It is a dirty habit and not one that the educated masses would readily admit to, but many Australians spend their weekends watching daytime television.
And while Bert Newtown’s smile may not be brightening your lounge room any time soon, it seems that audiences are still flocking to see programs peddling a similar format – which, for those who aren’t acquainted with the genre, means infomercials and stranger-than-fiction true stories.
It is with this in mind that an accountant friend of mine started a conversation with his teenage son, which from memory kicked off by stating the ins and out of income protection insurance and ended with a shared exchange of witty one-liners lifted almost entirely from old Seinfeld re-runs.
His obvious strategy was to get the would-be apprentice thinking about occupational health and safety issues in a relatively engaging way.
But the father-son bonding session also made time for researching some of the stranger things that can happen in the workplace, which meant a few hours spent in front of the computer screen looking up anything from construction sites to the unusual things that can happen in a relatively risk-free environment.
At the top of his “must-see” list included a comedic take on the 1995 PSA OH&S ad, which was put together by the team at Funny or Die – a video sharing site co-founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions.
Second place went to media – in particular CBS News, which somehow turned a serious story about a construction worker who lost control of a nail gun into tabloid fodder after it was found out he had nails removed from his skull, but still survived.
Finally a website for legal advice that archives “freak accidents” – most notably the happenings of an American primary school teacher who thought he was coming in for a normal day when he was struck by lightning while sitting at his desk.
And while these anecdotes make for great water cooler conversation or a much needed ice-breaker for difficult conversations, they are also an important reminder about the value of insurance.
