SAS - not directed at you personally, just your country, since you're knocking ours (all friendly banter, of course!)
. . . they have HSE Policies that forbid Fire Brigade Rescue Staff from using equipment that might save a life if they have not been trained on it....letting an injured person die as a result.
But hey.....you know....Rules are Rules and all that old Chap. We had a thread on that as i recall....something about a poor sod who fell into a deep hole....an old well or something....who expired before he was gotten out because some Management Type forbid the fire crew from improvising lifting gear and requiring them to wait many hours . . .
DON'T blame the Brits - all of this complete sh*t came from your side of the pond as a direct result of everyone taking out lawsuits against anyone & anything that just "might" have been the "responsibility" of someone else. The Brit lawyers have just put bells on the US game, such that a creeping culture of festering litigation (that only really benefits lawyers) has built up a frighteningly risk-averse management culture, forbidding anyone in their employ from making sensible decisions or being allowed to be responsible for their own actions. (I could write a book on Laws & Guidance for Idiots, written by A. Fool (anon!), starting with the guidance printed on the side of a 3kw electric paint-stripping gun bought in 1986 "not to be used as a hair-dryer" - I always thought that was for Americans!! )
Many of us (probably on both sides of the water?) are driven spare by the parasitic actions of the legal vultures who will swoop, at the first opportunity, to peck over the bones of any incident or accident. Most Emergency Service individuals (and many others) wish to help where possible, use initiative and do the best they can in the circumstances, especially when there might be risk to life. If it all goes well, the individual or group may be lauded as heros by the press
BUT, back at base, the management (whether the result was positive or negative) will be champing at the bit to castigate the "heros" for breaking one miniscule paragraph of guidance or legislation that will have put their corporate liability at risk, and exposed their personal liability as a result. Whilst I'm not always a fan of the press, it's only a public campaign that's likely to save the individual, or group, from action or dismissal since, in most right-minded people's minds, "they did all they could to help, and more than most in the circumstances - thanks for doing your best".
Until and unless the legislators allow people to take responsibility for their own actions, recognise that people were doing what they could, for the right reasons and as sensibly as their skills & training allowed, and disallow some of the ridiculous claims that idiots make for their own ineptitude, it'll not get much better. Some need to grow up & recognise that, in many cases, Darwin was right - and the gene pool will benefit as a result. F
F
S
(emoticons more appropriate in this case than any other!)
Off thread a little, I know, but I'm not in favour of taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut - trained paramedic or Doctors eyes in the front seat are just as good as a second pilot, IMHO, for dealing with this tragic circumstance. At least in the 99.99+% of normal landings their other skills will be significantly more useful than a second pilot!