15 Aug
2011
15 Aug
'11
8:43 a.m.
On 15/08/2011 16:16, Rob Jarratt wrote:
You wouldn't believe the ridiculous degree to
which "health and safety" has
been taken in this country.
When it snows my son's school won't let the children out to play in the
snow, throw snow balls, make slides etc, all for fear of being sued.
Even when I was at junior school back in the 70s we where asked not to
throw snowballs incase they contained stones (by mistake), so nothing
new there.
If you
drive a company car, that is considered a place of work and you are not
allowed to smoke in it (not that I smoke).
That's nothing to do with H&S, that's to do with the smoking in public
places law, which makes it an offense to smoke in an enclosed public
space or workplace. I guess non-smokers have a right to not be exposed
to harmfull substances whilst doing their job.
Some councils (local government
in the UK) no longer decorate their town with hanging baskets of flowers in
case one will fall on someone's head. The list goes on and on.
There are also a lot of people that don't know what they talk about and
site H&S as the reason. The reason for this is that there is a lot of
misconception about H&S. H&S law doesn't say that you have to prevent
every possible risk, just that you have to minimise them whenever
possible, and that anyone taking a risk for whatever reason should be
fully aware of it.
In the above case as long as said council had done all it reasonably
could to ensure that said hanging baskets where well maintained then
they shouldn't have a problem.
Cheers.
PS usual disclaimer I'm not a lawyer or in anyway an expert however I am
married to the deputy departmental safety officer in a UK academic
institution....so hopefully I have picked some of it up.
Phill.