‘Elf and safety – common sense in a high-viz jerkin. I am not one for paying too much attention to health and safety. In fact, I’m a reformed rule-flouter. No longer reckless, reck must have arrived at some point.
But today began with me trying to clean my teeth with some fancy facial scrub that also comes in a white tube with green writing and lives on the bathroom windowsill. Phew, I thought eyeing the Deepheat, that was close.
It really doesn’t take much for calamity to reign. A staple carelessly squeezed onto earlobe rather than report (easy mistake), running with scissors (so tempting) or, a recent danger, whiteboards collapsing under the weight of Post-it notes. It could even be something as straightforward as not noticing the sensibly placed hazard signage because I’m walking around backwards.
My own work-related catastrophes include looking daft on numerous occasions. These include arriving in a meeting room (new office post baby) and asking what the thing on a table was (obvs, a conference all do-dah, but I’d never seen one before), tweeting about a wardrobe mishap on the way to an interview and then being retweeted by the interviewer, realising at home-time that I’ve had odd shoes on day and finding a small child’s tiny pair of pants stuck to the Velcro of a jacket (again all day). Probably numerous others too shameful to recollect.
Some incidents could be life-changing if you have to handle toxic or dangerous substances. It’s an excellent idea to make sure you have the right equipment. Investigate cut-free gloves at https://unigloves.co.uk/reusable-gloves/nitrex/cut-resistant for just one example of useful safety wear.
But, seriously folks, it’s worth taking a bit of care in the office to make sure that a red face is the worst thing to happen to you.