Have your say on the H&S decisions of others!

[kerry davies]

Careful Ram, you will get me explaining the politics behind it all; Legal Services Acts, Claims Management Regulations, solicitors advertising, private pension rip-offs and all that make this nation a hub for financial services.

 

Jim, the "House Manager" is the "baby" I mentioned in that he cannot stand on his own two feet and argue the case. Where I see this panel being effective is as a mediator (or the support you suggest) between those who wish to do something and those who use the knee-jerk 'Elf'n'Safety' rubbish like our beloved PM to stop it happening.

 

If there is any single major cause of this whole thing it is the press. Insurance companies have clamped down but increased premiums or uninsurability is not H&S, it is economics. The press are morons on this subject.

 

Advertising and cold-calling is a whole other topic and we can discuss that elsewhere, suffice it to mention the Ministry of Justice, Claims Management Regulations and the Legal Services Acts of the Thatcher era which introduced the whole boiling mess.

[Jivemaster]

SImple! It should be a capital offence to cite the HSA without giving the full reference to section and para and clause.

[ramdram]

Had a natter with an insurance bod last night after the show. I am happy to relate that the insurance industry is tightening up the contracts/conditions of insurance and do refer to H&S issues should there be a claim.

 

In other words if you have done something foolish, manned tallescopes being abused springs to mind, your claim will not be met.

 

These folk are not daft and give themselves wriggle room, why not, it's their risk. And, as a condition of cover, you are expected to read the contract summary if only so you don't start dripping to the DJ "you never knew".

 

I am not convinced there is much politics at all, just simple commercial pragmatism.

[Junior8]

Quick aside: you may recall some (church/local) authorities toppling grave markers in case one fell over and reunited the mourner and the dear departed rather earlier than expected sort of thing.

 

When I had a few months in the memorial trade in 1972, well before H&S was thought of, whenever the boss visited a churchyard he'd tap anything that looked a bit dodgy and if it moved (usually because the pins securing it to the pedestal were rusted almost away) we pulled off the offending item and laid it on the plot. When I asked him if this was OK the reply was 'probably not but if it fell on a child it would kill them. And it's obvious no-one from the family has been near it for years anyway'. Informal, fuss free and sensible. Well it was 40 years ago! Even now I don't now where the liability, if any would lie in the case of most non-municipal cemetaries...

[Andrew Edwards]

So pervasive is the Safety Elf, that when some one trips on a perfectly flat, level and clear surface, some idiot shouts 'ooh, elf and safety!'. It has become the new 'sack the juggler' etc. It is too little too late...

 

What I find is, most people will quite happily comply with one of the many myths but then try to fly a 100kg scenery piece with any old bit of flying tat from' generic high street diy store'. So you won't gently through sweets at the audience but will happily barely suspend a lethal load above the cast.

 

Most people have never seen a massive thing fall from the sky before but have probably at some point been hit by a stray sweet thrown by a family member at Christmas. Then via some rather skewed reasoning based upon their experience, they weight these events completely wrong.

 

To quote the Simpson's

 

Homer: Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm.

Lisa: That's specious reasoning, Dad.

Homer: Thank you, dear.

Lisa: By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.

Homer: Oh, how does it work?

Lisa: It doesn't work.

Homer: Uh-huh.

Lisa: It's just a stupid rock.

Homer: Uh-huh.

Lisa: But I don't see any tigers around, do you?

Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.