¨The Health and Safety Executive is fed up to its back teeth with cases where ‘health and safety’ is cited without foundation, to justify everything from the cutting down of fruit trees (in case they encourage wasps), to the desecration of millions of gravestones by ‘safety consultants’, to banning triangular cakes from school canteens, because said pastries slightly resemble ninja throwing weapons¨ Yes...... Loads of ´em about. They include the police.

Love the ban on carrying explosives on RAF aircraft! Back to dropping leaflets advising the enem y to give up I suppose, John

I beg to differ too Merv and I wonder why you were even reading that awful rag?! I followed the link but in true DM hypocrisy style it was full of sordid, almost pornographic stalking images, so I read the article very quickly, not wanting to get in trouble with our IT and HR policies! The article itself is full of muddled whinging stuff about security on planes and starts with a stupid headline 'Rise against the tyranny of the safety nazis..." which if people do not read the rest of the article will help to re-enforce their misconceptions about H&S. Interesting if you scroll down to the comments you will see that the stupid bigoted comments get voted up and the intelligent ones get voted down.

The current Government policy has been very much influenced by stories from the Daily Mail et al. So the Daily Mail is a research source for advance notice of what ‘elf’ an’ safety’ stories will be promoted by the Prime Minister and other Ministers in the future. They have been consistent in using such stories as evidence of the country going to hell in a handcart; the ruination of UK business; the cause of mob riots in major cities; and the breaking of British society. All of these terrible effects have been publicly laid at the doorstep of health and safety by Mr Cameron since 2009. OK – maybe not going to hell in a hand cart, that was Mr Littlejohn’s considered contribution to the debate, as a Daily Mail columnist! One of the latest examples was Mike Penning, Minister responsible for health and safety at work writing to schools – around 24,500 – and the hundreds of Local Authorities, advising them not to over react on health and safety requirements. Among the examples he gave was about some head writing to parents in one school about the tripping hazards associated with home made frilly socks. The offending socks – risks to schoolchildren undefined – were prohibited for school use, allegedly. And to think he is writing to professionals about getting matters into some sense of proportion!! He could start with his own Department! [No doubt this will be a consideration as Mr Penning reviews the potential of the HSE to become more 'commercialised'.] In the only evidence based review of health and safety regulation Professor Löfstedt stated: ‘Boosting the responsibility and involvement of employees has the potential to bring about significant improvements in health and safety in the workplace.’ I continue to question the judgement of the minister concerned who – in personal correspondence – made it clear that he will do nothing himself to promote greater worker involvement. Yet he can write directly to tens of thousands of schools on getting into proportion the risks associated with wearing frilly socks etc!! While the simplification of legal requirements is to be supported, the Government policy is contradictory. As Mr Penning writes directly to schools about the over inflated risks of the offending frilly socks’ potential hazard, he completely ignores measures that could make ‘significant improvements in health and safety in the workplace.’ This is only one example – there are plenty of others. Every day millions of people go to work and - collectively - probably make many billions of decisions as a result. Errors of judgment, mistakes, failures, incompetence etc will mean that – probably every minute – poor decisions are made somewhere in the country. But most of the time we either get it right or we can recover from the mistake etc without injury. Yet the media – and some poor decision making on the part of relatively few people - have managed to present the exceptional as if it were routine. I would argue that the current ‘reforms’ of health and safety at work, as well as civil compensation under the Employer Liability system, will be to the detriment of workers and employers. As Government health and safety policy is based on a myth, the solutions being put forward – by definition – are addressing mythical issues. The article in the Daily Mail about the book is just another smokescreen that deflects attention from effectively addressing the main causes of injuries and occupational ill-health to those at work. They could have just as easily entitled the book ‘Some People Make Mistakes’. On the other hand, of course, it is unlikely to be much of a consolation to the parents of the children killed in schools that their loved ones died in ‘low hazard’ premises. Nigel

Ron petrol is a "highly flammable liquid" as defined in regulations. I have witnessed a lighted cigarette being dropped into a stream of petrol leaking from a damaged petrol tank then the petrol fume ignited, this made a very pretty river of fire that almost consumed my fire engine. There are some others who do not realise how flammable petrol actually is, I occasionally see people filling a petrol can at a petrol station then taking the can with them into the station to pay for their purchase. On one occasion staff spotted this and in no uncertain terms told the purchaser to take the can outside, others take no notice. When I see this I wait outside until the can has been removed from the shop before I go in to pay for mine.

There is a train of thought..that states that a person putting a lit cigarette into any flammable fluid is helping evolution by removing tainted genes from the gene-pool! And: http://tinypic.com/r/24fjryh/8 Although the tabloid (and broadsheet) can be ordered in whatever name takes your fancy..