The fear of God, health and safety 2
5th Dec 2008
Hello lovely people
There is an English hospital where a box with wool and knitting needles was made available to both patients and visitors to while the time away. They would knit small squares and hand them to the nurses. The squares were sewn together by charity workers, and turned into blankets that were distributed by local charities.
Wonderful idea. Until the health and safety person came to hear about it and banned the knitting needles on the basis that the needles are too sharp to use safely. I have been using knitting needles since I can remember, and so have my ancestors. I have not been able to find a single instance of where a knitter was injured by a sharp knitting needle, or, heaven help us, death by knitting.
Has this official even seen a knitting needle before banning them? And what did the hospital staff, visitors and patients do? They expressed their dismay with the situation and accepted it – because of the belief that you do not challenge authority, even when the figure of authority has clearly lost their marbles. The same people that criticised and then accepted this decision are probably surprised that good people in Zimbabwe have been accepting a malicious dictatorship for a whole generation. Guess where such a dictatorship starts?
Then there were the dustmen who wanted to liven up a not so pleasant job by putting cuddly toys in their vehicles. We have all seen these toys hanging from the rear-view mirrors of vehicles or seated on the dashboard. The managers of one waste management company did not like the cuddly toys. They wanted a more “professional” image for their company and banned the cuddly toys on the grounds of health and safety.
Why? You will love this.
Because young children may be out and about, and notice these small toys high up in a big vehicle, and be tempted to run out into the street and confront the vehicle until the vehicle hands over the toys to them. This is of course assuming that your children are unable to understand that it would not be safe to run into the road in front of a big vehicle. That is how cuddly toys became a serious health and safety risk.
Can you imagine how this kind of publicity improved the public image of the company involved?
By the way, if you think I am making these examples up as I go along, search the web and you will find them yourself.
To be continued
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Love and Light
Elsabe
