A health and safety Christmas message

This Christmas message gives thanks to Elf ‘n’ Safety, that lovable Santa’s helper that does so much to make Christmas a joyous happy holiday and also a health and safety conscious holiday.

‘This Christmas, as we gather around the cheery burning yule log fire with our loved ones, let us spare a thought for the Santa’s little elves that do so much to make the festive season a joyful, and above all, a safe celebration.
I’m referring, of course, to Santa’s special little elf – Elf ‘n’ Safety.
This Christmas, as we spray the area under the mistletoe with an anti-bacterial agent, to reduce the risk of disease being transmitted by lip-to-lip or lip-to-cheek physical contact, this Christmas, as we place our warning signs around the chimney, to warn innocent passers-by that Santa is approaching – a possible aerial hazard, this Christmas, as we laboratory-test our Christmas pudding to ensure that the sixpence that has been placed inside it is a safe, artificial, digestible sixpence, this Christmas, as we place our gifts for our loved ones in an area which has been designated a ’safe Christmas gift placement environment,’ rather than under the Christmas tree – risk of head injury caused by heavenly angel falling from tree,
each Christmas that we do these things,
let us give thanks for Elf ‘n’ Safety.’

Why ‘health and safety’ is sometimes er, mutilated to become ‘elf ‘n’ safety’

Elf ‘n’ Safety is so-called because the phrase is supposedly often spoken by people who don’t pronounce their aitches, or the letter ‘h,’ and who finish some words with a ‘f’ sound rather than a ‘th’ sound. Janitors and supervisors, for example.

Impact of health and safety laws and regulations on safe, harmless, activities

There is currently a view in Britain that although health and safety regulations are desirable, they are sometimes interpreted too strictly – so strictly that they have an adverse effect on safe, harmless activities.

Health and safety and British traditions

The tradition of placing a sixpence. a small coin about the same size and value as an American nickel, in the Christmas pudding, is an old British custom which is sometimes continued today.