Plan B Forum

Dismay at ban on cutting

Wednesday, April 21, 2010,
.


CONTRACTORS have been banned from using strimmers in Newquay on health and safety grounds.

Workmen from Cornwall Council contractors SERCO have been told not to use them to cut grass after windows were broken and property damaged.
SERCO bosses said concerns over noise and vibrations were also considered. The lack of strimming equipment has left some residents fearing Newquay's parks and open spaces will not be maintained properly.

Joan Parker, of Pentire, said it was health and safety gone mad. "First I thought it was an April Fool joke, but it's not. "Poor old SERCO, just as they managed to cut the grass for the first time this year, they have had their strimmers banned by health and safety, so they can't do their job properly."

She said it was ridiculous to ban strimmers on safety grounds."If it's because they flick up stones, let's ban all cars as they can do that," she said.
"Let's ban all the gritters – not only do you get sand blasted, you get pebble dashed at the same time with them."Strimmers vibrate and make a noise, so let's ban jack hammers, disc cutters, drills with hammer mode… in fact, let's ban all power tools and make life really safe. Where is health and safety coming from? Are they assuming that nobody has any common sense any more?"

Dave Sleeman, chairman of Newquay Town Residents' Association said the strimming ban was crazy. "The town is going to look in an even bigger mess than ever. How are they going to around the bottom of trees? It beggers belief."

Newquay Town Council's monthly meeting last week also heard that the bushes on the islands at Trenance Boating Lake had been trimmed back too much, leaving ducklings nowhere to hide from the seagulls. Adam Fergie, the communications director for SERCO's environmental services department, said: "There have been third party claims, with strimmers causing stones to be flicked up and damaging cars and property, with broken windows and so on.
"There is also a general health and safety aspect with the vibration and noise.

"We are trialling a reduction in the use of strimmers in the area, but there will be no reduction in the service provided. We have decided that we will use more push mowers, rather than strimmers. We think this will give a better result."

The Hen wrote:You fucked the Telstar windscreen with a strimmer.

kristina wrote:No, they just wait for the rejects from the school boards.

Crackpot wrote:Do they actively recruit people with mental disorders to tun H&S?

@meric@nwom@n wrote:What are or is strimmers?

@meric@nwom@n wrote:Ah, thanks for the translation into Englsh. *snert*

kristina wrote:

@meric@nwom@n wrote:Ah, thanks for the translation into Englsh. *snert*

And they said all that time spent in front of BBC TV would be wasted...

There was one detective series based in Scotland that I never could understand...can't remember the name of it just now