Myth 230 - School refused to allow pupil to bring in a live baby chick for school presentation

The issue considered by the HSE Myth Busters Challenge Panel in case 230 concerned a school's policy, which does not allow a pupil to take in a pet baby chick into school for his presentation due to health and safety and quoted bird flu as main reason.

The panel’s decision was that health and safety legislation does not prevent children bringing pets and small animals to schools, and the small risk of any type of infection can be readily controlled by simple everyday measures like hand washing. Specific guidance to help schools build these activities into lessons is freely available and helps avoid disproportionate, risk averse decisions like this one being attributed to health and safety.

232 - School going to great expense to replace wooden flooring in its workshops

The issue brought to the Myth Busters Challenge Panel in case 232 was in relation to a school which was planning to replace at great expense the wooden parquet flooring in its workshops with concrete. The enquirer was told it had to be done on "health and safety" grounds because of fire risk.

The panel decided that health and safety at work legislation does not require the replacement of wooden flooring in school design and technology workshops with concrete or other materials, and no readily available guidance suggests that this is necessary. The health and safety advisor who made the recommendation should be challenged to explain the reasons for it rather simply stating "health and safety". Unless there are good reasons to replace the floor (e.g. deteriorating condition), the school may be able to avoid considerable expense and upheaval in changing the flooring material.

Myth 233 - Optician had removed wheels from a chair used for conducting eye tests

The issue brought to the HSE Mythbuster Challenge Panel in case 233 related to an enquirer who was having an eye test using two different pieces of optical testing equipment. Whilst seated he was asked to move over to the second piece of equipment and when trying to move the chair several times found it to be very difficult. The reason for this was because the wheels had been removed due to 'health & safety'.

The panel decided that there is no health and safety legislation that requires the removal of wheels from chairs – all that is required in any workplace is an assessment of what is a suitable chair for use. If there is a good reason why wheeled chairs cannot be used for eye testing then this should be properly explained rather than using the short sighted excuse of "elf n safety".

Myth 234 - Grill pan handle health and safety ban

The issue brought to the Myth Busters Challenge panel in case 234 concerned an enquirer who had bought a new gas cooker that had no grill pan handle. He was told it’s a health and safety problem and they are no longer supplied.

The panel was clear that health and safety at work legislation does not apply to equipment sold for domestic use and certainly does not prevent the sale of a grill pan with a handle. If the supplier has taken a decision to stop supplying handles they should explain the true reasons for their decision, and not simply give "health and safety" as a catch-all excuse.

Myth 235 - Christmas craft fair entry fee "essential on health and safety grounds"

The issue brought to the HSE Myth Busters Challenge Panel in case 235 was by an enquirer, who was told that an entry fee charged for a Christmas craft fair was necessary in order to control the number of people attending, essential on health and safety grounds. The organiser went onto say that, if these controls were not in place at the event, there would be a severe risk of overcrowding and they probably would not be able to go ahead with the event.

The panel decided that whilst they can understand why the organisers need to control numbers of people attending this event, using health and safety as the reason for charging people to gain entry to the event is wrong. A practical way to control visitor numbers is to issue tickets for entry but the decision to charge for the tickets is a commercial decision (which the organisers are free to make) not a safety factor. Rather than blame the entry fee on health and safety, it would have been more helpful if the organisers had explained that the ticket costs were simply to cover the cost of staging the event and managing visitor numbers.

Myth 236 - Ban on laser sights in rifle range

This issue of case 236 brought before the HSE Myth Busters Challenge Panel was a notice printed at a local rifle range stated that under health and safety laws, laser sights were not to be used. The enquirer has asked the panel if this is an actual law or a myth.

Panel decision: The panel decided that the use of telescopic laser sights on a range at a Rifle Club is not banned by health and safety at work legislation. The club should have control measures in place to ensure guns are used safely and these controls should be sufficient to ensure any risks to people’s eyes are also adequately controlled when using laser sights. Other clubs are known to ban laser sights because they are considered unsporting; this club may have specific reasons for not allowing their use but they should explain these clearly rather than simply citing "health and safety".