elf & safety again

[AJI]

Just learned today that my village pool will be concreted in.
This all comes about because if you have an open-air pool, elf and safety rules now say that it has to be inspected 3 times a day and life guards must be present.
When the pool is 'out of hours use' then security has to be in place to stop people using it etc. etc. foooking etc. !


The village pool has been around since at least 1982 and only now in the year 2008/09 has it suddenly become 'dangerous'.


This takes away a lot of character from the village and takes away a tradition of summer time use.

A village commity was set up to try to save the pool but there are now SOOOOOO many elf and safety rules to prevent the utter stupidest people of society from injuring themselves that many traditional things are now being taken away.


Another similar case is that a paddling pool in the nearest town had to be closed because ONE (yes only one) child fell over and cut his knee. The parents complained and the usual over-reaction from anything involved with government had the pool closed within a month. (This happened about 5 years ago and it still sits there empty every year).

[JJCW]

Darwin rolls over in his grave again

[dibbers006]

Why can't we Sign Disclaimers for everything.

I would happily sign away any culpability of the owners (bar gross negligence) to allow my kids to play, jump, run, hit, dance, slide, swim anywhere.

[randomman]

I've been in one or two pools I shouldn't have been in!

Was great fun, annoying to hear thats just got a lot harder!

[CoolC]

In the village I grew up in there was (I think still is) an open air pool. Being a small village it was pretty much the only thing to do, so spent all of the summer holidays there.

I never died once, I don't even remember getting hurt.

We are turning our children into a bunch of wimps scared to do anything in case someone from the council tells us it's not safe

[andy400]

CoolC said:

I never died once

[Podie]

er... which Health & Safety legislation requires that..?

[camgear]

I died 6 times in that pool, it's a menace to our society, I once woke up and it was RIGHT NEXT TO ME.

Lucky escape.

[zac510]

It's a shame that democracy (ie your committee/village) can't overrule a regulation like that on a local or one off basis.

They seem to be able to enforce extra regulations in local regions (ie parking around sports grounds, etc) quite easily but not removing them.

[oobster]

Podie said:

er... which Health & Safety legislation requires that..?

I suspect it's not any actual new legislation, just the first time someone has done a risk assessment on the facility.

I agree it's crap, but because a lot of people's first reaction is to sue after an accident the owners and/or the local council are only covering themselves.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

Does this apply to private open air pools as well? Because if not, then why not? Or put another way, why are public pools more dangerous than private ones?

(Obviously there are more people during the day, but I'm looking more at the night security issue)

[Podie]

oobster said:

Podie said:

er... which Health & Safety legislation requires that..?

I suspect it's not any actual new legislation, just the first time someone has done a risk assessment on the facility.

I agree it's crap, but because a lot of people's first reaction is to sue after an accident the owners and/or the local council are only covering themselves.

My point is that if there is no legislation, then they're closing it because it's convenient for them to do so, and siting Health & Safety to give them an excuse. All to common IMO.

[Parrot of Doom]

It probably has nothing to do with the health & safety executive, and more to do with the council no longer willing to fund the maintenance of the pool.

I would bet money that if you investigated further you would find no legitimacy to the council's actions. The place to begin is by contacting the H&SE.

You could always suggest to the council that it be renamed 'a pond', round the corners off, and chuck some ducks in there.

[4hero]

What a place this dump is. There's a skate park just been built up the road from me, no security, no cctv, no skateguards. Surely this just as dangerous as a pool?