Have we really come to the point where health and safety training is needed before our children can enjoy a day at the park? It would seem the days of boys being boys and girls being tomboys are over. Those were the days, when I was younger, that we would go climb trees for fun, sometimes hang about in the play park swinging upside down from anything that looked suitably dangerous and generally push our physical boundaries, keeping ourselves fit and rarely, if ever, acquiring more than a bruise or a scratch.
Unfortunately today, children are being restricted to doing anything much other than sitting in front of a computer game where they get fatter and unhealthier but at least the most harm they are likely to come to is getting repetitive strain injury from all that gaming. Until, that is, they become adults and out of boredom or frustration, begin acting out all those vicious computer games that have been their sole source of entertainment for so long.
But what is influencing this trend for children to prefer the indoors sedentary life instead of the action that we preferred years ago? And, indeed, do they prefer it? Is it what they really want?
The problem stems from the health and safety experts who are restricting everybody's movements for fear that something untoward will happen, such as a genuine accident, and someone will be held accountable for vast amounts of money. To this end, they have removed a ten foot children's slide from a play park amid concerns that it could cause serious injury. What? Like too much fun? Laughing too hard causing a hernia?
If the parents, or the children of course, were to undergo health and safety training then maybe that would be acceptable. Officials do plan to put another slide in its place, with higher sides. Maybe they would like to enclose it all in bubble wrap and cover the ground in cotton wool just in case?
Opposition complaints suggest that children will never learn how to judge risks, or have fun, if they are never challenged.
Of course, no one wants to see an injured child but surely if playground equipment is judged too dangerous to use without health and safety training, then surely we should have high sided pavements to stop a child wandering into the road, or should they just be taught road safety?
And what about bunk beds? They may well have sides on them to stop the child from falling but children climb down from these ladders everyday without assistance. These steps are very often the height of a playground slide but who is going to take responsibility if there is a mis-hap? Maybe we will find children claiming compensation from their parents all over the place if they should fall from a bunk bed, or off a chair, or trip on a stray rug or slip on a wet kitchen floor.
Do we really want to teach our children that they do not have to take responsibility for their own actions? That accidents can and do happen? Do we want to be reduced to regular health and safety training sessions for our children before we can let them loose in their own home? The compensations culture of this country has certainly gone too far - maybe it's time we put a stop to it.
Illegal raves that cause disruption to nearby residents, where illegal drugs are sold and consumed by many and where the countryside is trashed by people who couldn't give a damn, will NOT be broken up by police because they have not had the necessary health and safety training in the dark. We all know what a health and safety risk the dark is! Police have also raised concern that if they break up the raves, party goers may disperse and drive whilst still under the influence of drink or drugs. Is it just me or can anyone else see the madness in this? Stop the illegal raves, prosecute everyone who drives while under the influence, get all those mindless morons off the road and kill two birds with one stone.
Of course, bird killing with stones or any other implement would probably be banned under health and safety regulations too!
And it's not just the police that have their duties restricted by the lack of health and safety training - or the lack of common sense - however you want to view it. Postmen are also coming under scrutiny and in some areas are having their bikes taken away and replaced with post trolleys. This is to prevent shoulder strain from carrying their bags but bikes have carriers on them so the reasoning makes no sense at all. Instead we are going to see hoards of postmen with leg and back strain from walking miles and miles and pushing trolleys! More madness!
And not to be left out, the Mayor of Maidstone has been banned from using the official mayoral flag on her car, just in case it falls off and damages another car or road user. That will be the 8 inch by 5 inch flag, the one that contravenes health and safety regulations. Never mind the 14' x 6' lump of metal with the engine inside that could so easily mow down and kill someone - just watch out for the little flag on the top. After all, no-one is known to have had health and safety training in attaching it properly and the last thing the council needs is a law suit for the damage caused by a flag on the loose.
And it's not just the grown-ups that suffer. Amid fears of law suits and litigation, schools are phasing out field trips because of a lack of health and safety training in teachers when children are out of the classroom. That will be because, as we all know, perfectly adequate teachers who display common sense and intelligence in the classroom, become gibbering idiots outside and are unable to take responsibility of their charges! I am being sarcastic here!
And then we have the health and safety risk posed by that horrendous assailant - nature. But all is not lost. The British Standards Institution currently has over 27,000 standards covering a multitude of things, including trees. They are suggesting that people be employed to inspect trees every three years to ensure they pose no risk to passers-by. This is because, in the compensation culture of today, people are scared of having a claim made against them.
So, of the six people a year that killed by trees this year, the claims could potentially be so high that perfectly good trees will be felled, just in case. So goes the very air that we breathe and the habitat for so many animals. Of course, if we are going to take such action against the evil tree should we not be wary of other things also? Every year in the UK, 640 people die from falling down stairs. I propose we do away with stairs, all live in bungalows wrapped in bubble wrap, supported by an iron lung, and never venturing out, just in case.
Catherine Harvey has sinced written about articles on various topics from Culture and Society, Home and Wedding Gowns. Safety expert Catherine Harvey looks at the way our children may need before they can go to the park.. Catherine Harvey's top article generates over 1500000 views. to your Favourites.