Bonkers Conkers

If you happened to be wandering around Westminster and saw a group of MPs playing conkers you would be forgiven for being a bit confused.

The MPs were taking part in the Crack Conker Challenge hosted by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) in a bid to show that health and safety is not a barrier to enjoying many traditional pastimes.

The event was part of IOSH's campaign called “Stop Taking the Myth,” which serves to highlight that health and safety is often used as a catch all excuse to ban pastimes in the UK, one memorable example being of the over cautious head teacher who told children they had to wear goggles when playing conkers.

So who was the winner?

Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester said:

“…health and safety gets blamed for lots of things which health and safety officers have had nothing whatsoever to do with… health and safety people are not there to be killjoys, but to stop people being killed and injured. The serious message behind this bit of fun is that we have to be careful in society, in the workplace and indeed in the home.”

To learn more about IOSH's campaign please click http://www.iosh.co.uk/news_and_events/campaigns/stop_taking_the_myth-1.aspx and for HSEs myth busting pages click http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/index.htm