Ridiculous health and safety excuses of 2012 revealed

The Health and Safety Executive has revealed some of the most ridiculous business decisions blamed on regulations in the past year.

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Happy New Year from Frontline Safety! To celebrate, we're looking back at some of the most ridiculous things blamed on health and safety in the past year, as reported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

As every responsible manager knows, providing hazmat suits, breathing apparatus or the correct dust monitoring equipment can be essential to the safety of workers in certain circumstances.

However, the HSE has revealed that it has dealt with more than 100 cases in the past 12 months in which companies had blamed health and safety regulations for decisions not affe

cted by such legislation.One example of this overkill was when a 66-year-old man from Cambridgeshire reported that his local public hall had banned knives from its kitchen.

John Bull was astounded by the revelation and reported it to the HSE's Myth Busters Panel, which agreed that "a knife is essential kitchen tool" and should not be banned from its "natural home".

Another bogus excuse blamed on health and safety was reported by 46-year-old company director Sandra Scott, who asked for a boiled sweet before take-off on a flight, only to be told that the air stewardess was not allowed to distribute them any more in case children choke.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing when the cabin crew refused me a sweet. I thought the air pressure was playing tricks with my ears," she said.

"I knew there was no way this was a decision based on any health and safety law. It may just be the airline just wanted to save money on sweets, but I went to the panel to expose this nonsense and they agreed wholeheartedly with me"

Other bizarre health and safety mistruths included yo-yos being banned in schools and a fish and chip shop refusing to sell a customer fish batter scraps that came from the same fryer as his fish supper.

While these incidents all seem fairly humorous, they serve as a reminder that managers should research exactly what their health and safety responsibilities are - to protect their staff on the one hand and to save them ending up with egg on their face on the other!

Posted by Shona Innes