Comment: The problem with moaning about Bunnings

COMMENT:

News of Bunnings recommending that sausage sizzlers place the onion before the sausage has prompted a predictable stream of outrage from those who see this as "health and safety gone mad".

Karl Stefanovic, morning co-host of the Today show, took it as a personal assault on his nation, claiming the seemingly innocuous migration of onions would "ruin Australia".

"Bunnings," Stevanovic continued, " you've done a lot of things right. But, I'm sorry, you've got this one wrong. You don't mess with perfection."

"Perfection" is at best a stretch and at worst a delusional rambling. We may eat with our eyes, but a few oil-drenched onions aren't likely to make a masterpiece of a culinary item served up in the Bunnings carpark. Furthermore, the taste isn't likely to be affected given that all the essential ingredients remain snugly wrapped in a slice of $1 bread.

What Stevanovic and many of the other social media commenters are in fact worried about is the level of control over what they can say, do or where they can have their onions. It's the excessive use of red tape that's at issue here.

As a consequence, most commenters have picked up the issue as an opportunity to vent about ramped up health and safety regulations and the impact they're having on the workforce and beyond.

As illustrated in one Facebook comment: "H&S bureaucracy knows no limits. Some idiots are paid a fortune to sit in an office and come up with this crap!!! This is beyond ridiculous. When do we say enough is enough?"

The problem with the outrage at Bunnings is that the onions are being used as an emblem of the broader ridiculousness of health and safety regulations.

We see the same approach being applied in the often-seen criticism of political correctness, which cherry-picks ludicrous examples – like the recent ban on clapping at a UK university – to prove that the whole system is broken.

In this sense, Bunnings' recommendation on onion placement becomes a tool that can be used to push back against a movement that has done a great deal of good for the New Zealand workforce.

The reason why health and safety rules have been tightened is a direct response to the sheer number of people hurt on the job.

As recently as 2013, New Zealand's workplace safety record was called a national disgrace with as many as 100 people dying annually from injuries.

Statistics such as these played a major role in the Government changing laws to make New Zealand workplaces safer and these laws have had the impact of greatly reducing the number of deaths in New Zealand workplaces.

Worksafe data shows there were 30 fatalities in New Zealand between January and October this year - which shows there's still more to be done.

Changing the location of onions on a classic Kiwi treat might not change that, but neither will railing furiously against the health and safety rules specifically designed to keep people safer.