Flaming jobsworths! Have we lost our common sense?

[frabig 10]

Was in post office in the city centre the other day and there was a massive queue (as usual) and an old lady in the queue was very unsteady and said she felt unwell. Somebody asked for a chair for her and was told "sorry love, Health and Safety took 'em away.. used to have them but Health and safety won't allow it". This old lady was forced to remain standing, her arms supported by two men either side. Somebody shouted "What about this lady's health and safety?". Needless to say, this fell on deaf ears.

 

Have petty regulations in this country reduced us all to the point where we all stick rigidly to daft rules and are no longer able to act on common sense?

[slimsid2000 10]

As you haven't said why chairs were a health and safety problem in the first place it is hard to judge whether you are right or not.

 

On the more general point, no i don't think we have too many health and safety laws in this country. on the contrary i think we have too few.

[limpetboy 10]

There are Health and Safety laws and regulations, which are all well and good and important, and there are mad rules like this one. Surely this woman's heatlh was more at risk by making her stand than giving her somewhere to sit? And of course, there is a risk to other customers as well - what if she fell on them?

[Andy 10]

Originally posted by slimsid2000

On the more general point, no i don't think we have too many health and safety laws in this country. on the contrary i think we have too few.

 

I think things are blamed on Health and Safety which are not really health and safety issues.

 

I saw a sign in a shop advising customers that "For your comfort and safety, some items in this store are security tagged". Now, I know why a store would tag items, but how does it make me more comfortable or safe? What's wrong with saying "To prevent thieving scum stealing all our stock, we tag it"?

 

Shop assistants do seem to like making up petty rules. I was in Morrisons and a lady had queued up to the tobacco counter to ask for change for a trolly. She was told "I'm not allowed to give change on here. It's against the store rules. You have to go to Customer Services".

 

Why would the store have a rule against giving change for their own trollies. I think the assistant was just making that up. Maybe it makes them feel more important.

[chav 10]

Obviously Sid, there used to be chairs for people to sit on but the powers that be in Health and Safety banned them. Trouble is, the staff can't exercise common sense to bring one out when someone really needs one!

[owdlad 10]

I was told by the factories inspectorate that by supplying a chair I was asking for trouble, and when I asked why he said that if the person fell off any chair that I had supplied that my company would be liable to prosecution for supplying an unsafe object.

 

However if there was no chair provided the problem couldn't arise, so the chair went to the tip. Crazy but just a fact of life in the litigious society in which we live.

[kirky 10]

Originally posted by slimsid2000

As you haven't said why chairs were a health and safety problem in the first place it is hard to judge whether you are right or not.

 

On the more general point, no i don't think we have too many health and safety laws in this country. on the contrary i think we have too few.

 

jobsworth:)

[kirky 10]

the other day our girt and mi daughter were sat at a table in a cafe waiting to order,my daughter went to the counter and asked the assistant if she would heat up the babys bottle so she could feed him,the bird said she wasn't allowed too.....so they left without eating and went elsewhere,were they heated up the bottle without question.

[slimsid2000 10]

I am always very wary of the argument that we don't need health and safety rules or that we are living in nanny state. Often the people who make these arguments are either business people who are more interested in their profit margin than others welfare or people who want to behave in a way which is harmful to others and resent rules which may stop them.

[Joanl 12]

Originally posted by Andy

I think things are blamed on Health and Safety which are not really health and safety issues.

 

I saw a sign in a shop advising customers that "For your comfort and safety, some items in this store are security tagged". Now, I know why a store would tag items, but how does it make me more comfortable or safe? What's wrong with saying "To prevent thieving scum stealing all our stock, we tag it"?

 

Shop assistants do seem to like making up petty rules. I was in Morrisons and a lady had queued up to the tobacco counter to ask for change for a trolly. She was told "I'm not allowed to give change on here. It's against the store rules. You have to go to Customer Services".

 

Why would the store have a rule against giving change for their own trollies. I think the assistant was just making that up. Maybe it makes them feel more important.

 

The assistant would have had to ring up a "no sale" to go in the til for change. Then probably have had to fill in a "no sale" report to keep the bosses happy while all the time the queueing customers would have been tut tutting as to why she

wasn't serving them instead of writing on a sheet of paper.

Rules are there for both sides if you think about it.

[kirky 10]

Originally posted by Joanl

The assistant would have had to ring up a "no sale" to go in the til for change. Then probably have had to fill in a "no sale" report to keep the bosses happy while all the time the queueing customers would have been tut tutting as to why she

wasn't serving them instead of writing on a sheet of paper.

Rules are there for both sides if you think about it.

 

any idea on the babys bottle thing?

[Andy C 85]

Originally posted by kirky

the other day our girt and mi daughter were sat at a table in a cafe waiting to order,my daughter went to the counter and asked the assistant if she would heat up the babys bottle so she could feed him,the bird said she wasn't allowed too.....so they left without eating and went elsewhere,were they heated up the bottle without question.

 

It is a bit sad, but it is again the risk of getting sued - there is a notice in KFC in town that says they no longer heat baby bottles, that kind of implies that they got took to court for not warming one properly and making the baby upset/ill.