Health & Safety Myths – Toy Weapons

The myth:

Toy ‘weapons’ in a play had to be locked-up and registered with the police!

The truth:

• A small theatre company locked up their toy weapons claiming they were just following the HSE guidance sheet.
• HSE define a weapon as “any object which is designed for the purpose of inflicting bodily harm”. This, surprisingly, does not extend to plastic children’s toys. They are not designed to cause harm, but if you throw them hard enough at someone’s face they can do some damage…
• On a related note, BB guns are considered as firearms under HSE’s legislation, as anything which includes projectiles is regarded as a firearm. It must be regarded as a lethal when both loaded and unloaded, and must be stored in a secure place, only to be handled by the armourer. This all sounds a little too hefty for a play, don’t you think? ‘The armourer’ put a most amusing image in my mind- two samurais fighting to the death with Aladdin’s mom running past shouting “he’s behind you!”
• So in fairness, if the “children’s toy” referred to was a BB gun, then they were following the guidance sheet correctly. But have you ever seen a village play guest starring a BB gun? (If you have, let me know- I want to see this!)
• So where did this myth come from? Media propaganda makes it hard for us to know whether it was a plastic sword or something a little more dangerous. More than likely though, it was the result of an over cautious director mistakenly following what he thought to be law. With so many ludicrous health and safety myths floating about though, it’s an easy mistake to make