but they are not seen as part of the production team - unless you now wish to drop a bungee person out of a cage on a crane, remember our Noel!!. The regular diet of poor practice on these sort of programmes is unlikely to stop unless there is an injury, which as we all know will lead to lengthy post mortem inquiries. Again reactive management rules KO!!!!!! It is not a breach of any broadcasting code to show attempted suicide and maiming provided good taste is not infringed. Forgive my cynicism but I feel this problem has gone on far too long. Bob

Posted By Ken Taylor Whenever requests are made for filming in one of our premises, we hold pre-meetings with the applicants and, as well as going through health and safety checks, details of the storey-board, etc are required before a decision is made. Needless to say, a number of applications have been refused at this stage. I also endeavour to be present when filming commences and make spot-checks from time to time - whilst site management also keep an eye on things. I would have hoped that even greater influence and control could be exercised in TV studios but there does seem to be quite a bit of law-unto-themselves attitude around in the entertainment industry at times. I would like to see television used more for the promotion of health and safety at work - as well as on the road, at home, in leisure activity, etc. Whilst there seems to have been some increase in this lately a lot of incorrect 'messages' need to be redressed. In particular, the public service advertising slots could be more integrated with the commercial advertising programme breaks rather than relegated to times when few are watching. The contrary argument has always been one of cost - but this could be offset against national expenditure on the consequences of accidents. Perhaps IOSH, HSE, RoSPA, CAPT, IRSO, CACFOA, etc could make joint representations to Government in this regard supported by Health Service and other statistics?

Posted By Jeff Manion Some of the BBC are aware of H & S, I work as a independent safety consultant and was contacted by them over CDM, It was not required and they used the internal safety advisers. They were ill informed over CDM by a major house builder on the Thames (London). Jeff Manion WWW.groveservices.co.uk

Posted By Zoe Barnett Come on lads, be fair, at least Wendy and Bob always wear PPE and drop in little safety homilies like don't play with electricity and seek psychiatric help if you think the digger is talking to you. As I have been stuck at home today with a horrible cold I have been watching daytime TV for its anaesthetic effects. I was cheered by an ad for a plant hire chain that shows a) an actor wearing full PPE and b) exhorts the public to "hire something safe" - in this case a scaffolding tower rather than a dodgy looking ladder. So it's not all bad news.

Posted By Graham Bullough Considering the amount of television watched by the average child and adult in the UK nowadays and the significant influence it will have on most people's thinking and attitudes, Arran raises an important issue with this thread. One of my pet hates is the way in which too many TV programmes and films shown on TV depict people using hand-held mobile phones while driving as normal and acceptable behaviour. As previous responders have indicated various programmes and adverts provide copious examples of how not to do things safely - which can be video-recorded and used for H & S training, albeit for a limited audience. The snag is that the vast majority of viewers will not be aware of whether something shown is safe or not. Moreover, on most occasions, the unsafe situations portrayed do not result in evident harm - which reinforces the notion for viewers that there is no need to bother with health and safety. On the probably rare occasions when harm does occur during the making of a programme, no doubt the TV companies will interupt, cancel or postpone the programme for "technical reasons". It is evident from other responses that approaches by informed individuals to TV companies have little or no impact on the attitudes and practices of the production teams? Also, if such teams tend to have a culture of not heeding TV company H & S advisers, there is no hope for outsiders to have any effect on what is portrayed? However, could matters be improved if informed people were to write or comment constructively, not to the TV companies, but to newspapers and publications like the “Radio Times” where the criticisms would be read by numerous other people – and may gradually have more impact on the TV companies and production teams? Although private letters directly to TV companies can simply be ignored, surely it would be harder for such companies to ignore criticism which is aired publicly.

Posted By Martyn Hilditch I agree with Zoe on this subject. It is only the minority of the advertising/entertaiment business that promotes bad working practices. The majority, like the HSS adverts and Bob The Builder promote good working practices. I also think you should watch something other than Bob The Builder in your spare time!!

Posted By Gavin Gibson I am more concerned about the lack of regular safety features on the news - has anybody carried out a risk assessment on the dangers of being on the receiving end of all those bullets?