Posted By Lee Slater Sorry to sound like a kill joy, but does the recent series of toilet paper advertisements illustrate poor thinking in relation to Health & Safety? People stepping off walkways without handrails and landing onto packs of toilet rolls is madness!- being as falls from height are a major source of fatalities!

Posted By Mark R. Devlin Lee, this is a television advert for toilet roll, not a site induction video. Why don't we call the RSPCA about unnecessary cruelty to Hyenas in the making of a chocolate biscuit advert.......

Posted By Jez Corfield Folks, Its the old Killjoy Vs Enabler argument - is there any evidence that humorous 'unsafe' activities on film/TV cause people to behave dangerously? I have not seen any. However, is there potential for criticism of the H&S profession if we are seen as being a bunch of humourless killjoys, banning ads on the basis that they might encourage poor safety? Advert's are usually insignificant anyway, they probably wont even persuade people to buy the item, let alone behave differently. Jez

Posted By Lee Slater Well boys its certainly been a provocative theme, I appreciate that adverts are usually better than most programs! Can't wait for the next installment - hopefully it will show scaffold guys jumping onto bog rolls that are being lifted by forklift trucks. That would be really amusing especially during the ad breaks for the X factor.

Posted By Bob There seems to be a little class conciousness creeping into this thread. I have never heard of bottom paper. Toilet tissue, toilet roll, bog paper, loo roll, the Sun, I'm familiar with them but-----------------bottom paper!!!!!!!

Posted By David J. Hi.. Mark By... couldn't you just have "shot" Rolf Harris..now that's a message for all of us to help make it through xmas..no more "dig er a do" stuff.. no more "little boys on horses"..why did Rolf not get asked to consult on the Lloyds advert? Why did anyone start this thread? Why am I wasting happy moments replying? hmm hope this doesn't prompt a thread on the danger/risk of pondering.. and anyway what is the meaning of life. .or is that too risky? I suppose I should refer such questions to the horse in the Lloyds ad, as opposed to the donkey that started this thread. Is it toooooo early to start on the Xmas malt whisky?

Posted By Heather Aston Lee You said "the original purpose of the thread was to source feedback from safety 'professionals' in relation to current hot topics (falls from height)." Was it really? I think you might have phrased it a bit differently if that's what you really wanted! I agree with many other posters that there's a real danger of safety professionals being seen as dull killjoys. Frankly if that's how we are seen by our co-workers then we'll never get anything done. I prefer the "common sense" approach, which realises that there is a difference between adverts on the idiot box and real life. I certainly don't expect anyone in my workplace to follow an example they've seen in an advert. Yes I do work in manufacturing industry. Yes we do take "falls from height" seriously. No I don't think that this advert will have a significant effect on the population at large (except to make them buy more loo roll. But yes I do think there's a perception by those not involved in safety that we are a bunch of humourless nanny state nutcases, hell-bent on spoiling all their fun and wrapping them up with red tape so they can't move. Should we do all we can to dispel that myth? Well I think so.... But perhaps that's just me. Heather

Posted By Mark Bywater All, Steady on guys - although Lee has provoked comments of all types and I myself have been guilty of providing light hearted comment, I don't feel it is right to call each other trolls, donkeys or whatever. Sometimes we who are making the jokes are less than perfect but let's not diss anyone for having an opinion. Yes, let's be serious / joke / advise etc when the situation demands but don't abuse someone you've never met. Written words can so often be read with the wrong inflection by the recipient and misconstrued. We are not here to judge others, if you wish to do that you can watch X-Factor on Saturdays but Lee was just "making a point". I do feel that some of us are just taking an opposite point of view just for the sake of it sometimes. Tolerance is the key, love and peace to all, Jesus loves you..........whoa! Hang on that's going too far, but treat each other with a bit of respect - would you say these things to his face if he were in the same room as you, I think not. Time for some soul searching. Lee - carry on mate, I like a person who speaks their mind. Don't let this put you off - keep posting and replying to others, but unlike some others please be polite at all times. Regards, Mark

Posted By Richard L Jeremy Clarkson would be eating his hair at this thread, and judging by the original post he would have cause to. Does anyone remember the advert for a fizzy orange drink where an employee was strapped to an office chair with a compressed air bottle strapped to him and subsequently propelled at great speed, head first, into a strategically placed barrel of oranges. I nearly fell off the settee laughing. Could it be that advertisers should issue the statement “please don’t attempt (for health and safety reasons) the stunt that you are about to see……". I think not and I don’t believe that it would have the same effect somehow. Besides, I’ve never heard of anyone attempting such a stunt. Come on fellow practitioners lets not make ourselves look silly! Lets do the job in hand and look after our colleague’s well being. Richard

Posted By Anita Parkinson personnaly i would love to have taken part in that advert jumping off walkways landing on loo roll (not bottom paper, its loo roll up north) we are guilty of taking things too seriously sometimes and we shouldn't forget people have been falling from heights since they built ladders, lighten -up peeps

Posted By Stuart Nagle Out of intersst I can relate a real situation here.... Whilst away from home I struck up a conversation in a pub/hotel bar with a chap who was watching the same TV programme on the 14" TV in the bar as me. The TV programme was a comedy, and the scene involved climbing up a ladder to a roof - in a somehat unsafe manner - and the hilarious results... Following this, in conversation with the chap, it turned out he was a roofer - also working away from home at the time, and he went on to explain what a pain health and safety was and how many times he had fell of roofs and was perectly OK!!! I thought the better part of valour at the time was not to explain what I did, but to ask why he did things this way if it was obvious there was risks involved... He explained that to go through all the H&S bit required would slow his work and cost him money.... and clients it appeared were more interested in getting the job finished, and not how good he was at observing H&S procedures!! As a footnote, I can add that I bumped into this chap again somtime later..on the shop floor of our factory (he now works on our production line). He was of course a little suprised to see me. When I asked why he had given up the roofing business, he said 'too dangerous - I had another fall'.... he then asked what I did for the company... When I explained I was the group H&S guy you could see him visibly change colour.... Funny how things come back to haunt you on ocassions eh!! Stuart

Posted By Jason Touraine 'Well boys its certainly been a provocative theme' - I think you should get out more. There seems to be a little class conciousness creeping into this thread. I have never heard of bottom paper. Toilet tissue, toilet roll, bog paper, loo roll, the Sun, I'm familiar with them but-----------------bottom paper!!!!!!! Actually it's lavatory paper.

Posted By Merv Newman Re stuart nagle's story of the roofer : In France companies pay an "accident tax" based on their accident rate (last 3 years) and their wage bill. If you are really really good (no recordables for three years) then you only pay 1% of the total wages. If you are average you may pay 2 or 3%. Roofers pay the highest of all rates - 17% of the wages. Typical profit margins in the building trades are around 5% Any reasonable sized company has done it's sums and invested in edge guards. Only the small, family sized firms rely on the adhesive qualities of nikes. Fortunately this practice is dying out.

Posted By Jonathan Breeze Ahh, you mean Izal, the original medicated toilet paper. That brings back some horrible memories of outdoor unheated WC's and other painful memories which are imprinted on my ...er... mind. Suffice to say it made an effective substitute for tracing paper if any was required.