An interesting scene in last night's Victoria Wood BBC1 programme about tea: A priest was shown blessing machines in a tea bag factory. The factory manager seemed convinced that the more blessings his machines received the better would be the plant safety performance. Could be worth a try and, with the recent Equal Rights ruling, you can be quite ecumenical in your choice of religion. Druid, Pagan, Vegan or even Rastafarian (but you would probably have to supply the Ganja) So, if you are looking for a new initiative ... Merv

Merv, are you in the future? The programme is on tonight.

I remember quite a few years ago being in court in Birmingham when an HSE inspector was prosecuting a case against small firm of plastic injection moulders who made coat hangers. They pleaded guilty to amputating an employees hand in an unguarded moulder. When the magistrates were deciding on sentence they asked the Inspector what actions had the company taken since the accident to prevent a reoccurence. With a completely straight face, the Inspector told the bench that they had brought in a loin-cloth clad holy-man who had spent 3 days living in a shrine in the corner of the factory exorcising the evil spirits that had possessed the company.... the bench seemed unimpressed....

Hmmm, sound like a lucrative business opportunity

I had a man of the cloth explain to me many years ago that his employer was an ephemeral being and I could huff and puff all I liked but prosecuting him may be difficult .... I subsequently really liked it when "person in control" became an in wording in such situations