Just a little story to start the week of with.

I have been involved in Health and Safety for around Seven years now, everything from the office to the construction environments. I have given TBT’s and safety presentations on housekeeping, safety with tools, slips, trips & falls and the danger of fires / use of the correct fire extinguishers.

On Sunday morning the other half put the Bacon in the grill, (one of those combined Oven/Grill things) and closed the door. After several minutes doing other things she remembers the Bacon and opens the oven door were upon a large cloud of black smoke billows out and an orange glow can be seen within, not one to panic the wife screams for my assistance, I duly run into the Kitchen leaving all my common sense and training behind me in the front room. Taking one look at the burning tray of Bacon and not being able to get to it as it’s in the oven, Mistake one, I put the oven gloves on and pulled the tray out trying to keep it level to avoid spilling the burning fat all over the floor and placed it on top of the hob. Mistake two, looking at the Bacon burning away merrily, I step back and quickly assess the situation, “it’s not a chip pan fire so if I put some water on it, it should be OK” Idiot. Luckily I only got a cup and started to pour it on, small fire ball and no hair on my right arm later I took another step back and reassessed the situation , got the tea towel, got it wet, rung it out and laid it on top of the tray, fire out.

It just goes to show that a serious incident can happen at any time, any place and complacency with your surroundings only adds to the danger.

Yes my wife has been giving me abuse about it ever since, with things like “call yourself a health and Safety person?” and “I’m glad I don’t employ you”. So I’m feeling very foolish at the moment.

We all make mistakes even as professionals: Got called to a car on fire one lunch time and attended the incident, deployed a BA team and put it out. Got back to the station to find large quantities of smoke coming out of the kitchen windows – No BA’s this time just rushed in grabbed the burning pan of pasta off the hob and launched it out the window! Professional? Eh –No! Luckily it wasn’t my pasta though so didn’t have to live that one down.

What makes this all the more amusing Murray is seeing your Avatar next to your post! ;-)

Murray - It's interesting to see your wife turned the tables and has blamed you, even more interesting to see you appear to have accepted the blame!

Prevention is always better than cure and you are in the business of preventing accidents after all, not dealing with the consequences of human error.

Did neither of you think of calling the brigade out?

Murray - I see your fire and raise you one...

On Saturday, my beloved pyromaniac other half left the bacon under the grill and forgot about it - luckily she'd trimmed most of the fat off, so when I found it it was nothing worse than a grill full of smoke (and some ready-made "crispy bits").

So as I'd thwarted her on Saturday, on Sunday she decided to soften the butter in the microwave...without taking it out of its metallised foil wrapping...

Again I was a bit slow to respond so by the time I arrived the flames were almost out. The butter was still edible too.

Chrisburns,
why would anyone let their house burn down because bacon was on fire? By the time the brigade got there it could have been to late. This is sometimes the problem with H&S people don't look at what is in front of them and take the long winded approach to everything.

I'll consider myself told