Thursday - April 16, 2009

If this were April first, you’d say I was making this up as a gag. Health and Safety at work again.

Right. It just keeps getting crazier and crazier and .... 

Here’s another elf n safety laff from the UK version of what I like to refer to as, The Keystone Kops.  Which in my usage does not always mean police.
Just so we’re clear on that.

Now then .... away we go .... Barmy: It took two presenters, a paramedic and first aider to change a tyre

And for Yanks not familiar with the term, a presenter is someone on TV (or radio) who presents stuff. Like our newscasters would be presenters. A DJ is a presenter. 

How many BBC staff does it take to change a spare tyre?

Two radio presenters, a paramedic and a first-aider - transported by private ambulance - was the answer delivered by BBC bosses thanks to ‘barmy’ healthy and safety rules.

Producers at BBC Radio Essex had to fill out a risk assessment form before a pair of presenters were allowed to feature on a programme about learning new skills.

BBC bosses ruled that medical staff had to be present in case the pair suffered any mishap as they were dealing with ‘unfamiliar equipment’.

A request was made to St John Ambulance to provide personnel to supervise the activity in the studio car park in Chelmsford, Essex.

The charity sent along two women volunteer staff - a paramedic and a first-aider - in a private ambulance to provide medical cover.

Garage owner Caroline Lake, who gave on-air instructions about how to change a wheel, said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them.

‘All we were doing was taking off a couple off wheels, yet we had to have medical experts there in case something went wrong. It was just barmy and so silly.

‘It would be different if we were taking out an engine - but all we were doing was taking off a wheel.

‘A corner of the car was only being jacked up one inch off the ground to get a wheel off. There wasn’t anything that could have gone wrong.

‘I carried out all the normal safety checks and we had proper tools and disposable gloves. I also made sure the handbrake of the car was operating properly.

‘We live in a society so obsessed with health and safety that people soon will not be allowed to do anything.’

Miss Lake, 37, who runs Caroline’s Cars in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, was invited on the show because of her experience running car maintenance courses for women.

She said: ‘I had to teach the woman presenter what to do because she had never changed a wheel before.

‘Then we had to time her and a male presenter, separately taking off a wheel and replacing it so we could see which was quicker.

‘The female presenter appeared looking nervous and I reassured her that there was nothing to it and she would be fine with a few minutes training.

‘The producer then arrived and said, ‘Great. It looks like we’re ready to go. We’ve just got to wait for the paramedics.

‘I looked at her and laughed, thinking she was joking. But just at that moment an ambulance arrived with two female staff.

‘It pulled up less than a metre from our car and they took up position alongside it.

‘I was unable to believe what I was seeing and I told them, “You must be having a laugh”.

‘The producer then told me how BBC health and safety rules meant she had to fill in forms and have the staff in attendance.

‘I replied that the world had gone mad and even the paramedic said she thought it was all a bit much.

‘But they also said they didn’t mind being there because they had never changed a wheel before and were hoping to learn something.

A BBC spokeswoman said: ‘The presenters featured in this outside broadcast which was part of the BBC ‘s Big Skill Initiative were working against the clock using unfamiliar equipment.

‘As a basic precaution a couple of voluntary St John’s Ambulance first-aiders were just on standby to administer any basic first aid requirements.’

Richard Bloomfield, a spokesman for St John Ambulance in Essex, said: ‘We have a very close relationship with the BBC in Essex.

‘They contacted us to ask us to send a couple of first-aiders and we were delighted to help.

‘It is a question of how they felt. They obviously felt there was a need for it just in case there was an accident.

‘One of the women we sent was a qualified paramedic and the other was a first-aider.’

HEALTHNSAFETY

Posted by peiper     on 04/16/2009 at 03:27 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Insanity • UK •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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