HEALTH AND SAFETY AWARDS HAVE GONE MAD!

There are a great many myths regarding Health & Safety, and there are equally as many stories where Health & Safety has indeed gone mad.

 

However, when one reads stories regarding companies who receive awards and ‘Gold Medals’ for Health & Safety standards, when they have neglected repeated calls to repair a dangerous situation, it makes one wonder just what the criteria was for attaining RoSPA’s recognition.

"I accept this award on behalf of New Charter Housing"

Last year, a resident of New Charter Housing reported that she had ruined her coat after ripping her sleeve on a sharp, extruding water outlet pipe, which was intruding onto a communal landing.

 A couple of days later, her 5 year old son badly scratched his face when he too walked into the dangerous water pipe.

This situation was reported to a New Charter Housing representative during his scheduled visit, who said, he would report the incident and send somebody round to repair the razor sharp protuberance.

Twelve months later, she is still waiting for ‘someone to come round’ and make it safe!

Last week, she ruined yet another coat, when she passed the pipe whilst carrying bags of shopping.

So when one reads that this latest accreditation which New Charter bosses have presumably now hung on their boardroom wall was for ‘carrying out good practice standards in its day-to-day work’ perhaps a photograph of a five year old, who nearly lost an eye because of shoddy attention to detail, might strike a note of reality to the company’s high level of Health & Safety practices.

Footnote: If New Charter are in fact thinking of going to inspect/remove the razor sharp pipe from the landing/walkway of their property in Newton, Hyde, they should be forewarned of the electric coaxial wire that has been strung across the maisonette’s only stairway; from one block to the next, which allegedly facilitates the DIY siphoning of BSBSky services, from another flat!