As Michael Crawford is preparing to reprise his much loved character Frank Spencer from the classic BBC television sitcom “Some Mothers do ‘Ave ‘Em” for sports relief, Crawford is famous for performing is own stomach-churning stunts which famously include, clinging onto the back of a bus on roller skates, driving off the end of a pier, sitting in a car hanging over a cliff.
Whilst talking about the reprisal of his character to the Daily Mail, he opened up about the stunts that he cannot perform due to health and safety laws; “I think the one where I am taking my driving test and I drive off the end of the pier into the sea. I don't think they'd allow that now.'
Michael says 'these days it's all much more difficult with health and safety rules. We didn't have those 42 years ago.'
Health and safety laws exist to safeguard people against being seriously or fatally injured at work, or made unwell within their work place. The regulations are in place to help protect people well-being and save lives, not prevent people from having fun.
Health and safety receives a lot of bad press, especially when companies impose “ridiculous” bans in the name of health and safety, for instance, the holiday resort giant, Butlins banned dodgem cars bumping into each other in their Skegness resort, the banning of street parties after the royal wedding, flying kites on a popular beach in Yorkshire and children being banned from playing football at school – unless the ball is made from sponge.
These examples cause uproar in the media, with people exclaiming that “health and safety has gone mad!” and in these instances, yes it has! These are examples of people wrongly citing health and safety as a reason to prevent people from doing relatively harmless activities.
Granted, bumping into people in a dodgem car is not as dangerous as somebody sitting in a car that’s hanging over a cliff. But the media (most of the time) does not portray the importance of health and safety and why some bans are implemented in a positive light.
This bad press that health and safety receives is detrimental to the cause. The now common misguided conception of health and safety has led people away from focusing on the prevention of real workplace risks. Say, for example, your company have been performing a task a certain way for years and regulations come in guiding you on how you can complete the task in a safer manner, or prevent the task from being completed outright, it’s not health and safety gone mad, the regulations are in place to help you maintain high safety standards and protect your workforce.
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