Safety First

The term ‘red tape’ is often taken to a whole new extreme over here, I’ve noticed. If there is a way to complicate a process, we do. Our classic example of the chip & pin system shows just one of many circumstances where the powers that be in the UK have decided that a certain way is the best and there is no arguing with them, no attempts to convince them that there might be another possibility, nope – that is how it is. Full stop. (Another phrase I should have added to the list of British phrases)

The amusing side of this to me, is that they also like to make fun of their self-imposed systems of order and regulations. It’s kinda tricky though; you still must follow the rules to the nth degree, you are just allowed to sarcastically mock them while doing so. This is allowed for the fact that you are not allowed to throw away garden trimmings (branches, grass clippings, etc) in your trash pick up, yet you can drive them down to the city dump yourself & dispose of as much as you’d like. There is no sneaking a sack full of grass into the bin, but you are more than allowed to complain about driving down to the tip and how horrible the city council is for making you do so.

My favorite thing that they mock are the health and safety regulations (and regulators). There is a whole department to oversee the well-being of citizens. I admit, they do issue ridiculous regulations. For instance:

An office must have a designated health & safety supervisor for every 50 employees; this person must be equipped with a reflective safety vest and have a designated safety plaque in their workspace.

All new employees to the company and any visitors on site for an extended period of time must be briefed on the fire exits, timing of fire alarms, locations of first aid stations, and any necessary infrastructure procedures.

Fire alarms are to be tested weekly (our office is every Tuesday at 10am – I still jump every week).

There is also some sort of regulation over the random fire drill. In the lovely DR Horton tower in Fort Worth, they were nice enough to announce the fire drill a week ahead of time so you could plan to be sick or take an early lunch to avoid the 18 floor walk downstairs. Not so much over here. I went through two fire drills in the first 6 weeks we were here. One of which in the pouring rain, the other only in a drizzle. Luckily, I guess, our office is only 3 floors so it’s never a long way down.

From what I can tell, however, they are equally as annoyed by all the regulations too. In a brief google search of health & safety regulations, you will find many articles of seeming normal everyday life that have been ‘banned’ by increased regulations.

This all became very personal in my office this week. We have large rolling filing cabinets to store all our files. It’s a good system – space saving. I’ve seen it in many office buildings I’ve been in over the years. Until this week. On Wednesday, someone was rolling the cabinets to get to a file that was on the interior of the shelves. I wasn’t there, but I can only guess (as the drawers are next to the kitchen area), they had a cup of tea in their hands and were carrying on a conversation while rolling the cabinets and perhaps not paying full attention to what they were doing. They somehow managed to pinch their finger in between two of the units then they screamed. And it just so happens that the designated health & safety supervisor for our floor was nearby, so they had to file an accident report. More red-tape and paperwork. In, what I hope is, a tongue-in-cheek move there are now 8 of the posters below hanging on the 10 filing cabinets. Ah, those Brits.