.
Yet
the laws that accompany Health and Safety regulation has put the fear of
god into discerning companies and schools whose responsibility it is to
make sure that nobody leaves their premises with so much as a graze.
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Adventure
holidays are not at your own risk, but at the risk of whoever
organises the trip |
For
example, unions often discourage companies and schools against adventure
holidays for fear that injury may occur.
Look
back through any news archive and you will see ridiculous regulations
dictating that culture has to mould itself to intrusive policies, and
that companies can now be held accountable for the stupidity of the
great unwashed.
This
is a hard predicament to adequately explain, so here are a few examples.
We
have been told recently how exposure to the sun can be dangerous.
Therefore, it is our responsibility to take necessary precautions. Yet,
for fear of being sued, the Blusetone construction company has banned
its builders from taking their tops off so that they can avoid sunburn.
Ironically,
elsewhere, a school banned the application of sun cream. Somehow, said
school felt it would be held accountable for any students’ allergic
reactions that they could have had.
Infact,
schools really are really doing their part to make sure their students
have no sense of what is and is not a danger by wrapping them in cotton
wool and making sure they’re not exposed to any of the horrors the
awaiting real world will present to them.
This
disproportionate stupidity is as applicable to theme parks as it is to
the workplace and school.
The
Health and Safety Executive website introduces their legislation by
citing an accident at a London fair in 2000, where two people died. It
also makes mention of the infamous incident on Brighton Pier where
sloppy operation meant that Turbo, a single-looping roller coaster ran
– and narrowly avoided serious injury – when a section of track was
left out.
These
two incidents “demonstrate the need for effective enforcement”
according to the Health and Safety Executive.
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Turbo
stuck mid course. Another incident has been cited by HSE in their
introduction to ride safety |
This
is true, if misleading.
What
these two events actually show is what happens when fundamental laws
that safeguard peoples’ safety are broken. What it also shows is –
without belittling the death of two people – how safe our industry is,
and how effective theme parks’ self-moderation actually is.
Statistically,
you’re more likely to be struck by lightening or win the lottery than
to be seriously injured on a theme park attraction. While to many theme
parks project a sense of danger and misadventure, if you are injured at
a theme park, it is likely to be your fault.
Another
example was the accident on Hydro, where a young girl, Hayley Williams
died. This freak occurrence was an absolute one off, and the ride spent
an entire year closed, and could only reopen when the entire boat had
been fitted with overhead restraints.
While
of course the death was tragic – and apparently avoidable – it is
amazing to think that such steps are made following just a single death.
I cannot for the life of me think of any other industry where a single
death would have such vast ramifications. Continues...
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