LONDON - Britain's health and safety watchdog has come out with a timely indictment of petty officialdom for using the excuse of supposedly protecting the public in order to spoil everyone's Christmas fun.
The seasonal Grinches include the town officials who banned Santa from riding in a local yuletide parade because his reindeer sled was not fitted with a seatbelt.
Other killjoys have tried to outlaw the tradition of putting coins in Christmas puddings, and insurance companies have reportedly issued stringent safety guidelines for carol singers.
Each year there are reports of children being banned from throwing snowballs because it is not safe, or office workers being told they cannot put up Christmas decorations for the same reason.
The Health and Safety Execu tive, the official agency in charge of ensuring sensible safety rules are followed in the workplace, frequently gets the blame for being behind even the most ludicrous bans.
This year, it has struck back by busting such health and safety myths.
“If we had one wish,†the agency said, “it would be to stamp out the health and safety Scrooges who try to dampen the Christmas spirit.â€
It set up a panel to look into complaints that the likes of insurance companies, safety consultants and employers were going too far in their health and safety fervor, often for their own benefit rather than the public's.
“We want to make clear that ‘health and safety' is about managing real risks properly, not being risk averse and stopping people getting on with their lives,†the agency said.
It sometimes feels like Britons live in a straitjacket of health and safety rules, monitored by petty of ficials, shop clerks and bureaucrats whose standard response to many everyday activities is “you can't do that â€" health and safety!â€
This wouldn't matter in a country like France or Italy, where rules are made to be broken. In Britain, however, there is a natural tendency to follow the rules â€" and inevitable frustration when they don't make sense.
Many of the health and safety myths are propagated by a Euroskeptic press that tends to see the hidden hand of the European Union behind restrictions that seem designed to make life difficult. The HSE spends much of its effort on just putting the record straight.
“Christmas is a special time of year,†the agency said this week. But that didn't stop people wrongly citing health and safety to prevent harmless activities from going ahead.
“Not only does this needlessly ruin the festive spirit but it also trivializes the true purpose o f health and safety: protecting people from real risks at, or connected with, work.â€
Have a safe and happy Christmas!
