Risk assess throwing salt over your shoulders as it could be harmful to anyone passing by

All mirrors should be made of safety glass conforming to the appropriate EN and/or ISO standard. Keep all fingers crossed as you touch wood by the lucky horseshoe adjacent to the rabbit's foot key ring as you walk out the door to use your umbrella, which must not be opened inside the building - under any circumstances. Cheers. Nigel

I think IOSH should promote any Friday 13th as a National Safety Day. Apparently (and statistically) Friday 13th days, have fewer accidents and, interestingly, fewer fires, reports of thefts and accidents whilst driving. (Source: Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) June 12, 2008). Supposedly because people are just being more careful or staying away from work. Personally though, unless your job description is "Knight, Templar", you have little need to perform a risk assessment.

In answer to kevkel's question, no action whatsoever is needed except to assuage the minds of those afflicted with friggatriskaidekaphobia - fear of Fridays with the numerical date 13. (The term is derived from Frigga the name of the Norse goddess [after whom "Friday" is named in English] combined with triskaidekaphobia - fear of the number thirteen [from the Greek words for thirteen and fear.]) Those who resent the combination of Norse and Greek can use the term paraskevidekatriaphobia instead. Apparently Gioachino Rossini the composer, along with many other Italians, regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number. He may have had some justification for his fears because he died in 1868 on Friday 13th November! :-( For another observation unlikely to further the cause of OS&H, today's date 13.9.13 is easy to remember as it's a numerical palindrome ! (with whole numbers only so as to avoid expressing the month number as 09.) :-)

My risk assessment says stay in bed shame I’ve got a mortgage and the wife gone to work Hey Ho ! work it is Chris

Graham, That is very common in hotels and many hotel room numbers start at 100. Over here in pagan Ireland the superstition was so great that we introduced a twice yearly registration system for vehicles 131 for the start of the year and 132 for the second half. This was not done for the same reasons as in the UK as had been called for for years but rather to a response that car sales would fall because nobody would want at vehicle registration 13!!! Kevin

My daughter enjoyed her 13th birthday on Friday 13th. She is also a redhead so we expect the Witch Hunter General to be beating down the door at any time now. She is not superstitious (which is probably just as well!)

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