There is a very amusing story in the Times today about the Health & Safety nutters. It concerns Lancashire County Council and its efforts to improve road safety. The council has tried to install some electronic speed indicators which are regarded as effective in shaming drivers into slowing down. Far better than nasty speed cameras in my book and I'm all for them. However, to install them you have to take on the dangerous task of going up a ladder. These days to go up a ladder you have to comply with the Health and Safety Executive’s Working at Height Regulations 2005 (amended 2007) which are the offspring of the EU’s Working At Height Directive born in Brussels in 2001. Cue comedy list of problems.
The Council has thirty of these speed indicator devices just waiting to be installed - but no-one at the council has received ladder training and so are not authorised to put them up! Ladder training!? To put this in context, if you are caught speeding there is a £60 fixed penalty. If you are caught going up a ladder with the incorrect flashing yellow lights you are liable for a £5000 fine. Last year about 350 road deaths were ascribed to speeding. In the same period 14 people died after falling off ladders. It gets better though...
In order to get these speed indicators up, they have asked the local police to help them. The local police have received specialist ladder training and so far have managed to put three of the indicators up. Unfortunately, while they are authorised to go up ladders they are not allowed to give the required ladder training and so have not passed on their high precision skills to the council and hence progress is slow. To make matters worse, the police have decided they have better things to do than help out the council install flashing speed indicator lights. So now the council have approached the ladder climbing gurus themselves - the fire brigade. The Fire fighters are playing hard ball though and it seems until someone who is trained in the fine art of ladder climbing, these speed indicators will not be slowing down speeding motorists. The brilliance of bureaucracy. I'm sure there's a joke about bureaucrats and changing light bulbs here...