Unfortunately the UK, and some parts of the world, are becoming a 'Risk assessment', 'HSE' nightmare. As I see it, the only real reason behind it all these days is purely for economic reasons, ie not wanting to get sued in this litigious society we now find ourselves living in.
Well done Paul Waugh for having the balls to do what you felt right at the time. Pity those guys in the management positions, not at the coalface, who seem to lose touch with reality at times.
Exactly.
Plan B. You stand there looking down, waiting for help to arrive and she falls. Could you live with that?
A good friend of mine who has my massive respect is a skilled surgeon. He says these days, there's no such thing as an accident, it has to be someones fault. Where people used to say, "I slipped over, what a fool I feel", now they say, "It's in the hands of my lawyer..."
This will ultimately have an impact on high risk surgery where the patient will die if nothing is done, but if a brilliantly gifted bloke has the nuts to try something, they might just live. But if they're going to end up in court, they won't try it.
Long live litigation....
MS