for info - Ben Elton writes a comedy about a local government official who is head of the Health & Safety department! http://www.telegraph.co....ocal-council-sitcom.html

bob - thanks for the information. I agree that when the pilot programme is broadcast (the article doesn't seem to give any date), it would provide a useful opportunity for OS&H professionals to react to it according to how it portrays OS&H. Also, from a look through the comments below the web article, it's good to see that someone who uses the pseudonym molesey_mole, presumably with OS&H and/or local authority experience, has made some pertinent comments about the proposed programme.

Equality Impact Assessments- the real cutting edge in the public sector.

Was it David Haig who played the exasperated DI in that police comedy with Rowan Atkinson?

If so that character pretty much sums up how I feel most of the time

I'm hoping he really rips into H&S.
Anyone who takes offense (particually before it's even aired) needs to re-assess their life priorities IMHO.

Something akin to Twenty Twelve would be great.

I'm guessing it will be along the lines of The Office...sort of "fly on the wall" type thing bringing up elf and safety stoopidity and the main character has to investigate and advise..hopefully in a positive light rather than making him out to be a jobsworth who hides behind a desk and stacks of paperwork.

Time will tell I suppose...

To my earlier response I should add that anyone who does decide to respond to the pilot programme after it is broadcast should remember that television programmes are made mainly to entertain viewers. Information and education are evidently less important functions to the extent that (to pinch and adapt an expression from the film "Brassed Off") if Lord Reith were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave! (Reith was the first director-general of the BBC and held strong views about broadcasting as a way of educating people.)

Also, one of rasput1's comments reminds me of inspecting for HSE the headquarters of a local authority accompanied by its sole safety adviser in the mid-1980s. When I asked him how many people worked at the place, he wittily replied "about 50%". Though the premises were quite extensive, they were clearly "low risk", so the inspection consisted of fairly fleeting visits to different departments and parts of the premises plus discussions with various people in order to get an overall impression about the premises and, more importantly, the council's OS&H culture and arrangements. Also, just in case forum newcomers see this thread, I'd better add that if we looked at any toilet & washing facilities, a fairly cursory glance would probably have been sufficient to tell us about the adequacy or otherwise of cleaning regimes and also the attitude of employees to such facilities!.

p.s. hope the responses to this topic won't degenerate into a brawl about public sector-v-private sector.

Local Government; dysfunctional? Now who would have thought it! :-) I bet Keith Lard watches it!