Have you thought of...

It’s a sackable offence in most situations, but a new range of posters uses humour to communicate serious health and safety messages.

Created by start-up company SignUp2Safety, the posters aim to encourage employees to take personal responsibility for safety at work by wearing PPE, looking out for slip or trip hazards and not ignoring health problems like back pain.

‘Subtle use of humour ensures the underlying message is readily understood and memorable, thus promoting a positive attitude to safe behaviour,’ said SignUp2Safety founder Marc Jordan. Although why they’ve used a photo of a gorilla contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire to communicate lift safety awareness, we couldn’t quite fathom. www.signup2safety.co.uk

...talking to the animals?

Uninvited critters may be the bane of most construction sites, but when four cygnets hatched at a branch of SIG Construction Accessories in Manchester’s Trafford Park, employees couldn’t resist their charms.

Dave Devlin, SIG sales co-ordinator, took the photo opposite. ‘Two swans laid nine eggs and four have hatched. All the cygnets appear to be healthy and the mother is quite happy to show off her babies to us, sometimes lifting her wing just enough to give us a peek!’ Ah, bless...

…releasing your inner inventor?

When US architect Mark Burginger lost his job last year following the housing market collapse, he spent the last of his savings developing a construction toy for kids.

Using his CAD training, he began creating prototype models for a geometric construction toy that uses modular plastic geometric pieces that clip together to form stable structures. Called Qubits, the toy is now in full production and available online.

‘Toys directly influence children, so hopefully Qubits will inspire today’s children to expand their horizons to think about engineering, architecture, chemistry or even nanotechnology,’ said Burginger. Sounds good – and the royalties must be too. www.qubits.com

...using superpowers to make time stand still?

Now this line up of the guests at the opening of Bouygues’ new regional office in Barking is the kind of staged photo-op we don’t normally publish. But we loved the way the ribbon has been caught just milliseconds after it was cut by the local mayor, making it a slightly special case.

...jacking in construction for a career as a chef?

A team of Yorkshire-based fit-out contractors got to experience the best of both worlds after fitting-out a cookery school in the Dean Clough Mill in Halifax, when the client treated them to a cookery course.

Swapping their drills for whisks and trowels for rolling pins, the team of builders from contractor Nethercoats spent a day producing fruity muffins, ultimate barbecue burgers and chicken ruby.

‘Builders aren’t really known for their healthy eating lifestyles and we wanted to give them skills that could really make a difference to their daily diet,’ said Anita Cormac of The Cooking School. ‘We encouraged them to prepare something easy but fresh and healthy, rather than reaching for a microwave meal at the end of the day.’

The builder’s breakfast may not be quite finished yet, but cookery courses like this should at least vary the menu.