www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15739209
This has been the top news in Scotland over last couple of days.
Women fell down disused mineshaft, fire & rescue boss refused to allow his staff to use specific eqpt as that was only to be used for rescuing them, not members of the public.
A Tough call to have to make, I guess very few of us will have ever been in the position of having to make a decision like this.
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Idiotic decision. Rescue equipment is rescue equipment. Shouldn't be any more complicated to rescue an ordinary person. If they would have left a colleague to die in similar circumstances then fair enough but it is not on to leave an innocent member of the public due to some silly rule like that.
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I'm surprised a call wasn't made to the Mines Rescue Service (MRS).
Maybe that's what the sheriff meant about 'insufficient knowledge of the resources available' by those at the scene.
The MRS was formed more than 100 years ago in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, when there were more than 100 mines in the nearby East Durham coalfield.
It was part of the National Coal Board, but following the closure of all but a handful of pits it's now a limited company, although still involved in the same business.
www.minesrescue.com/about-mrsl
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A complete disgrace and they should hang their heads in shame. Basic human need for help ignored because of bureaucratic H&S claptrap and associated backside covering. Disgraceful.
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Fred Carno's circus again - they seem to be a very badly led organisation - fire engines that are illegal, untold millions spent on Emergency centres that were never used and a bunch of idiot managers that shouldn't be let out in public. I have a gruesome tale of feint hearted idiocy involving a rescue - the job was done by volunteers in the end....
Another tale of squaddies coming back from deployment in Iraq and having to go out putting their lives on the line for these over-paid under worked buffoons whilst they were striking....bunch of ill-educated unimaginative clowns. (totally evidence backed rant)
There was a story of the local service here unable to provide cover for the nuclear station as their staff were totally unreliable - heads rolled over that.
www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2009/11/13/two-firefighters-suspended-over-wylfa-fire-no-show-55578-25157300/
Last edited by: R.P. on Fri 18 Nov 11 at 08:06
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Damned if you do, damned if you dont.
Senior management are terrified of being prosecuted if a fireman dies, so much so its almost paralysed their ability to function in the primary role. The firefighters themselves should be allowed far greater control over what they will and wont do in any given situation, not the management.
Firefighting is dangerous, you cant really make it safe without changing the laws of physics.
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I have a friend who is big in H & S in the construction industry. His take on this sort of thing is that it is precisely this kind of nit-picking that gives H & S the bad name it has with the general public. He insists that good H & S is essentially common-sense awareness of risk and taking action to minimise it. It means taking reasonable steps.
I wonder if the problem is that management has got frightened of legal threats that simply don't exist. I mean, how many courts would convict someone (of what? Negligence?) in the case under discussion if the safety equipment HAD been used?
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The worls is too full of too many people in high authority making decsions on behalf of other people whether it be
you can't do that
you can't say that as it might offend etc etc
in fact, I sense another thread coming on...
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My nan has spent the morning in hospital having been transported by ambulance as a non-urgent case.
We were told she would be transported back this afternoon. We then got a call from a lady at the ambulance station who needed to physically come to my parents house to perform a risk assessment for bringing her through the front door to her room.
She did a 10 mile round trip to do this. She furrowed her brow at a STEP but was delighted there were no stairs atleast, I had to stifle a laugh, she took it very seriously.
What occurred to me was that even if you accept that the risk needs to be assessed, surely this could have been noted down by the paramedics when they took her away as Im sure they have paperwork for each case, which would have saved sending someone out just to 'have a look' - not to mention the fact that since she went out in a wheelchair, its not beyond possibility that she can return the same way, you would think...
She also asked all the questions she answered by visiting on the phone beforehand.
If it was that dangerous, id have risked my life and wheeled her into the house myself as ive done hundreds of times before.
Im absolutely sure her job exists for good legal reasons, but its still crackers and a huge waste of resources.
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Very little escapes a risk assessment these days. I have to undergo one whenever I rattle a charity tin.
Perhaps the H & S folk think that overly aggressive rattling will damage one's hearing.
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>> Very little escapes a risk assessment these days. I have to undergo one whenever I
>> rattle a charity tin.
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>> Perhaps the H & S folk think that overly aggressive rattling will damage one's hearing.
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IIRC to rattle a charity tin is forbidden !!!!
IIRC it is something to do with intimidating passers by.
Tut Tut - have you not noticed silent tins in the last few years.
Retraining required ? :-(
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>>Retraining required ? :-(
But will the retraining you recommend require a risk assessment?
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>> >>Retraining required ? :-(
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>> But will the retraining you recommend require a risk assessment?
>>
How do you assess whether or not to do a risk assessment... ;-)
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I know of one Hospice (not the one I work for thankfully) where the H&S person has
a. withdrawn the use of the Renault Kangoo, converted for disabled use, vehicle because, in her opinion, the ramp was too steep. This is the same vehicle that is recognised all over Britain as being suitable.
b. Volunteers are not allowed to push wheelchair bound patients at all. Not even along an internal corridor. Not even the fact that one of their volunteers has spent the last 40 years of his working life in a school with disabled children - he is not allowed to push a wheelchair and when queried, was told it would be too difficult to train volunteers!
Power is a dangerous thing.
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H&S Gone mad or benefits of hindsight? - teabelly
