The mayor of Plettenberg, a town in the Märkischer Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia, has banned the humble cactus plants from its municipal buildings after a man needed medical attention from injuring himself on one of the spiky plants, in a school building.

“What was an injury to the adult man’s arm could easily have been a serious injury to the face for a small child in the same place,” the council said, according to local media.

The nature of the injury could not be disclosed, the council reported “due to the need to protect the personal rights and privacy of our staff”.

Ulrich Schulte, Plettenberg’s mayor, wrote a letter to local state workers, saying: “Due to the current situation, all official and private cacti (Cactaceae) must be removed from municipal buildings immediately.”

He said the ban was going ahead because these plants could “cause ugly injuries”. He went on to confirm that cacti would not only be banned in schools and nurseries, but from all municipal areas.

“Even if this order seems adventurous, excessive, superfluous or ridiculous to some employees, it has a serious background in terms of protecting the health of all employees and especially children in schools and daycare centres,” the mayor said.

A spokesperson for the council told local media the town had since “successfully implemented the cactus ban”.