Friday 17 June 2011

Swivel On This, Beeboids!

Staff moving north to the BBC's flagship MediaCity development in Salford Quays are being offered a choice of three models of swivel chair. Officials then teach employees how to sit down to ensure they are following health and safety procedures.
GAH!!!
Dan Walker, presenter of BBC One's Football Focus, is among those who have undergone the training. He wrote on Twitter: "Just had a chat with a chair champion. I have to select my favourite model... all of them swivel."
*blood pressure rising*
The BBC insisted that the training was standard practise for office relocations
I've moved offices several times - never, ever, have I had 'chair training'.
John Whittingdale, the Conservative chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said: "This is the kind of thing that risks making the BBC a laughing stock. I think most people would feel capable of deciding how to adjust their chair without professional advice from an employee of the BBC."
Well, quite. Clearly, they are being given the wrong type of chair, then. It's something easily remedied.



My suggestion for the new BBC model of chair...

17 comments:

Ranter said...

No suprise there, this kind of crap is everywhere. 'CHAIR CHAMPIONS" FFS! This is where the cuts should be made, right there! AAaarrrrgggghhhhh!

Anonymous said...

And I do not think I need to introduce you to the atributes of... the codling grinder!

h/t Black Adder

MrAngry61 said...

Yes, it's ridiculous. However when my last employer relocated & bought new office furniture all staff were shown how to use their new chairs - if only because they had about 7 different parts to adjust.

Anoneumouse said...

Potty training anyone?

Michael Fowke said...

Chair champions at the BBC?! Where on earth do they find the money?

Anonymous said...

It's true, I have just filled out my chair training form, to certify that I am aware of how to use my chair.

I am also now the proud owner of a swivel chair that I 'rescued' from a skip outside work. It had been binned as it was suffering from being slightly droopy (not the small cartoon dog). Five minutes with the spanners and its now replaced the nasty wooden one that used to criple me as I sat at my home computer.

I think that is actually a victory for my health and safetiness.

Anonymous said...

Potty training?

2 or 3 years ago the NHS in Scotland produced an information pamphlet for adults called "Dynamic Defecation" or some such shit for just that.

Anonymous said...

I was so open-minded I fell off my chair. If only I'd been on that chair management course, the university wouldn't now be paying out compensation. Ladder management anyone? Stage one of that takes a day. By day 2 you get an extension! Very stretching.

Captain Haddock said...

Absolute rubbish, of course ..

But consider the cost implications were someone to adjust a chair incorrectly, slip off a chair, or damage themselves in some way (and there's always someone looking for a way to "retire" on spurious medical grounds)..

I have little or no time for the Beeb .. but in this case, I think someone has used their noddle to head the compensayshun vultures off at the pass ..

Woman on a Raft said...

never, ever, have I had 'chair training'.

Hate to tell you this, but somebody should have done an H&S assessment to see if you were comfortable at your desk otherwise you could claim for the health problems which arise.

Not joking - I knew someone who made a good living out of solemnly going round everyone in the local council and checking their chair, the location in relation to the screen and providing foot-rests and 'advice'.

Then they would hand the council the all-important tick-list, which would be filed to show that all reasonable precautions had been taken.

Robert Edwards said...

I'd recommend the plug-in type, or 'Old Sparky', as they referred to in in Mississipi...

Leg-iron said...

Where did you get the photo of the 'official visitor' chair in my living room?

JuliaM said...

"However when my last employer relocated & bought new office furniture all staff were shown how to use their new chairs - if only because they had about 7 different parts to adjust."

Yeah, we've currently got those overly-complicated ones too!

"Where on earth do they find the money?"

In the pockets of telly tax payers...

"I think that is actually a victory for my health and safetiness."

It's real recycling! :)

"Hate to tell you this, but somebody should have done an H&S assessment to see if you were comfortable at your desk..."

Oh, we were handed cards with our new chairs (detailing the levers), and there's a DSE assessment online package we are supposed to complete if we ever move desks.

But that's it. It seems to suffice without going over the top.

"Where did you get the photo of the 'official visitor' chair in my living room?"

:D

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

I knew a firm which conducted all its building site meetings around a table with no chairs. The meeting usually lasted just a few minutes, and business carried on as usual much earlier...

As for the cost of these chairs, and having some twonk fiddling about with the controls, have you asked any female members whether they think it nice to have him peering at your legs for several hours while he 'adjusts his grommett'?

Or blokes for that matter!

Anonymous said...

Why can't we just get them all chairs that are plugged in?

Then we could merge 'green mile' with question time to make for much more meaningful and entertaining viewing.

Gallovidian said...

John Whittingdale, the Conservative chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said: "This is the kind of thing that risks making the BBC a laughing stock..."

How much better if he had said that no-one would care what the BBC did with their own money earned freely, and thus the licence fee would be abolished with immediate effect.

Titanic said...

BBC flagship? As in 'sunk without trace'?