health and safety, slippery slope

[Gob]

A council is facing a bill of £70,000 after a park warden fell and injured himself - while putting up health and safety signs.



The Leicester City Council worker was putting up notices warning the public to be careful in the ice and snow when he slipped and hurt his back, neck, wrist and arms. He made a claim for compensation and the authority has agreed to settle the case out of court, after admitting the accident could have been prevented.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... uncil.html

[Lord Jim]

[Sue U]

The final pay-out has yet to be determined but £70,000 has been set aside to compensate the unnamed warden and cover legal fees.

So, workers compensation has booked a 70k reserve, which is standard industry practice when a claim is pending, but hasn't actually paid out anything.

The council has now ordered 150 pairs of special slip-on shoe soles with studs for winter weather, costing £13 each, to avoid similar injuries to outdoor workers in future.

Does the phrase "pennywise and pound foolish" mean anything? Is it too much to ask to spend 13 goddamn pounds to avoid potentially serious bodily injury to a public worker?

The case is ironic, yes, but hardly a laff riot.

[Gob]

Oh come on Sue, a guy slipping and falling while putting up a sign to warn people it was slippery, that's pure Laurel and Hardy.

[Lord Jim]

They come up with these signs to prevent having to pay out injury settlements, and they wind up paying out an injury settlement to the guy putting up the signs...

I think that's hysterical....

Maybe they should have signs posted warning people that this is a dangerous area to post signs...

[loCAtek]

The Bee Watcher by Dr. Seuss

Oh the jobs people work at!
Out west, near Hawtch-Hawtch,
there’s a Hawtch-Hawtcher Bee-Watcher,
His job is to watch…
Is to keep both his eyes on the lazy town bee.
A bee that is watched will work harder, you see.

Well…he watched and he watched.
But, in spite of his watch,
that bee didn’t work any harder. Not mawtch.
So then somebody said,
“Our old bee-watching man
just isn’t bee-watching as hard as he can.
He ought to be watched by another Hawtch-Hawtcher!
The thing that we need
is a Bee-Watcher-Watcher!”

WELL…………

The Bee-Watcher-Watcher watched the Bee-Watcher.
He didn’t watch well. So another Hawtch-Hawtcher
had to come in as a Watch-Watcher-Watcher!
And today all the Hawtchers who live in Hawtch-Hawtch
are watching on Watch-Watcher-Watching-Watch,
Watch-Watching the Watcher who’s watching that bee.
You’re not a Hawtch-Watcher. You’re lucky, you see!

[Gob]

Having spent a £1million on brand new paving a council could fork out thousands more after being inundated by complaints the stones are too slippery.

The authorities in Bolton are looking at splashing a further £13,500 for an anti-algae treatment after the costly pavement was causing people to slide in the town centre's historic Churchgate.

Officers claim the slippery surface there is caused mainly by overhanging trees from the Parish Church grounds, however, the council is now thinking of treating other recently laid stretches.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1ogovLfAc

[Gob]

All they want is to brighten up their local railway station, a simple labour of love to which they have been committed for a decade.



But now, having added a splash of colour with their flower arrangements, volunteer gardeners Brian and Janna Coomber have been told it could be the end of the line - because of health and safety fears over their ladder.

The pensioners have spent thousands of pounds out of their own pockets to floral decorations at Weymouth station in Dorset.

Now rail staff have told them they are not allowed to use a ladder to care for the plants, which hang over six feet off the ground in 27 planters.

The couple were given permission to decorate their local station several years ago and were even provided with high visibility bibs.

They planted a variety of drought resistant plants around the station and then put up the boxes to line a wall at the station.

But Mrs Coomber, 68, said a new manager has forbidden them to use a ladder because of health and safety reasons.

She said tending to the flowers was the couple’s ‘job’ and that she only goes up the ladder three or four times a year to deadhead the plants and weed around the perennials.

Mrs Coomber, a retired cleaner, said: ‘I’ve been going up the ladder for years - I’m very fit for my age.

‘And when I’m up there I hold the boxes so there is no danger. I only go up three or four times a year.

‘But a new manager started and said I wasn’t allowed up the ladder because of health and safety reasons.

‘Doing the flowers is our job in life and everybody loves them, and we’ve won loads of awards.’

She continued: ‘The previous manager really encouraged us and helped us, but now a new manager has started.

‘If push comes to shove we will have to stop, but we will have a little fight first.’

Mr Coomber, 72, a retired hotel worker, added: ‘This has completely thrown me.

‘We’ve never asked for anything for doing it. I must have spent thousands building the boxes and buying the seeds.’

He said: ‘Let us get on with it. It’s perfectly safe. I will stand by the ladder every time Janna goes up there if it makes them happy, but don’t stop us from doing something we love.

‘This is our gift to the people of Weymouth.’

A spokesman for South West Trains said: ‘The couple that maintain the plants have done a fantastic job and the flowers are without doubt an asset to the local area.

‘In delivering a safe and on-time railway service, we carefully manage our arrangements with staff and volunteers working on our property to prevent accidents from happening and to ensure passenger services run without disruption.’

He went on: ‘With their best interests at heart, we have asked the couple in question to temporarily stop using ladders to climb the wall to weed the flowers at the side of the station until we have completed a safety investigation.

‘The safety of our passengers, staff and volunteers remains our first priority and we will continue to work with the volunteers to ensure that their hard work at the station can continue to be enjoyed by all.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1pVhkcQW9

[The Hen]

I can understand why the ladder pictured would be a health and safety risk. However, surely if she got an A-frame ladder with a locking device she should be able to go up it with them having peace of mind?

[Sean]

You'd think so Hen but this is the UK we're talking about...