Health & Safety Gone Mad - Or Am I Missing Something ?

[JohnM20]

Going passed our local infant's school recently I saw the little mites out playing in the fully enclosed playground. Every one of them was wearing a little fluorescent yellow flack jacket. Why ????? None of them could wander off and be difficult to see, even if they were in full camaflage suits and there was no way any vehicle could get near, let alone into, the playground.

This is H & S, or the school head teacher, gone totally MAD. By wearing these things to play in at such a young age will only act to make them believe that they are totally invincible and that they can't be hurt. Fluorescent jackets are not toys. They are to be used in situations where there is a NEED to be more visible.

Does somebody think that by wearing them they won't be hurt ? I hope it isn't the kids themselves. I got many a scuffed knee when I was a kid. It didn't do me any harm but I soon learnt what I should avoid doing and I believe I have grown up being not only 'street wise' but can recognise dangers and the degree of potential danger.

I hate to think what these kids will grow up to be like. I've already seen some evidence of it with my neighbours kids. They have never been allowed to 'play out' or do anything with the slightest risk because they might get hurt. The eldest, now over 21, is becoming a right 'Nancy boy'.

Or have I missed something ????

John M

 

[Guest]

Ohhhhh......dearrrrrr.

whilst agreeing with you completely, I should point out that your last remark means that you will almost certainly be visited by a Homophobic Incident Officer (yes, they do exist!) attached to your local Constabulary.

As this is (hopefully) your first offence, you will probably just receive a lecture and a warning not to utter anymore phrases that could be construed as homophobic.

Persist in your unreconstructed conduct, however, and you will probably be charged and taken before your local Magistrates.

The splendid new multi-cultural, multi-faith, non-discriminatory, and non-gender specific world will not be built with people going around saying things like, 'mancy boy'

Think on, and mend your ways before you get locked up!

 

[Parksy]

Ohhhhh......dearrrrrr.

whilst agreeing with you completely, I should point out that your last remark means that you will almost certainly be visited by a Homophobic Incident Officer (yes, they do exist!) attached to your local Constabulary.

As this is (hopefully) your first offence, you will probably just receive a lecture and a warning not to utter anymore phrases that could be construed as homophobic.

Persist in your unreconstructed conduct, however, and you will probably be charged and taken before your local Magistrates.

The splendid new multi-cultural, multi-faith, non-discriminatory, and non-gender specific world will not be built with people going around saying things like, 'mancy boy'

Think on, and mend your ways before you get locked up!

Are you after a mods job Selwyn? ;o)

 

[robin_374227834]

Ohhhhh......dearrrrrr.

whilst agreeing with you completely, I should point out that your last remark means that you will almost certainly be visited by a Homophobic Incident Officer (yes, they do exist!) attached to your local Constabulary.

As this is (hopefully) your first offence, you will probably just receive a lecture and a warning not to utter anymore phrases that could be construed as homophobic.

Persist in your unreconstructed conduct, however, and you will probably be charged and taken before your local Magistrates.

The splendid new multi-cultural, multi-faith, non-discriminatory, and non-gender specific world will not be built with people going around saying things like, 'mancy boy'

Think on, and mend your ways before you get locked up!

I am a Homophobe, why?, because my religion tells me to be one!

my religion you may ask?, Christian I would reply

Sodomy according to the Christian faith is a Mortal Sin

here endeth my first lesson

 

[CameronBurns]

"Homophobic?" does that mean that you are scared of your own house??

 

[Auvergne]

Are you sure these children weren't part of the "Walking Bus" where children, dressed in fluorescent jackets are walked to school? I think its a great idea, its lovely to see them snaking along the road whilst I'm driving to work - think how many cars are off the road, its not all bad John!

 

[JohnM20]

Hi Valerie

No, it wasn't a 'walking bus'. It was mid morning 'playtime'.

I'm all for 'walking busses', the traffic near us is chaos in a morning at at 3.30 in the afternoon. Not only does it keep cars from 'parking' (if that is the right word), near the schools but the kids get some much needed exercise.

I still think it is madness. It will be cotton wool suits for them soon.

John M

 

[royjune]

What about the Sainsburys store somewhere where you could get a poppy but not a pin to secure it with as the manager consficated them in case someone got injured.

Roy H

 

[Dustydog]

H & S is big business today and in the main it does deliver. However some aspects are absolutely stupid.eg

Labels on microwave cookers. " Do not dry your animals in this appliance"

"Do not drink the contents of your lead acid battery"

Maybe the kiddies had their fluoros on so the teachers didn't trip over them!

Cheers

Alan

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all

every time this subject crops up it makes me smile a little reading the comments made by some people who have no idea what health a safety is really all about.

the answer is "protection" that is protection for all this includes risk assesments and safety measures to reduce risk any risk, I have been a HSE representative for the last 20 odd years and believe me some of the events I could recount would make your hair stand on end.

in the event of an occurance or incident the first question is allways "why" second "how" and third was it "preventable" steps are then taken to try and eliminate the posibility of it happening again. So it is a rolling exersize where the elements of safety are evermore strict, and at some point may seem completely silly at first sight untill the reasons are explained,

as I said health and safety is there for your protection a bit like a "condom" more fun without but much safer with, ignore it's use at your peril.

lets take the little darlings wearing hi vis vests as an example it may seem silly on first thoughts BUT look a bit deeper, will it stop little jonny falling and grazing his knee "no of course not" however consider if one of the little darlings went missing or fell out of a tree, what would the perents say " where was the teacher why was he/she not looking"

were was the supervision how could they let this happen to my little darling sack the teacher and i'll sue you all.

in reality it is allmost impossible for a teacher to keep a watchful eye on all the kids all the time however if they are all wearing dayglow jackets the ones that are doing something out of the ordiary can easily be spotted and stray ones rounded up. if the year groups wore different colours it would be even better.

not so silly now is it??

colin

 

[Gafferbill]

Colin outlines what H&S is all about....

John asks....

Have I missed something?

Yes John you have!

The Children in the playground had probably just been, or were about to leave the school premises and had been told to keep their Hi-vis jackets on during a play break.

Teachers often take children off school premises, which may involve crossing roads, walking on pavements etc.

They may indeed been midway through a cycle training session.

 

[Guest]

How did I survive?

We went out on school trips and Yellow Flouro had not even been invented. We even had very busy inner city dual carrigeway to cross to and from school and I never knew anyone to be knocked over.

Health and Safety is about people not thinking and lacking in common sense and is used by too many to absolve themselves of repsponsibilty for their own and others well being!

 

[Andrew._374353608]

How did I survive?

We went out on school trips and Yellow Flouro had not even been invented. We even had very busy inner city dual carrigeway to cross to and from school and I never knew anyone to be knocked over.

Health and Safety is about people not thinking and lacking in common sense and is used by too many to absolve themselves of repsponsibilty for their own and others well being!

Quote:

lets take the little darlings wearing hi vis vests as an example it may seem silly on first thoughts BUT look a bit deeper, will it stop little jonny falling and grazing his knee "no of course not" however consider if one of the little darlings went missing or fell out of a tree, what would the perents say " where was the teacher why was he/she not looking"

were was the supervision how could they let this happen to my little darling sack the teacher and i'll sue you all.

My first and only question would be how did the child end up in the tree if they should have been supervised.

Health and Safety will strangle the life out of this country, people will wonder if it is worth going to school, get rid of the HSE and bring back common sence.

Andrew.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all

euro quote "Health and Safety is about people not thinking and lacking in common sense and is used by too many to absolve themselves of repsponsibilty for their own and others well being!"

no euro it is not about absolving themselves of resposibility it is about your duty of care , for yourself and towards others, perhaps you may not control an idiot and stop them hurting themselves but you can make sure the idiot doesn't hurt anyone else.

andrew you said "My first and only question would be how did the child end up in the tree if they should have been supervised."

exactly my point blame the teacher, but it would be easy to miss a lad in a green jumper climbing into a green tree when the teacher was distracted by little jonny falling over and hurting his knee, at the same time as little mary was screeming because someone had pulled her hair, health and safety cannot eliminate all risk but it can reduce the risk it is a dam site easier to spot the climber in a day glow vest than without one distracted or not.

sorry guys but if as you say get rid of the HSE rules and go back to the old days the only result would be chaos I can tell you as a fact 90% of all H&S rules are instigated because of a previous incedent the other 10% are required by the firms insurance company.

colin

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I need help from you, ya ol' tyke.

I can see your up with the play with Health & Safety by your "if as you say get rid of the HSE rules and go back to the old days the only result would be chaos I can tell you as a fact 90% of all H&S rules are instigated because of a previous incedent" comment.

My problem is this, yesterday I was peeling the spuds and cut myself with the knife. How do I go about getting these caring people to assess the knife and get knives banned on Health & Safety grounds. Can you see where I'm coming from ;O) If they ban them totally it will end knife crime. I'm sure all those nice H&S people sat in their ivory towers, trying to think of new regulations to screw up our lives and justify their mega buck salaries haven't thought of this :O)

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Here's another one :O) .....

Hackney Academy (who dreams these names up) is going to send homework to the pupils mobile devices.

Health & Safety campaigners have claimed that carrying rucksacks with books in is damaging pupils spines. They also argue that with books the pupils need school lockers to keep the books and lockers are a health hazard in their own right (shakes head rolls eyes icon thingy).

Here's another, schools have been ordered to buy stronger chairs for pupils because they are getting more obese. Which luminary made this order? None other than tubby Charles Clarke.

Doesn't pampering kids go hand in hand with them becoming obese?

I sometimes wonder how I and my contempories grew to this age with all these hidden dangers about. Certainly we wouldn't have had school milk, that came in glass bottles.

Think how dangerous those nibs were on the pen, especially if it pricked your finger just after dipping it in the ink well. Conkers certainly would have been banned in the playground and teacher certainly wouldn't have been able to dress any grazes after falling on that nasty asphalt surfacing. They would have to dial 999 for an ambulance which would arrive a long time after the incident because the ambulance volunteers would have had to leave their full time jobs to attend, some 30 minutes later, maybe a hour later if you lived in the sticks.

I'm not a dinosaur, change has happened since the creation, but with diversity, political correctness, human rights and the compensation culture this country is going downhill faster than any other western country. Other countries have the same as the above but only use them when it suits, they are not so rigorous in implementing the above as these cretins in government who despise anything to do with Britain. I've never been a Tory in my life but I just can't wait to see the back of this load of *****.

It's going to be a long two years.

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Colin

I am sitting at my non ergonomic desk with my lcd screen too low and my wrists bent at an abnormal angle as I type this script.I am not weaering a hi vis day glo jacket as I find it far too warm for inside use.

Eureka!

What the teacher needs is a form of "spooks" electronic control monitoring device that bleeps when apupil steps out of the controlled boundary. The system can incorporate a mild electric shock device controlled by teacher to halt Jonny's progress up the tree.

I survived on scraped knees, free milk and the worst school dinners ever. We had no central heating, just ice on the inside of our bedroom windows on winter mornings.

Now here's a fact. None of the kids I was at school with ever had asthma or eczma. Today both illnesses are rife. WHY? Too much molly coddling perhaps?

I'm all for being sensible but quite honestly some of these demi gods who think up some of these crazy ideas just leave me speechless.

Cheers

Alan

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Hi Colin

I am sitting at my non ergonomic desk with my lcd screen too low and my wrists bent at an abnormal angle as I type this script.I am not weaering a hi vis day glo jacket as I find it far too warm for inside use.

Eureka!

What the teacher needs is a form of "spooks" electronic control monitoring device that bleeps when apupil steps out of the controlled boundary. The system can incorporate a mild electric shock device controlled by teacher to halt Jonny's progress up the tree.

I survived on scraped knees, free milk and the worst school dinners ever. We had no central heating, just ice on the inside of our bedroom windows on winter mornings.

Now here's a fact. None of the kids I was at school with ever had asthma or eczma. Today both illnesses are rife. WHY? Too much molly coddling perhaps?

I'm all for being sensible but quite honestly some of these demi gods who think up some of these crazy ideas just leave me speechless.

Cheers

Alan

"some of these crazy ideas just leave me speechless".

... and so do the gullible who swallow it hook line and sinker :O(

 

[Graham_374377041]

What you've got to remember is that most car drivers have absolutely no sense of avoiding small objects on the road.

As a cyclist I can count many times where cars have not given me any space and not acknowledged the cyclist. To be fair I also have had many encounters where caravanner's have 'forgotten' about the caravan when passing and without quick responses nearly knocked me off.

Yellow vests may seem over the top (I survived without one) but car drivers now are deadly.

But on a clear Sunday morning earlier this year a car did hit me, knocked me off, drove around me and was never seen again. I had a florescent yellow top, reflectors etc but still spend an afternoon in hospital so even these don't work!!

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all

just a quick answer for LB and alan as I am about to go out to work.

my experience has been in a indutrial enviroment with HSE I dont think the same rules apply to domestic situations however if you were peeling spuds in a factory (doubtful) you would have to use a peeler with an enclosed blade as sharps and open knives are prohibited similary VDU screens must have a filtre unless of the LDC type that has a filtre built in.

about 40years ago "should be long enough to count" a lad got ran over at work with a forklift truck he sustained a leg injury and a crushed foot that left him with a limp he had 7months off work and recieved no compensation this accident could not happen today if the HSE rules were followed because:-

there were no pedestrian walkways or barriers

no protetive foot ware

no hi vis jackets

no horn on forklift or flashing lights

the driver was going forwards with a loaded truck

and yes you guessed it I was the lad that got ran over that is why I am a safety rep and make sure the rules are followed.

colin

 

[JohnM20]

Hi Again

As Alan points out, health and safety is big business. Somebody has to make the fluorescent jackets and so some whizz kid of a sales rep looks for opportunities for new areas of sales, whether there is ACTUALLY a NEED or not.

What health & safety seem to overlook is the law of probability. The law of POSSIBILITY says the roof of my house will fall down onto me due to gravity and I should therefore wear a hard hat but the law of PROBABILITY says it will not do.

And this is the case in many instances nowadays but in the past people were more logical and thought, to a great extent, for themselves.

For many years I worked in the explosives industry where safety was absolutely paramount but for every manufacturing situation we weighed up the probability of a dangerous occurence not just the possibility.

If we carry on as we are doing nobody is going to be allowed to do anything but we won't even be able to stay at home in bed as there is a POSSIBILITY although no PROBABILITY that we will be suffocated by the pillow.

I am all for safety when there is a real likelyhood of a nasty occurence but I still say health and safety has gone mad and probably only for commercial reasons.

John M

 

[ValA.]

Well said, John!

 

[ValA.]

Hi Colin

I am sitting at my non ergonomic desk with my lcd screen too low and my wrists bent at an abnormal angle as I type this script.I am not weaering a hi vis day glo jacket as I find it far too warm for inside use.

Eureka!

What the teacher needs is a form of "spooks" electronic control monitoring device that bleeps when apupil steps out of the controlled boundary. The system can incorporate a mild electric shock device controlled by teacher to halt Jonny's progress up the tree.

I survived on scraped knees, free milk and the worst school dinners ever. We had no central heating, just ice on the inside of our bedroom windows on winter mornings.

Now here's a fact. None of the kids I was at school with ever had asthma or eczma. Today both illnesses are rife. WHY? Too much molly coddling perhaps?

I'm all for being sensible but quite honestly some of these demi gods who think up some of these crazy ideas just leave me speechless.

Cheers

Alan

'Electronic device....' - not so far fetched as you might think. In our local Lloyds Pharmacy yesterday I saw a 'know where your child is.....' badge which you pin on the child, and a 'remote' that you can bleep to 'hear' where the child is. Won't be long before they attach an electric shock probe if said child isn't in the right place at the right time!!!!!!!

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Colin

OK. For 38 years I dealt with fire and accident insurance claims at the highest level. Every time I attended a serious fire or a fatality it soon became apparent the Risk Management team had overlooked something.

Now that is not a criticism but more a truth that no matter how much cotton wool people are wrapped in problems will still happen. Sensibility and stupidity became something of a daily routine for me.

Eg

A printer was "degloved" when he placed his hand and arm inside a printing press before isolating the master power switch. Why?

HSE and RM had insisted a label was attached in a clear visible position stating the importance of total power isolation before putting hands and arms inside the works to clear jams.

The man won his compensation, well into 6 figures plus costs because NO ONE had told him to read the label!!! Grrrrrr. Yes I nearly choked too !!

Working at height regulations from two years ago has now resulted in my window cleaner throwing away his ladders. None of his employees are allowed to go up ladders more than , 1 metre or so. A cherry picker or scaffold must be supplied.

And who is paying for all this stuff? Me the simple idiot punter in the street who wants a quiet simple life, and a few pence left to spend on a cool pint in my local .

And so back to the original point I really cannot understand why school kids at playtime are wearing these Hi vis coats? Do they have to wear elbow and knee pad protectors just in case they fall over????

Cheers

Alan

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Hi Colin

OK. For 38 years I dealt with fire and accident insurance claims at the highest level. Every time I attended a serious fire or a fatality it soon became apparent the Risk Management team had overlooked something.

Now that is not a criticism but more a truth that no matter how much cotton wool people are wrapped in problems will still happen. Sensibility and stupidity became something of a daily routine for me.

Eg

A printer was "degloved" when he placed his hand and arm inside a printing press before isolating the master power switch. Why?

HSE and RM had insisted a label was attached in a clear visible position stating the importance of total power isolation before putting hands and arms inside the works to clear jams.

The man won his compensation, well into 6 figures plus costs because NO ONE had told him to read the label!!! Grrrrrr. Yes I nearly choked too !!

Working at height regulations from two years ago has now resulted in my window cleaner throwing away his ladders. None of his employees are allowed to go up ladders more than , 1 metre or so. A cherry picker or scaffold must be supplied.

And who is paying for all this stuff? Me the simple idiot punter in the street who wants a quiet simple life, and a few pence left to spend on a cool pint in my local .

And so back to the original point I really cannot understand why school kids at playtime are wearing these Hi vis coats? Do they have to wear elbow and knee pad protectors just in case they fall over????

Cheers

Alan

alan you've forgot the safety helmet and stab proof vests.