Open door policy

Is it only me...but how would you leave a room?

Now I work in a glorious office. It is an office space to die for. But the Health and Safety Gauleiters are doing their level best to ruin it. Someone needs to rein in these jumped up Hitlers. Who do they think they are?

The place where I work is an 18th century farm complex. It has lovely brick work, fabulous thick walls and plenty of natural light. And in this place I work in what I guess would be the hay loft, in an office about 20 metres by 20 metres-the ideal spot for me and my team to be creative.

We have three dormer windows in the roof space and a door. And it is the door that is causing the problem.

For yesterday I become emotionally disturbed when I discovered a workman chappie installing a Fire Exit sign above said door, seemingly ‘on the instructions of the Health and Safety Officer’.

To my mind surely a Fire Exit above a door, the only door leading in and out of my work space, is akin to putting a notice on a packet of peanuts warning ‘This product may contain nut traces’.

Now I might be missing something here but a door is a door, even in a fire. And should our place start to incendiarize my first thought will be to vacate the premises via my door. My instinct would not be to attempt an egress from the premises through the dormer windows. Indeed I cannot think of many people who would instinctively think this and attempt to exit in this way. Admittedly I do not have the warped mind of a Health and Safety Gauleiter nor do I move in the sort of imbecilic circles of the Health and Safety Community but it is surely obvious a door is a door and is used to exit and enter a space. Can anyone think of another use for a door?

From time to time we do get visitors into our space and I suppose you could argue, if you worked in Health and Safety you certainly would, that visitors might not know how they should leave in a hurry. Now that is a fair point, I suppose. It is however worth point out that we are not talking an office the size of the Plains of the Serengeti and I have just checked that the door is clearly visible from all points in the office and can be reached easily in 5 strides from any desk.

Can you see my point?

I now await anyone who can justify the stupidity of the need to deface my beautiful brick work with this bureaucratic-inspired vandalism. To whom are these jumped up pip squeaks accountable?

Pope Julius II had Michelangelo to deface his walls. I get a Health and Safety Apparatchik. I know who I would prefer.

Have a great week. And hopefully you will not need to use your door in a hurry.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.