BP Fought Safety Measures at Deepwater Oil Rigs

BP, the company that owned the Louisiana oil rig that exploded last week, spent years battling federal regulators over how many layers of safeguards would be needed to prevent a deepwater well from this type of accident.

One area of immediate concern, industry experts said, was the lack of a remote system that would have allowed workers to clamp shut Deepwater Horizon's wellhead so it would not continue to gush oil. The rig is now spilling 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico.'

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Jobsworth Ambulance Boss Refuses to Let Crew Treat Man with Broken Back 'Because He Was Lying in Six Inches of Water'

A jobsworth ambulance boss refused to allow his staff to enter six inches of water to treat a man with a broken back - because it breached heath and safety.
Stricken Brian Bendle, 45, suffered the agonising injuries as he stood in shallow water at a leisure lake in Somerset.

He was waiting to take his £10,000 jetski out onto the water when he was hit by another rider travelling at around 50mph.

Shocked onlookers immediately ran into the lake as Mr Bendle, from Bristol, lay face down in the water.
They floated the dad-of-three in the six inch ankle-deep water, where they supported him until an ambulance arrived amid fears moving him would aggravate his back injury.

But they were stunned when a paramedic arrived and refused his pleading staff to enter the water - because they weren't trained to deal with water rescues.

They had to slide a spinal board under him themselves and carry him to ambulancemen, who were stood on the bank just 6ft away.

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Music Teachers Are Ordered to Wear Earmuffs by Health and Safety Watchdog

School music teachers have been warned to wear earmuffs or stand behind noise screens to protect their hearing.
This is because beginners tend to blast away much louder than professionals

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Coastguard Banned From Using Flares Over Safety Fears And Told To Use A Torch Instead

Coastguards have been banned from using flares in rescue missions after they were ruled to be a risk to health and safety.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency says the devices, which are used to illuminate large areas of land and sea during night-time searches, could cause 'considerable injury'.

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Council Spends £5000 On Signs In Braille ... For Non-Existent Blind Squash Players

Council chiefs spent more than £5,000 on Braille signs to advise squash players which sports shoes were acceptable and about safety on court.
One player at Halesowen Leisure Centre in the West Midlands said: 'While blind people participate in all kinds of sport, including football, they don't play squash. 'So I can't understand why the signs in the squash court area are in Braille.'
The Royal National Institute of Blind People said: 'Blind and visually-impaired people are able to play many sports but not squash.'

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Where did childhood in Britain go wrong?

Well, it's a start. David Cameron has noticed that health and safety regulations stop schools taking children out on field trips, outdoor activities or just collecting autumn leaves at the park. And the Department for Children, Schools and Families is to issue guidelines about extra-curricular activities, aiming to get pupils back into the real world.
I suppose school-organised, adult-supervised activities are better than nothing. But they're really not good enough. Indeed, excessive health and safety measures at school are just the tip of the risk-aversion iceberg leaving increasing numbers of young people without the emotional resilience, social competence and personal confidence to thrive in our society.
A couple of years ago, the Institute for Public Policy Research found that British youngsters were at or near the top of the European charts for almost every type of teenage misconduct and malaise. Not just knife-crime and antisocial behaviour in inner cities, but underage drinking, sexual activity and drug abuse across the social spectrum.
Something is mightily wrong with childhood in Britain, and after 30 years working with children and teachers (the last eight years of which were spent researching "toxic childhood"), I reckon our risk aversion - not just in schools but in every area of life - is a major part of the problem.
Think back to your childhood. What and where did you play when you were six, seven, eight? Most adults remember building and making (dens, mud pies, forts, go-karts), make-believe and role play.

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'Ugly' scenes at scout jamboree as parents are charged £10 health and safety fee to pick up their children

A scout camp jamboree descended into 'ugly' scenes after hundreds of parents were ordered to pay £10 to pick their children up - because of a health and safety policy.
Furious parents ended up in a heated row with organisers of the Annual Devon Scout Camp over the fee, which was to cover costs for monitoring cars coming and going at the Woodlands Leisure Park.
They had dropped their children at the jamboree last Friday but were told they had to pay the £10 health and safety charge at the gates when they returned on Sunday to pick them up.

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What utter crap! Health and safety my ass , just another way of using the law to scam the masses!!!

Banned by the goggle police: How Health and Safety has stopped a man swimming in his local pool after 30 years

He's been swimming all around the world and never caused a ripple of concern.
But Roland Grimm hadn't reckoned on the goggle police at his local pool.
His special mask stops water going up his nose and has a single eye piece which does not press against his face.
But now, almost inevitably, it has fallen foul of the 'elf and safety enforcers.
Their ban on his mask has left Mr Grimm, who has been swimming at the leisure centre in Swiss Cottage, North London, for 30 years, high and dry.
He said: 'I've used these goggles in more than 100 different pools in countries including Germany, Spain, France and Portugal and no one else has ever complained or questioned why I am using them.
'I'm not allowed to wear them here because they cover my nose. They just don't seem to like the shape of the frame.
'I'm very upset because it seems mad. I like to swim every day and this is messing up my whole life.'
But pool bosses defended their decision to eject Mr Grimm - declaring his goggles were not shatterproof and breached industry guidelines.

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