I often write many a caustic word or two about the uselessness of our local councils, and how that are apt to come up with all manner of rules and regulations to stop us living our lives.
However, this story about a school caretaker suing his council rather neatly illustrates that some of us are the creators of our own prison and hell on earth.
Anthony Gower-Smith, school caretaker at Awbridge Primary School in Hampshire, fell off a 6ft stepladder in January 2004 whilst removing some display cards in the school hall. At over 70 he has been unable to work since, and had suffered skull fractures and an injury to his right kidney.
He merrily ran (or shuffled I assume) to his employer, Hampshire County Council, and claimed that they had not shown him how to use the ladder safely and that it was not suitable equipment for him to use.
Needless to say, this being the Nanny state, he ended up in court suing the council and recently won his case. The London High Court ruled that his employer, Hampshire County Council, was 75% to blame for the accident.
He had sued the authority for up to £50,000, but the amount of the award will be assessed at a later date.
The council said Mr Gower-Smith "knew perfectly well how to use a stepladder", and had been given a detailed manual on all aspects of his job.
Therefore, given people's stupidity and greed, it is not altogether surprising that councils have to try at times to protect themselves (and our council tax) from ambulance chasers etc.
We are building our own prison and shackles, brick by brick, link by link!
Self responsibility and taking the blame for our own actions have been eroded from our mindset by the Nanny state, it will take a long time to instill these virtues in our society again.
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At that age what was the silly old bastard doing climbing a ladder?
ReplyDeleteI was recently atop a two step stepladder at one of our sites. I was approached by the site manager asked if I had completed a work permit. Being the person who would sign said permit, I informed the gentleman that I did not see the need. "Health and safety" he said. Apparently the ladder might not be able to support me. From the top of the ladder, I pointed out that it seemed to be doing a good job of it so far. He agreed and shuffled off, telling me that next time I should complete a work permit in advance.
ReplyDeleteHad I fallen off, it would have been nobody's fault but my own and I would not have felt the need to blame anyone else. How on earth have we ended up in a situation where people think that as they climb a ladder, each step is someone else's responsibility?
Ken:
ReplyDeleteYou are right!!
What these ambulance chasers forget, is that there is nothing for free in this life and the people making the money out of this sue 'em culture are the lawyers.
When a chav sues, using one of the TV advertised lawyers, the chav may get a few hundred quid, the lawyer will get many times this amount. The costs are passed on to all of us via increased insurance premiums.
I notice that one or two of the ambulance chasing companies are starting to pick up on the change in how they are viewed by some members of the public as they are now starting to suggest, at the end of their TV ad, that some "good" has come out of the action that benefits the community. The resiting of the "dangerous" bus stop being the most obvious example.
I wish people would return to the idea that accidents sometimes happen and it is not always necessary to look for someone to blame.....But hey ho, I suppose when people get a sniff of easy money, they loose all commonsense!!
I recently tripped over my own feet, fell and broke my wrist. Who do I blame for lack of appropriate training?
ReplyDeleteIf one has not learned ,after seventy years of living on this planet,how to use a step ladder,frankly he should not be allowed out on his own.
ReplyDeleteWhen I came out of hospital after a long illness I was graciously provided with a social service 'carer' funded by the local council. He was an amiable gentleman who assured me that he would do "anything" I asked him to. On his first visit, I asked him to climb up a small pair of kitchen steps to reach something out of a high cupboard. "Oh no", he said. "we are not allowed to climb ladders". I didn't bother to ask him to do much else.
ReplyDeleteLadders are intrisinctly evil and probably institutionally racist and islamaphobic as well. Nanny must act to ban them. Then she must make laws to ensure all cupboards etc are only 2ft off the ground, oh wait that would infringe the rights of vertically challenged persons under 2ft tall, so everything must be stored on the ground.
ReplyDeleteYes, that would take care of the ladder problem - oh wait Mustapha Bombing has just challenged that as muslims need the ground clear to pray five times a day. Oh dear Nanny had just better ban us storing anything anywhere and distribute food to us from approved centres. Yes, that's it.
Off Topic But Following up From Last Week.
ReplyDeleteGrant:
I spoke to my brother regarding companies making money from telephone lines.
It appears that the 0870 numbers made the money for the account holders, however this has now stopped.
0871 and 0872 numbers are now sold to businesses and they make far more than the one pence per minute for the companies.
The account type is known as "revenue sharing" and a variety of companies sell these phone numbers to businesses.
My brother's company has four 0871 type lines for different arms of his business and he tells me that each line makes him four pence a minute.
Tonk,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on the phone numbers. They keep changing the rules but in outline that sort of fits with the way I understood things to work, though I could not tell you which lines cost what. Such info is available on the BT web site after minimal digging but as a piece of reading it's not hugely engaging.
So, if I establish a Ladder and steps training hotline outsourcing partner executive (LAST HOPE for short) would I be able to fund the entire shebang from a cut of the calls shared with BT?
If so how many minutes of paid for muzak do potential punters accept before they realise that they are being shafted ....
er,
... before they realize that it might be better to hang up and seek a trained pigeon to deliver their message.
I think it is important to extract every possible billable second but no more than that.
Grant
The council are to blame. They forgot to put the sign at the top of the ladder saying "Stop Here". Silly old fool should have had the sense to ask someone younger to climb the ladder. He is now paying the price of failing to accept his own limitations. Apparently being a stupid, arrogant and pig headed old fart can pay.
ReplyDelete