Is this allowed?

[Penny]

I'm currently helping with a secondary school show which involves some children (probably early teens) doing quite an energetic dance with potatoes impaled on kitchen knives. The knives don't look too sharp (I don't know how they managed to force them through the potatoes), and have rounded ends but the inch or two of blade sticking out of the end does worry me a bit. Are there likely to be any legal problems with this?

[gareth]

Sounds like a prime candidate for some major risk assessment to me. Picture the scene - child is dancing energetically with knife-potato combination held in outstretched hand, exposed knife-tip pointing upwards ; child trips over obstruction, adjacent child, etc. ; child falls to floor, with upward-pointing knife between said child and solid, unyielding floor ; child-knife interface scenario ensues. Does that sound acceptable to you? Sounds to me like the sort of scenario which you really, REALLY don't want to get caught up in. Any risk assessment worth the paper it's written on would come to only one conclusion, and that conclusion would be NOOOOO!

[the kid]

The concept of people dancing with potatos is just weird....:S but as Gareth says massive RA. Would plastic ones not be ok?

[SparkySteve]

I think even using plastic ones you would struggle to pass it. ok, its a measure taken but I personally think that there are issues with that preventative measure... i.e. the plastic knife

[mac.calder]

I would not allow it. If it was sedate and with older well practiced participants, then I may have considered it, but if it is a crowded stage filled with enegenic young-teens... Major cause of wory.

 

I am sure everyone has been to (or been forced to be in) a school concert and seen a class full of students doing some jumpy dance, and one student is not quite as agile as the rest, and has managed to bump into someone else. Maybe only a nudge... Now imagine same (non) agile student with a KNIFE! Now add into the equation murpheys law. If there is going to be an accident in a show, it will be in the show with a knife, and it will of course be major.

[Bryson]

Dancing with knives = running with scissors.

 

nuff said.

[Penny]

One of them isn't as bad as I thought, there is actually next o no knife at all sticking out of the end and I would say couldn't possibly cause an accident but that's just asking for someone to get killed. The other one has at least an inch poking out. I know it sounded like a silly question, but I'm not one of the people in charge and wanted to be able to say I had a second opinion to make them listen.

 

Any clever ideas of how to sort it out? The dance with potatoes on sticks is a very important part of the play.

[gareth]

The dance with potatoes on sticks is a very important part of the play

That sounds like a play that I never, ever want to see. :P

[sam.henderson]

Someone said plastic knives but even they could be sharp? What is the effect trying to be created or is it just random?

 

Sam

[Andrew C]

How about using dowel? Sharpen enough to poke it through the spud, then sand into a nice blunt end...

[Jivemaster]

Seems to me to be more a case of how well trained/rehearsed/serious they are, lets face it they will probably use a table knife every day. Can the potatos be large enough that the blade cannot come through.

 

Rather reminds me of the time I was at Uni and the Morris dance side risked being disbanded because for wearing a distinctive uniform White trousers and shirt and carrying a weapon - a morris stick they could be a proscribed body in the meaning of the terrorism act, probably technically accurate but laughably inappropriate.

[sam.henderson]

lets face it they will probably use a table knife every day

Yes but they would normally use it sitting down and almost certainly not use it while dancing or moving quickly!

 

Sam

[jagardner1984]

Remember as well that any RA of an activity must take into account the maturity and experience of those young people (legally at least - less than adults). I am sure you know all of this, but if you want a blank Risk Assessment, please PM me and I will send them to you.

 

I know you wont want to do any harm, but the implications of something going wrong are just too horrible to contemplate, not exclusively but particularly where young people are involved.

[Penny]

I spoke to the teacher today. He basically talked to me like a young pupil who had give a very good answer to a homework question on health and safety, i.e. sounded pleased that I was intellingent enough to consider dangers but didn't sound to fussed about real risk of injury. He said they'd get a bigger potato and they weren't going to be used until that had been done.

 

At tonight's rehearsal I noticed the potato sticks with what looked like even more knife than before poking out had mysteriously made their way onto the stage. Or rather the teacher who had admitted (only a couple of hours previously) they might be dangerous had asked for one of the scenes using them to be rehearsed.

 

*bangs head against wall*

 

A blank RA would be worth seeing, I know how two people do it but would be interested to know how standard their method is.

[DSA]

Penny,

 

The HSE have a guide available here which explains the steps involved.

 

I see to remember Le Maitre having a good Standard one (for pyro nonetheless) on their website - and now I can't find it. I'll keep looking.

 

David