Sauce sachet too risky for deli staff
You wouldn't have thought a simple request to put some brown sauce on a bacon butty would cause too many problems. But that's without the health and safety zealots. [caption id="attachment_77114" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Meet Tom Petty, the Shropshire Star's latest recruit. He'll be waging war on ridiculous red tape and ludicrous legislation. So if you have an example of bureaucracy gone mad or health and safety overkill, Tom wants to hear from you. Email him at tompetty@shropshirestar.co.uk"][/caption] You wouldn't have thought a simple request to put some brown sauce on a bacon butty would cause too many problems. But in these days of the dreaded health and safety, it would appear that simply isn't the case. Teacher Nick Hanna was left dumbfounded when a deli counter assistant told him she couldn't open a brown sauce sachet for him - in case some of the sachet got in his sandwich and he held them responsible. Mr Hanna said he asked for help with the sachet when he was at the counter at the Spar in Battlefield because he did not want to get sauce on his shirt and was hoping to save time. But Mr Hanna, who had bought his sandwich from the store, said he was stunned when the assistant said she could not open it for health and safety reasons. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
You wouldn't have thought a simple request to put some brown sauce on a bacon butty would cause too many problems.
But in these days of the dreaded health and safety, it would appear that simply isn't the case.
Teacher Nick Hanna was left dumbfounded when a deli counter assistant told him she couldn't open a brown sauce sachet for him - in case some of the sachet got in his sandwich and he held them responsible.
Mr Hanna said he asked for help with the sachet when he was at the counter at the Spar in Battlefield because he did not want to get sauce on his shirt and was hoping to save time.
But Mr Hanna, who had bought his sandwich from the store, said he was stunned when the assistant said she could not open it for health and safety reasons.
He said the assistant told him that if she opened the sachet and a piece of it went onto the sandwich and he ate it the store would be liable.
Mr Hanna was at the store shortly before 7am yesterday and the assistant had to carry the part-made sandwich over the counter for him to pour the sauce on before returning to the worktop to continue to make it.
Mr Hanna said he could not believe it had happened but he did sympathise with staff at the store.
And he also raised concerns about the UK's increasing health and safety stance which has seen issues raised across the country over recent years.
He said: "I had to laugh, I had heard so much about the health and safety police but so far had managed to avoid most of them.
"I actually felt a bit sorry for the staff. It looked ludicrous but they obviously wouldn't want to put their jobs at risk over a dabble of brown sauce.
"We're trying to organise a school trip for 17 and 18-year-olds, at my school in Walsall, and we can't take them to a local cinema without filling in a risk assessment about the dangers of getting on a public bus, so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. I managed to open the brown sauce sachet myself without any plastic falling into the sandwich and I'm still here alive to tell the tale."
A spokesman for Spar today said it was unable to make a comment about the claims at this stage.
By Tom Petty
