Play it Safe
“Play it Safe” health & safety playing cards.
“Play it Safe”
A health and safety promotion deck designed by John Mannion, distributed by the oil company Esso and produced by Cooper Johnson Ltd in the UK. All the pip cards are plain, the aces and courts show the same image in each suit.
Above: Esso “Play it Safe” health & safety playing cards designed by John Mannion, produced by Cooper Johnson Ltd.
ICI Apprentice “Health & Safety”
These originate from the ICI Chemicals and Polymers division apprenticeship school at Billingham on Teeside. Each suit has the same images and message.
By Matt Probert
United Kingdom • Member since March 02, 2012
I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.
Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.
Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.
I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.
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Peter Burnett
19 November 2025, 09:47SavedSaved this article to Peter's Collection