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Playing It Safe: Crazy Stories from the World of Britain’s Health and Safety Regulations
£2.30
‘Very entertaining.’ Jeffrey Podger, chief executive Health & Safety Executive Imagine a world where you wellington boots come with a 24-page instruction manual, or council carers who are prohibited from making tea for OAPs in case they scald themselves on the job. Welcome to Britain in the 21st century, where the Jobsworth now lords it large, issuing edicts of mind-boggling stupidity that ruin the quality of people’s lives all in the name of Health and Safety. Journalist Alan Pearce has compiled the most outrageous and hilarious (and unfortunately all true) examples of Health and Safety gone mad. They will make you cringe whilst crying with laughter. You couldn’t make it up! Includes: * The author who was banned from selling his book in case it caused paper cuts. * The swings removed from a playground in case children were blinded by the sun while playing on them. * An international cycle race banned after worries about urinating cyclists. * The risk assessment needed before a local village hall could sell mince pies
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Additional information
| Publisher | Gibson Square (19 Nov. 2012) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 2676 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 204 pages |
by Beepee
I purchased a copy of this book after hearing the author by chance being interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme, along with a senior offical from the Health and Safety Executive (who by the way had a great sense of humour and loved the book). It is indeed highly entertaining and quite an eye opener. Too many of these stories are frequently repeated in the media to be just “urban myths”. I.e grave stones being toppled and Pears trees due to be chopped down in a London borough to name but a few I’ve heard in the last week or so. The author has quite clearly explained in the beginning of the book that he is not knocking Health and Safety, but that of our booming compensation culture. Any who disputes this exists must be crazy!! My only criticism of this book, is the several friends that have visited me lately and spent all evening with their nose buried in it. I shall be buying several copies as Christmas presents and highly recommend it.
by B. Tiltman
This is a collection of the newspaper stories of apparently ridiculous decisions made by the authorities and all in the name of Health and Safety.
Whilst most of us were incredulous and often amused by these stories when they appeared individually at the time, grouped together they lose much of their impact.
Added to this the original version of this book was published in 2007 and features items which date from then back to 2000 and you realise that the world has moved on. In fact some of the decisions made were actually sensible.
Mildly amusing but you are hardly likely to repeat these down the pub now.
by Causbrite
The plain dumbness of some of these stories beggars belief. Whatever happened to common sense? Of course there’s nothing we can do about it though, the government agreed to it all, so everyone must be tret like babies. One day books will be banned as reading them could give you ideas or hurt your eyes
by Nicola Hardy
‘Playing It Safe’ is a collection of nearly 250 short press clippings compiled by journalist Alan Pearce. They paint a rather unflattering portrait of ‘bureaucratic Britain’ which may have you holding your sides with laughter, or your head in your hands with despair, according to your sense of humour (and, possibly, your age).
The cuttings have been gathered between 2000-2007 and come from a wide variety of sources . There’s a good mix of articles from local and national tabloids and broadsheets and even some tales from Auntie Beeb herself. They are presented in one long stream, with no chapter breaks or any other headings. Without any natural pauses in the text, it’s quite easy just to plough through the lot in one sitting, as I did. In spite of the cartoon image on the front cover, there are no other illustrations in the book.
The stories range widely in terms of subject matter. Ladders, conkers and Christmas decorations all feature heavily. Health and Safety Officers from local authorities are oft quoted. The town council of Bury St Edmunds is mentioned on more than one occasion! Overall, I didn’t find the collection quite as side-splitting as some other reviewers did, but the story of Shenkin the goat’s unfortunate incident at the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff did cause a tear of mirth (no animals are harmed in the incident, before you ask). Another personal highlight was the tale of the shopping centre Santa who had to be given a hard hat after local kids threw mince pies at him.
Even in some of the more mundane accounts, there are some great quotes to be found. When Paul Hudson found that he could no longer take his pet iguana into the Metrocentre in Gateshead, his response was not entirely reassuring: “He is a nice animal. He could bite someone if he wanted to, but he wouldn’t.” There are also some feisty displays of righteous indignation, such as one pensioner’s retort to concerns over distributing special napkins with meals-on-wheels: “To risk-assess a napkin is utterly ridiculous …”
So, if you fancy a light-hearted look at life in modern Britain, you might like to give this a try. Downloading the Kindle version will, of course, reduce the risk of paper cuts whilst reading …
This review refers to the Kindle edition of ‘Playing It Safe: Crazy Stories from the World of Britain’s Health and Safety Regulations’.
A note to Kindle users: I have found a number of typos in the Kindle edition, especially in the headings, which is a bit of a shame. The stories ‘Losing Their Marbles’ and ‘Don’t Eat The Napkins’ have their headings the wrong way round, which is a bit confusing at first.