'Health and safety has gone mad' says Health and Safety Executive

Senior staff at the Health and Safety Executive have decried the amount of pointless precautions that are giving genuine safety measures a bad name.

They have been alarmed by the number of stories they are hearing from the public about orders imposed by busybody officials, some of whom appear to have been driven simply by what suited their convenience.

The most absurd 'health and safety' orders

1. The Crufts dog show in Keswick, Cumbria, banned contests in which dogs caught Frisbees, in case one of the animals was injured.

2. A boy in Cardiff was banned from going on a bouncy castle wearing glasses, despite his plea that he couldn't see without them.

3. In a Bedfordshire cafe, a member of staff refused to put strawberry sauce on an ice cream because of 'health and safety'.

4. Some London schools told parents not to put sun cream on their children's arms, because health and safety.

5. Donkey rides have been banned on beaches in case they injure sunbathers.

6. Bosses at an office in Aldershot instructed employees who worked at desks to buy special summer footwear with enclosed toes and supported backs.

7. One employer in Surrey banned an employee from wearing sunglasses while working on reflective glass roofs, despite a doctor's note saying he needed to wear them because of an eye condition.

8. A school banned the cricket club from using a mechanical roller on the cricket pitch out of school hours.

Real health-and-safety laws exist to protect Britain’s workers, and not to be used as a smokescreen by jobsworths who have little knowledge of the law.

• Mark Harper, minister for public health and safety.

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