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In principal Id agree with this, though 'Health and Safety' as a concept is not one which is always used nowadays in the spirit of stopping stupid people killing themselves. For example, in the case of the venue Im working in this week the phrase 'Health and Safety' is really short-hand for 'the-less-we-let-you-do-the-less-risk-we-have-of-having-to-clear-something-up'. In this sense its little more than a device to articulate the answer 'no' without having to debate it in further or seem responsible. Not my fault Guv', its Health and Safety, Innit. As a slight aside, on my first day of proper grown up engineering in oil and gas whilst I was on the official Health and Safety (please note: these words must always be capitalised, Heavens knows they've earned our respect) of the dock of which we were based, the fractionally over-zealous officer tripped over his own feet and fell head first into the mercifully flooded dock. As lessons go, it worked pretty well on me. When I left my job there he was still the only person to ever fall in the dock, something that I really feel those '363 days without an accident' signs should detail exhaustively. Lets be careful out there people. Matt B. MATT BAGLEY BEng(Hons), MA Tall Person That's Really Good at Inspiring People to Become Cool Things (Even if They Don't Want To Become Cool Things). CAMOUFLAGED LEARNING | EDUCATION THROUGH ACTION WWW.CAMOUFLAGED-LEARNING.COM phone - 01493 393980| mobile - 077601 78040 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan Sanderson" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 7:01 PM Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Unsafe at any bench (was RE: [PSCI-COM] Quick experiment/ demo) > On 17 Sep 2007, at 18:06, Michael Kenward wrote: > >> Could PSCI make a major contribution to PESTilence by compiling a list >> of >> daft health and safety rulings? The next step would be to get proper >> advice >> on this so that anyone presented with similar lunacy in future can turn >> round and say "That's a load of cobblers. It is perfectly acceptable." > > To squeak up in defence of the H&S industry - I worked with a 'major > regional broadcaster' through the process of them writing and > implementing a bottom-to-top rework of their H&S practices. Since I was > making a practical/demonstration-based children's science series with > them, this meant I was in regular contact with the safety office, and > they went through my risk assessments in astonishing detail (as opposed > to not reading them at all, as before). > > On one occasion I had a delightful retired chemist coming into the studio > to do the usual - fling around liquid nitrogen, do things with liquid > oxygen one probably shouldn't, and breathe sulphur hexafluoride gas. My > risk assessment had rattled on for some fairly large number of pages. It > was all reasonable stuff, but perhaps somewhat alarming to the > uninitiated. And I'd filed it late. > > My heart sank, then, when the H&S manager burst onto the studio floor in > a state of some agitation, waving a copy of said risk assessment. "Have > you started yet?" she cried, flustered. > > Resigned, I admitted that we were running a little late, so no, we hadn't > yet blown anything up. > > "Great!" she said. "I was worried I'd miss it. Sounds like fun!" > > > More generally, I can't think of any occasion in which an H&S department > has genuinely prevented me from doing something (rather than merely raise > question about it - sometimes even good questions). However, they have in > a few cases sided with me in my attempts to stop somebody more senior > doing something truly stupid. > > -- > Jonathan Sanderson > 'If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.' (Pascal) > > ********************************************************************** > 1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, > send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: > set psci-com nomail > 2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: > set psci-com mail > 3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the > message: > leave psci-com > 4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list > archive, > can be found at the list web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html > 5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and > science > and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk > ********************************************************************** > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.487 / Virus Database: > 269.13.21/1012 - Release Date: 16/09/2007 18:32 > ********************************************************************** 1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: set psci-com nomail 2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: set psci-com mail 3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message: leave psci-com 4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive, can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html 5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and science and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk **********************************************************************