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Wednesday, December 01, 2010
HAPPIER BEHIND A DESK
Having done precious little shovelling since 1974 when I had a holiday job on the blastfurnaces at Appleby-Frodingham steelworks, this morning I came face to face with Manual Labour and discovered it's not the name of a Spanish Socialist politician. No EU grants payable to householders doing their bit to dig themselves out of the snow, as far as I know, although I have gone beyond the drive and onto the highway. Foolishly I had not undertaken any health and safety training or carried out a risk assessment, but I hope those in authority whose job it is to "police" such matters will accept that we acted in the public interest. Please feel free to "send the boys round" to do a proper job, but ensure they bring shovels with them.
It's an urban myth, Scribs.
ReplyDeleteThe rumour about health & safety bods spying on snow path clearers started years ago and is now believed by many.
If you clear the pathway safely and have made an improvement to the original condition it is very unlikely that someone will try to sue.
However, the plaintiff has to prove that you made the path knowingly more dangerous and your action of clearing the path was unreasonable.
Any court will use commonsense.
Nevertheless, the belief in this urban myth has been reinforced by the 'ladder police'.
You see it on telly everyday, 'The company gave me the wrong type of ladder.' - 'Contact xxxxxx solicitors'.
Anyone working 'at height' (and this could be something over ?18"(45cm) has be be assessed by H&S guidelines.
So urban myths mix with real legislationand its difficult to settle the two.
Other urban myths:
1. The use of mobile phones in garages and hospitals is dangerous.
2. Famous explorers thought the Earth was flat - the Earth has been recognised as round (globe) for thosusands of years. The urban myth was started by the Victorians.
3. 'Ring-a-Ring of Roses' is associated with the Plague - wrong - the words predate the Plague.
4. Robin Hood came from Nottingham - original folk-lore from C12th indicates he came from near Barnsley and was a lovable rogue living in the the surounding Yorkshire Forest.
Throughout the centuries, the simple folk-lore story has been emblished....everytime its re-written new characters appear. For example, Maid Marian didn't appear until about 100 year ago.
4. That Charles Darwin changed the basic beliefs of the Church. Before CD published his research, the established Church already accepted that parts of the Bible were not literal.