nicemms Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 My Uncle works in the police force as a Collision Investigation officer. It used to be accident investigation but they are no longer allowed to call them accidents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 This is WAY off topic (but as it's MY thread I'll give myself some leniency!! :P ) You escaped better than I did almost 30 years ago... I was 21, and was about a mile from home, driving - as it happens - to my theatre, on a rural A-road. An early June evening, dry conditions and still fairly light. I was approaching a tight bend - I was on a straight stretch - when I saw another car come at speed around said bend, and lose control, swerving all over the road. Only thing I could do was react by slamming on the brakes and veer towards the off side verge. I stopped pretty much in a straight line, though did end up half on the grass - he came to a rather abrupt stop by smashing straight into my front end. The photos aren't for the squeamish - though I don't mean gory, I've known people cringe when they see them...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j40/Ynot_01/Car-smash-2.jpghttp://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j40/Ynot_01/Car-smash-1.jpg I sort of recall what happened immediately after the impact - it was prior to the law coming in about the wearing of seat belts, but fortunately I was one who firmly believed in them, even at that tender age. I did however come out with a broken jaw as the wheel buckled up and hit me on the chin, and a broken foot. I had to clamber out the tailgate as the door was jammed shut - I remember sitting in the back of the car - sort of - then I woke up in the hospital the next day with tubes up my nose and a nurse by my side. The bits in between were a total blank... The guy in the other car? Hardly a scratch on him though one of his passengers was a bit bruised - but the driver himself was found almost a mile away by the police....! Could I have done anything else to avoid the collisopn? I seriously doubt it - even now, with 25 years or more driving experience and a few defensive courses under my belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnno Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 ... There is no such thing as an 'Act of God'. How do you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfmonk Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 Ah! What a wonderful topic. It reminds me of a time when I went to a Health and Safety briefing at a large bank which I misguidedly worked for for a while where the H&S bod started with "We hold the health and safety of our employees as the most important consideration in our business". B*llocks. Making money is. As has been said above the way to ensure absolute safety is to all stay at home and never do anything ever. Yes, almost all accidents are avoidable (even the insect sting could have probably been avoided by everybody wearing bee keeping outfits) but it's not practical nor financially POSSIBLE to do so. I know money should not be a consideration when it comes to safety but it has to be! If there was no limit to what we were spending on H&S then I could quite easily throw away thousands of pounds lining my entire warehouse with bouncy foam and put myself out of business in the process! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 To quote directly from the HSWA...2 General duties of employers to their employees(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safetyand welfare at work of all his employees. (my bold). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted July 20, 2010 Author Share Posted July 20, 2010 A huge point that needs to be made is that there seem to be two distinct trains of thought in the world these days which actually - in my opinion - contribute directly to incidents occurring... a) All accidents are avoidable but it's not practicable or finacially possible to cater for every eventuality... So I won't bother trying to mitigate against ANYTHING I do because it's just not worth it. b) Everything we do is dangerous, so I - as a fully fledged H & S operative, (having had my 2 -day course at head office), will ban anything that even looks slightly risky so that no-one gets hurt. (Ignoring the fact that employees may well work around the bans and maybe use something even MORE dangerous because I haven't seen it yet...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wycome5 Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 ... There is no such thing as an 'Act of God'. How do you know? Because it's as likely as there being an 'act of tooth fairy' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul TC Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 ... There is no such thing as an 'Act of God'. How do you know? Because it's as likely as there being an 'act of tooth fairy' The legal profession believe in it Act of God Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 The legal profession believe in it Act of GodBut most of that articles points out that in reality an 'Act of God' is usually avoidable or unenforceable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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