Elf and safety gone mad.

[Gob]

A town’s Christmas tree has been branded a ‘shambles’ after only its bottom half was decorated because health and safety officials said it was too high to safely light the top.



The partially decorated pine in Bailiff Bridge, West Yorkshire, was slammed by residents while one councillor dubbed it ‘the worst in the north’.

Calderdale Council, the authority responsible for lighting it, said the natural tree had grown ‘significantly larger’ over the last year and it was not safe to reach the highest sections.


But Conservative councillor George Robinson described it as a ‘shambles’ and locals fumed that after two years of Covid regulations, they had hoped for some festive joy.

[ex-khobar Andy]

So that tree grew from about 6 feet to (I'm guessing) about 15 or 18 feet in the last year? That Yorkshire soil is pretty good. It must have been well nurtured by all the bullshit from the H&S guys.

[eddieq]

I'm an American and have always lived in America, so forgive me for my assumptions but does nobody around this town own/run a business with a bucket truck? Get a little plug for your business: "Baliff Bridge is grateful to Eddie Engineering for their assistance with decorating our tree this year.
Look him up anything you need something off of a high shelf."

Heck, one of our local fire companies would have come with a ladder or tower truck and helped with the top.

[BoSoxGal]

Our town has a bucket truck it’s necessary for accessing the electrified antique street lamps when a bulb needs changing. Hard to believe this town’s fire brigade wouldn’t step up - although I suppose it could be down to some jobsworth not wanting to ok the activity at all due to liability.

That’s a very beautiful tree and kudos to the town for planting a real one whose shade can be enjoyed in summer.

[Scooter]

This isn't a "health and safety gone mad" story, because lights cannot be safely strung on the higher reaches of that tree without the proper equipment. The question, as others have pointed out, is why wouldn't they have used equipment that should be readily available.

[Long Run]

This is a cherry-picker story,

[BoSoxGal]

So that tree grew from about 6 feet to (I'm guessing) about 15 or 18 feet in the last year? That Yorkshire soil is pretty good. It must have been well nurtured by all the bullshit from the H&S guys.

Medium fir tree growth rate is ~2 feet per year, but in ideal conditions firs can grow 4 feet per year in early years of growth. If they last decorated in 2019, they could potentially be dealing with 8 more feet of tree and that is a substantial change.

It all gets down to why they didn’t have a plan for their natural tree that would keep growing and require equipment to properly install lighting at holidays.