If this has anything to do with safety at all, I would suggest that it is more about safeguarding of young people than workplace H&S. The "phrase "health & safety" being a very broad church in the eyes of the public, p48

I think this may be something about avoiding unnecessary distractions in the workplace. Is there a parallel ban on muscular boys wearing skimpy T-shirts ? Merv

Hmmmm Is this simply discriminatory against female clothing. Male only apparel being allowed!!! Still to be totally equal men will need to be prepared to wear some items of womens apparel. I am talking as much rubbish as the school and the BBC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bob

Max Unfortunately have seen the female versions as well. Tosh Tosh and more tosh from the likes of our dear press and television Bob

Kilts are safe enough. Going "commando" in a kilt raises all sorts of OS&H issues.

Health n’ safety has now just become shorthand for any over officious reaction to anything, be it banning short skirts or banning the sale of unpasteurised cheese. It’s just lazy journalism.

Unfortunately it is rather cold all year round here! It is the same old same is it not? People with the responsibility of making decisions hiding behind the cloak of Health 'n Safety which when reported by the beloved journo's fuels the general public's pretty poor opinion of Health 'n Safety in the UK. Why can't the people who report on these stories challenge their rationale behind their decisions? Hay ho. Here's the link again for those who could not view. http://www.bbc.co.uk/new...-england-humber-15178748

After my response on 6th Oct I had another thought regarding Judith Hackitt's reaction to the boss of the academy involved. However, I subsequently forgot about it until now. HSE's "Myth of Month" series on its website was quite different from other parts of the HSE website and some of us found the topics featured could be useful in our work. However, after some 40+ topics, it was understandable that HSE were having difficulty by late 2010 in identifying new topics to rebuff as myths. Thankfully, the Myth of the Month webpages remain available for perusal and use. However, there could well be scope for a new theme: "Wazzock of the Week"! In view of the topic thread on which this suggestion appears, there are no prizes for guessing which topic might have inspired it! Also, for those unfamiliar with the word, "wazzock" is a mildly derogatory term from Northern England (some claim Yorkshire) akin to 'nitwit' and similar expressions. In addition, as wazzock and week have the same initial letter, the phrase has a nice alliterative ring to it, rather like Myth of the Month. However, there could be some problems: Judging from the number of "elf n safety" stories which appear in the media, there are plenty of people eligible for the title - so actually making a choice each week might be difficult. Also, some checks would need to be made about the eligibility of short-listed nominees in order to avoid unfairly maligning anyone. In addition, though HSE press releases and other statements (e.g. by Judith Hackitt) tend not to shrink from criticising people, would HSE have the nerve to operate such a scheme? If not, are there any other organisations which might wish to do so, perhaps even IOSH?! On the plus side, such a scheme if developed might arouse interest from the media and hopefully play a part in helping people generally to distinguish between "elf n safety" and real OS&H. What do fellow forum users think? Among other things, is the suggestion itself wazzocky or is there some potential in it?

Probably trying restore their macho image after: He cuts down trees. He skips and jumps. He likes to press wild flowers. He puts on women's clothing And hangs around in bars?!

I think women should be covered head to foot with just a little post box slit for their eyes. I wonder if any parts of the world have tried this?