Co-ord Responds To Channel 4's Fun Police Documentary
AS previously reported here, the Co-ord has considered their response to Channel 4's Cutting Edge series documentary entitled "The Fun Police" which was billed as being an insight into the work of health and safety professionals, but turned into a farce and a culmination of the general media's view that health and safety is a good target to trivialise and attack.
To use Derek Maylor's words when confirming to the co-ord that action had been taken in line with their decision, "At the last Co-ord meeting we decided not to pursue the recent TV programme but to make a comment on their website. There are more productive ways of spending our time than chasing some idiot TV producer."
The comment made to Channel 4 was as follows:
"The CWU NW Safety Co-ord seriously considered its response to the programme. Whilst the issue of the type of nail glue used in the beauty industry is a serious one for those who, as a result of the use of banned glue, are finding their natural nails corroding and dropping off, there are more serious issues in health and safety which could have been highlighted.
There was no mention of the deaths and serious injuries that still occur in the UK every year, month, week and day. There was no graphic description of the kids who die falling 20 metres or get crushed to death within days of starting their first job. No mention of the 4000 preventable deaths from mesothelioma last year.
Therefore we are disappointed at the mocking of health and safety, the ignorance of the deaths, injuries and ill health in work and even the financial cost to the country of poor or non-existent safety in the workplace."
Of course the response from Channel 4 was bog standard:
" Dear Mr Maylor,
Thank you for contacting Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries regarding THE FUN POLICE.
Sorry to hear you felt THE FUN POLICE was something that was mocking the Health and Safety industry and that you feel disappointed that we did not highlight certain cases of which you mention.
Please be assured that your comments have be logged for the attention of the production company involved with this programme and that they will also be passed throughout Channel 4.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate all feedback from our viewers; complimentary or otherwise.
Regards,
Max Scott
Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries"
