Health & Safety NOT Gone Mad !

How many times have you heard or uttered the phrase "health & safety gone mad" ? I know I have. I still do think they sometimes go too far and try to eliminate danger when there is really none present but when you see or hear about the explosion in China, you realise how important our Health & Safety Legislation is. This would never happen in the UK. That's not saying we are immune from major incidents, we're not. We've had our fair share of major fire, explosions, accidents etc. The difference is, we learn and act on them. There is no way that our Fire Service here would have no knowledge what was being stored in those warehouses. It seems that some innocent firefighters were applying water to the fire which, when mixed with chemicals present, created an explosive atmosphere. Link to story here:

http://news.sky.com/story/1535420/firefighter-pulled-from-tianjin-blast-wreckage

The exact cause is not yet known, but China's President Xi Jinping has demanded those responsible are "severely handled".

Many fireman still missing, I suspect some atomised and the head man talking about "severely handled" All heart that bloke.

Decades ago when I worked in factories with hazard equipment such as gas welding gear, the Fire Service would come round doing regular inspections, I think it was an insurance regulation and part of the factories act.

Even with all the regs. a Fireman's job is still highly dangerous as you know too well Mo. Another area where the Government is meddling and trying to cut corners.

Our local Air Sea Rescue just closed. Now the helicopter has to come from Kent. Our ambulance service is far from what it was less than a decade ago, fortunately most of the Paramedics are excellent and more local. We still have a fire service in town but for how much longer?

I've long thought the Government (whoever it is) looks at Third World countries, with eg. people living on toxic waste dumps, and thinks "we could do that"

"I've long thought the Government (whoever it is) looks at Third World countries, with eg. people living on toxic waste dumps, and thinks "we could do that"

The bottom line, the Country is going down the crapper and fast. When I tell youngsters about what this country used to be, they look at me in disbelief. We now live in a world where grown Men queue all night in the rain to get the latest mobile phone the day it's launched. MP's almost all out and out liars. Everyone knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. You know the score, off to the Pub for some serious ranting.

Sadly, the Gov't is reducing the emergency service and the military but they are doing it in a very stealthy way and avoiding major publicity ( generally ). They publish figures quoting huge reductions in crime figures or fires etc which they feel substantiates their reductions. They fail to mention however that the emergencies still occur but they either don't attend or send less personnel. If there were a major incident in any of our major Cities, we would seriously struggle and lives would be lost unnecessarily.

Yes I reported an attempted break-in in London and the Police LAUGHED and said "what do you expect us to do about it?" Likewise when I reported fly tipping with the address of the victims within the pile of crap, the Police could have asked them which firm they used to do their house clearance and stopped a pretty much weekly dump in a country lane, which the council had to pay to clean up. Same for the people I SAW dumping a car, they didn't want to know. When they (presumably) came back and set fire to the car, a hedge, a tree, and half a field of wheat it was too late. Just like not diagnosing diabetics, or undiagnosing them again, it's all about statistics, not crime, or health, or anything else relevant.

If a serious fire was mishandled I bet the firemen would be blamed, not the manager who understaffed the depot.