Or can you?
One issue I keep catching myself griping about is lack of proper communication. If there is a vision or a new rule, make sure it is properly announced and explained. It takes longer to fix wrong information than it does to simply state it correctly and fully at the beginning.
Take this story from jolly ol’ England as an example: Don’t touch that office chair! Health and Safety demand 48 hours notice to move it. Bloggers around the world are crying out “Nanny State!” Lord Berkely calls it “Health and safety gone mad” (which seems to be a popular phrase on the other side of the puddle).
Imagine working somewhere that was so locked up in safety regulations that the following is said about it:
There, employees have been banned from shifting furniture on the remote chance that they might do themselves a mischief.
They are told to book a porter to complete the task - and allow two days for it to happen.
The new rule could prove particularly problematic for staff planning a last-minute meeting.
If a porter cannot be summoned urgently staff would be left with the awkward choice of disobeying a direct order from the management or asking some of their guests to stand.
To hammer home the point, signs which read: Do not lift tables or chairs without giving 48 hours notice to HSE management‘, have been plastered across the walls in several meeting rooms.
But there is more . . .
It appears as though someone is exaggerating, and perhaps doing it with a bit of a wink towards the recently passed April Fools Day. Take a look a this document from the parliament archive: Health and Safety Executive: Furniture.
HSE’s approach to moving furniture in its offices is based on its own assessment of the risks from manual handling—one of the main causes of work-related absence among its staff. Where furniture needs to be moved regularly, it is mounted on lockable wheels so that any staff can move it easily. For other, bulky and cumbersome furniture, arrangements have been made with porters to move it safely; signs have therefore been posted in some meeting rooms advising staff of this arrangement.
Well, that doesn’t sound as insane as we were first led to believe. I don’t personally know if Lord Berkeley is a looney (I am not going to judge by title alone) , but either someone sent him on a bad track or he went off half-cocked. What I do know is that there is a lot of complaining around a non-issue simply because of bad judgment and bad communication in the past.
Next time everyone is complaining about something not rooted in reality remember that while they may be nutty themselves, you need to make sure that your communication has not been flaky. That sort of thing can drive you bananas.
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