Posted By Glen Cowsill Is anyone aware of guidance available, or does anyone have any info. I could gleen regarding the setting up of a company "jewelry policy". It is to cover a broad base of sites with operations covering manual working and working with machines. Thanks in advance. Glen.

Posted By Glen Cowsill Thanks Merve It's the persuasive element I think requires to be formulated. To simply say no and quote a policy at people often gets a negative resopnse and poor take up. Glen

Posted By Stuart Nagle interesting thoughts have come into my brain on reading these contributions. What would happen, say, if a company included such in a H&S Policy and this caused the employees to revolt !! Wearing of jewellery is often an immotive issue,for some more senior women workers partucularly (I am not being sexist here.) and for some 'ethnic minorities' a religious issue !! Could/would a company therefore be within the law to; a) introduce standards that excluded certain ethnic minorities on religious grounds (Remember the items about turbans), and expect others to comply, and b) would the company be able to protect itself by allowing employees to sign a 'waiver' stating something like ' they have been informed of the risks etc etc, and have chosen not to comply with these instructions.... c) Ties and wearing of has been around for a long time where rotating machinery is used. It is common practice for such items of clothing to be banned, however, in my experience I do not recall ever seeing workshop employee wearing a tie !! Regards... Stuart Nagle

Posted By Stuart Nagle Ken. A lot of words, but you are not answering any of the problems !! We know policy and risk assessment go hand in hand on ensuring the correct level/application of H&S. But how would one address these cultural and ethnic problems....'Sack em' or what... Obviously, not the answer, so a meeting of minds is needed here. Training...Yes, but will this overcome deep held religious belief...I do not think so. There has to be a middle way... Its nice to play evils advocate is it not !! Stuart Nagle

Posted By Stuart Nagle OK Ken... Don't get all bitter and twisted, I was after all mearly playing at being devils advocate here. Some very intersting points raised which I am sure will help.

Posted By Jerry Hill Returning to Stuarts issues a few messages back: It is my belief that: a) There can be no exclusion of ethnic minorities on the grounds of religous beliefs, nor any other beliefs for that matter. A safety issue is a safety issue regardless of colour/race or creed. b) Getting staff to sign a waiver in no way releases a company from its duty of care to provide a safe working environment for staff. It just isn't worth the paper it's written on. c) Ties could be tucked inside shirts etc if required although like another of our contributors has mentioned, the wearing of ties within engineering environments is NOT the norm. Jewellery can cause problems with many areas of safety. In the course of my work with young people on Government funded training programmes, I have much contact with hairdressing trainees. Jewellery is definately the order of the day, with some girls wearing as many as ten or twelve rings on their fingers. Invariably, constant contact with dying and perming solutions, plus the addition of constantly wet hands, ensure that skin irritation and in worst case scenarios dermatitis gets a hold. Many salons I have been in recently have introduced policies forbiding the girls (and boys) from wearing rings (other than wedding/engagement) and also only allow trainees to wear just one pair of earings. (Fourteen in one ear is the most I have seen). This earing exclusion was, however, to ensure that trainees looked professional and was not really a safety issue. If jewellery has the potential to cause harm, it must be included within a company's risk control strategy. Hope this offers another perspective to our discussions. Regards Jerry

Posted By Laurie Further to my last, I appreciate that this may cause disrimination problems Laurie