Bureacratic insanity from England --Banning fire extinguishers as fire safety hazards...

[Werehawk]

This bit of news from England is enough to make anyone wonder at the sanity of British safety regulators...
http://www.metro.co.uk/ne...-as-a-fire-safety-hazard
I can see the reasoning behind it however their entire premise is faulty to say the least. And to tell the truth utterly idiotic.
Being half British this bit of news is enough to make me wince.
--Werehawk--
My mom's brief take on upcoming Guatemalan Elections "In last throes of preelection activities. Much loudspeaker vote pleading."

[Dartz]

These are quango's which're trying hard to justify their existance and demonstrate that they *do* have the power to do something and this have some value, what with the cuts coming up.

The life-saving devices encourage untrained people to fight a fire rather than leave the building, risk assessors in Bournemouth decided.

Which is exactly what they're intended for, so if someone comes across a burning bin they can deal with it before that burning bin becomes a burning apartment block.

Dorset Fire and Rescue defended the move, saying: 'Obviously, in some cases, an extinguisher could come in useful but, with new building regulations, every escape route should be completely fireproof.'

Now that's just tempting fate. If there's one thing about fire, it'll find a way. There was this mountain train that was built entirely out of fireproof materials. It got stuck in a tunnel and caught fire, and nearly everyone aboard died. The fire burned the one thing which wasn't fireproof... the passengers all-weather gear. Never mind that it's not the fire that usually kills people, but the smoke.

It's also not even a matter of the escape routes being fireproof. Isn't it far better to not have to escape from a burning building that's likely to be flooded with noxious smoke and hot gas? The Fire Brigade should know better.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

Being on the Health and Safety committee at work, this bit of news is enough to make me wince, too.

If people don't know how to use safety equipment, the solution is to teach people how to use it, not take it away...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

But... That would require... Funding! Oh, heaven forbid! :p

[Werehawk]

Or heaven forbid trusting an individual citizen to be able to make his own decisions...
--Werehawk--
My mom's brief take on upcoming Guatemalan Elections "In last throes of preelection activities. Much loudspeaker vote pleading."

[ordnance11]

Working in an organization that promotes fire safety among other things. I raise my eyebrows at banning fire fighting devices as a safety measure. I will have to agree that having extinguishers who are not properly maintained and mounted are hazards in them selves. But banning them? where is the study justifying it?
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Werehawk]

The study is probably in some obscure journal and probably if scrutinized closely will be found to have been inadequately sourced as far as hard data or more likely something written in house by a an anonymous bureaucrat in the bureaucracy in question and based mainly on a few cases in which people made mistakes...
--Werehawk--
My mom's brief take on upcoming Guatemalan Elections "In last throes of preelection activities. Much loudspeaker vote pleading."