News Article

Burning Safety Issue!


Posted by Carl Gryniewicz | Date Posted 05.12.2007 | Time Posted 10:06:40 | Views: 555

Health and safety professionals have today hit back at the latest "ban" being blamed on them - this time the dropping of a fire-breathing dragon from a book.

Publisher Orchard Books are reported to have told a children's author to remove an image of the dragon breathing fire from the book 'Who Wants a Dragon?' because of fears they could be sued on health and safety grounds.

President of Europe's largest professional health and safety body, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), Ray Hurst, said:

"This preposterous decision again shows how businesses are being scared senseless by unrealistic fears of litigation. It’s now even getting to the stage where a fictional creature is being seen as a potential hazard, and that’s just complete and utter nonsense. It pushes the barmy ‘ban-it’ culture to new levels.

"If we edit out every risk, however far fetched, from books, we’re preventing our children from letting their creativity loose. And, we’re also denying them the opportunity to learn about risk in a completely safe environment.

"That’s very damaging for a child’s future. If they don’t learn about risk through reading, their more likely to not recognise risk as they grow up and that could lead to accidents. Similarly, not letting youngsters read about fire-breathing dragons might mean they put themselves in more risky situations to let off steam."

IOSH immediate past president, Lisa Fowlie, from Anglesey in Wales, added:

The dragon is the national symbol of Wales and I don’t think the Welsh Government has ever been sued because of it! People here would be absolutely horrified if someone suggested we had to remove the dragon from our flag.

“This decision is the ultimate in far-fetched forbiddance and it has nothing to do with health and safety, other than health and safety being used as a cheap excuse. Ridiculous examples like this pour scorn on what our profession is trying to do – to prevent the loss of life and limb. The family, friends and colleagues of the 241 people who died at work last year will understand the importance of effective health and safety – and banning dragons from breathing fire in books is not what we’re here to do.”


Published in sections: Health and Safety ::

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