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Pointers To Good Safety Management: In a Kitchen

1 Jan 1987

Safety first in kitchens.

Kitchens can be dangerous places, declares the head chef to his two prospective trainees in this video from 1987. What follows is a basic guide to the health and safety precautions taken by kitchen staff in order to work safely. Various areas of the kitchen are shown, highlighting potential hazards. The video was originally aimed at young people considering a career in catering. It offers an introduction to health and safety guidelines using fictional characters in a real setting. It is effective because it relates directly to the intended audience: the characters ask questions that the audience might want to ask too.
As can be seen in the opening title sequence, this video is part of a series on the health and safety aspects of different workplace environments. It was produced by the Central Office of Information for the Manpower Services Commission. The Manpower Services Commission was a national body set up in 1974 to provide people with training and employment opportunities. By 1991 it was replaced by Training and Enterprise Councils.'

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Health & Safety at Work

Work can be a matter of life and death. Explore how video helped spread the gospel of ‘Elf’n’Safety’ and improved Britain’s workplaces

As employers and government grew gradually but increasingly conscious of responsibilities towards the wellbeing of staff at work, so grew the role of film in the workplace. The moving image, with its emotional power and its ability to stick in the memory (especially when resorting to graphic imagery), was well placed to help get key health and safety messaging across both to employees, exhorted to follow safe practices, and to employers and managers encouraged to make conditions as safe as possible (or at least, as safe as the law requires of them). And when things go wrong, the filmmaker may be there to help pick up the pieces, documenting or dramatising the consequences. In the era of videotape cameras and videotape viewing, late in the 20th century, the role of film in ‘Elf’n’Safety’ only grew bigger. This collection explores how it did it

16 videos in this collection

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