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Common sense bypass
May 14, 2008
DID you hear about the ice cream chain that refused to pour toppings over its cones in case they fell on the floor and became a hazard to the public?
Or what about the new rule that said all park benches must be no more than 17.75ins high?
And did you read about the after-school club that banned children from making daisy chains, in case they picked up germs from the flowers?
These are all examples of that phenomena of recent years - "health and safety regulation".
My favourite example of this busybodyism was the tale of 79-year-old pensioner, June Turnbull, of Urchfront in Wiltshire.
Public-spirited June had tended a flowerbed near her home for six years, without any problems, until she was spotted by a county council worker last summer.
He informed her she could not continue unless she agreed to wear a fluorescent jacket, put up warning signs and use a lookout.
Fortunately, June pledged to stick to her geraniums and continued her gardening.
A former colleague of mine once injured himself after walking into the gents' toilets at work. He tripped over something and fell forwards, hitting his head off one of the urinals.
It was only when he got up that he realised he had tripped over a sign which read "WARNING: Wet Floor".
Of course, health and safety is important. But it seems that all too often, common sense is ignored.
Far away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities, health and safety regulations are having an impact in Teesdale too.
In particular, these regulations have hit small village fairs hard. Many in the dale have had to be scaled down thanks to new rules.
At Romaldkirk Fair, back in those innocent years (the 1990s) there was a fell run that I occasionally entered when I was feeling sufficiently fit, or after I had been given the hard sell by the dale's answer to Brendan Foster, Harry Dick.
I even won a cup once. The fact that I was the only entrant in my category was purely coincidental.
But my name will never again grace the Romaldkirk Fair cup. Aside from the fact that I couldn't even face running for a bus these days, the Romaldkirk fell race is one of many events to have fallen foul of health and safety regulations.
Faced with a hefty bill for closing the roads, Harry was left with no alternative but to scrap the event.
All this despite the fact that the fell race followed two of the quietest roads you will find in Teesdale. And I cannot recall once seeing even a single car as I, and a dozen or so others, huffed and puffed our way around the course.
ON the subject of road safety, I was astonished to learn that Durham Police had objected to proposals to reduce the speed limit through Evenwood Gate.
This, unlike the aforementioned instance, was a sensible proposal to improve safety on a dangerous piece of road.
Apparently it is common practice for the police to object to speed limit reductions because they are difficult to police.
Surely, putting up speed limit signs will reduce accidents because most honest people take notice of the speed limit.
I was pleased that on this occasion common sense ruled and councillors overruled the objection.
First published in the Mercury, May 7, 2008