Monday, December 18, 2006

Focus: Merry Christmas ... from Elf and Safety

Ding dong merrily on high the Christmas bells are ringing! And don’t forget that if you plan to ring them at a level of 85 decibels or more then you must issue your ringing team with the appropriate ear defenders. Because seasonal deafness disorder is just one of the dangers that can lurk unseen at this time of year.

Here’s another example. Deck the halls with boughs of holly, ’tis the season to be jolly. But you will need to remember that one of those sharp pieces of holly could take somebody’s eye out. So make sure you cover each little prickle with a tiny ball of Blu-Tac. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

That should be your motto at this time of year: better safe than sorry. We’re not killjoys in the world of safety: you should have seen us on Friday at our annual Christmas lunch, earplugs at the ready for those noisy crackers and everybody in their paper hard hats. But we would not be doing our job properly if we didn’t carry out a full holiday risk assessment.

Yes, everybody knows that when Christmas is coming the geese are getting fat. But it takes a fully trained health and safety official to point out that those geese wouldn’t be quite so fat if somebody was on hand to advise them about a balanced diet and sensible daily regime of light exercise.

With that in mind, here’s what you should be looking out for during the festive season.

It's a two page article.

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