There has, in truth, been a bit of a shortage this summer of what health and safety specialists now refer to as "conkers bonkers" stories in which everything from window cleaners' use of ladders to schoolchildren playing conkers are wrongly claimed to be the victims of a "health and safety culture gone mad".

But there have been one or two work-related stories to raise the eyebrows. Here, for the record, are a few of the more recent ones…

1. Claim. Television series The Apprentice is to blame for a sharp rise is employment tribunal cases because managers are following the lead of Sir Alan Sugar and firing everyone in sight. The story first appeared in The Scotsman, but has spread to Metro, Daily India, and even The Lawyer.
Reality check. The rise from 86,000 tribunal claims in 2004-05 to 115,000 in 2006-07 is accounted for almost entirely by a small number of no-win, no-fee lawyers submitting equal pay claims in the public sector.
Credibility rating: 3/10

2. Claim. "Growing ladette culture means young women who work in offices are twice as likely to drink themselves to death as the rest of the population." According to the Daily Mail, the heavy drinking culture of the office is claiming more and more lives.
Reality check. The Office for National Statistics report on which the story is based says that, if you are a female in an "elementary occupation" and you die, there is double the chance that the cause was alcohol related compared with the working-age population as a whole. As office juniors are generally young adults, they have a lower death rate overall. So alcohol-related deaths make up a larger proportion of a smaller number of deaths. It is also worth noting that if you are female and working as a "general office assistant/clerk" when you die, you are one-third less likely to have been struck down by alcohol-related causes.
Credibility rating: 5/10

3. Claim. "Sunshine promised for great British bank holiday getaway"; "Good news for bank hotaday"; "Joy as bank holiday sunshine expected". As reported in almost all newspapers.
Reality check. Look out of the window.
Credibility rating: Let's wait and see

Anyone have any other stories to add?