Another day, another bit of “‘elf ‘n’ safety” nonsense. The latest story that’s doing the rounds is this one, from the Express:
The story seems to have come from the Daily Mail, which covered it in the form of an inset to a article about “Halloween health and safety horror”:
Both articles claim that “health and safety rules” are to blame for the “ban”.
However, as the Express says in the final paragraph:
The school, St Anne’s in Royton, Greater Manchester, says it is following Oldham Council swimming guidelines which state that beginners and improvers should become used to eye contact with water.
And the Mail admits in its final two paragraphs:
Tory councillor Jack Hulme said: ‘Our swimming teachers follow established guidelines.
‘These state that beginners and improvers – unless they have a medical condition – should not wear goggles. That is so that they can get used to eye contact with the water.’
As these sentences prove, the decision to prevent Alex from wearing goggles has nothing to do with health and safety rules of any kind.
So, why did both newspapers try to imply that it was?
Incidentally, the Metro have reported on the same story today, without any mention of “health and safety” at all.
(Thanks to Press Not Sorry for pointing out the Mail’s version of the story.)
The Metro did, however, report on the "Apple Bobbing 'Ban'" in length and even managed to get a "it's health and safety gone mad" in there (from as well respected an authority as "a shop assistant" no less).