Man stuck up 270ft chimney. RIP

PNEFC111 said:
I agree pal - but it’s a different world we live in.

We had building site - fully up to secure standards , signage the lot.

A teenage lass managed to get in , climbing on some scaffolding slipped and broke her arm.

She successfully sued the contractor who was also charged by HSE for breach of health and safety.

So despite doing everything to standards the authorities found that the contractor was negligent because she managed to get in.

No mention whatsoever about the responsibility of the girl - in fact she was portrayed as very much the victim.
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I take your point but I also wouldn't expect anyone not authorised to attempt to climb the chimney.
 


Ricci's Special Kebabs said:
Bloody hell, I never knew that existed.
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Massive amount of teaching has gone into it over the past 10 yrs or so for anyone working at height. It wasn’t just the workforce that were oblivious to it either, emergency services also needed pointers in dealing with it as it goes against normal training. This and something called compartment syndrome needed a better approach
Draig said:
Couldn't attempt a rescue because of the helicopter down draft!

FFS at one time we had RAF and RN rescue helicopters with winchmen and they got done away with - dunno who is gonna rescue downed pilots in future if we couldn't even rescue this guy at the top of a chimney!
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SAR still have them
 
safcsafc said:
They haven't left him to die though. They have been unable to rescue him in time in a safe way.
There's a canny difference.
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I know I was responding to a comment saying the emergency services shouldn't be expected to put their lives in danger when it was the fella's own decision to go up there in the first place.
 
Norwich Red n White said:
Why do people have to find blame somewhere else?! It's like the head out the train window stories recently.

It's his fault for climbing up there, as sad as the outcome was.
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Agree with this like. As tragic as the whole event is, we should also consider the loved ones of the emergency services who have to risk their own lives getting him down, or some poor bugger who deserately needs their services while they're otherwise engaged for the full day trying to save him.
 
AlpineExile said:
I worked on a case involving a school kid who used to get high off fire extinguishers. The time he died from it was after he'd broken into a bus depot (12 foot walls topped with razor wire), so his family sued London Transport.

Ended up in court with his family's lawyers arguing that all fire extinguishers should be kept under lock and frigging key 24/7.
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If one thing has changed 180 degrees over about 40 years it’s taking responsibility for ones actions.

Everyone who broke the rules at school and was punished , admitted to knowing the rules and what to expect when caught. They may have been bad but they took full responsibility for their actions.

If you went on a building site ( which were easily accessible back then ) and injured yourself it was a rule of wider society that you shouldn’t have been there and it was your fault.

I m not suggesting we have open access to dangerous places - one major positive of Health and Safety legislation has been the securing of such places .

But a lack of responsibility and it’s always someone else’s fault has crept in and indeed has been accepted as the status quo.

Much of this is fuelled by lack of self ownership but the compensation culture and those who administer it has a lot to answer for.
 
Draig said:
Couldn't attempt a rescue because of the helicopter down draft!

FFS at one time we had RAF and RN rescue helicopters with winchmen and they got done away with - dunno who is gonna rescue downed pilots in future if we couldn't even rescue this guy at the top of a chimney!
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You do realise that a winch will go straight down, yes? Remind me which way a down draught will go? The chopper would still need to be hovering above him for the wimchn to get access to the chimney.
 
PNEFC111 said:
Whoever owns that chimney is responsible in preventing unauthorised access to it.

Was every reasonable precaution made to prevent access ? If so then this chap has somehow managed to breach those barriers in a desperate attempt to scale the chimney.
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From what I've read the company and subcontractors did more than enough to prevent access to the chimney. DP appears to have been very determined.
 
Billericay Dichio said:
From what I've read the company and subcontractors did more than enough to prevent access to the chimney. DP appears to have been very determined.
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This is the issue though pal - despite no doubt complying with regulations - the authorities will deem it wasn’t enough because the security was breached.

They ll be in trouble for this - which is unfair - but like I said earlier the world needs someone to blame.

I recall another tragic incident on a building site a few years back . A chap cleaning a manhole broke just about every Regulation he could , absolutely reckless. The contractor was watertight - everything complied - sadly the chap was killed - the contractor was fined £125,000.
 
Draig said:
Couldn't attempt a rescue because of the helicopter down draft!

FFS at one time we had RAF and RN rescue helicopters with winchmen and they got done away with - dunno who is gonna rescue downed pilots in future if we couldn't even rescue this guy at the top of a chimney!
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A Coastguard helicopter (which took over the SAR duties from the RAF and RN) attempted to rescue him.

Downwash is downwash mate, and it doesn't matter who the helicopter belongs to. Hovering over someone floating in the Oggin is a little different.
 
PNEFC111 said:
I agree pal - but it’s a different world we live in.

We had building site - fully up to secure standards , signage the lot.

A teenage lass managed to get in , climbing on some scaffolding slipped and broke her arm.

She successfully sued the contractor who was also charged by HSE for breach of health and safety.

So despite doing everything to standards the authorities found that the contractor was negligent because she managed to get in.

No mention whatsoever about the responsibility of the girl - in fact she was portrayed as very much the victim.
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I f***ing hate that sort of shit. It’s like an idiot’s charter.
I remember a burglar who successfully sued a homeowner for leaving a knife in a dangerous position on the kitchen bench. The burglar fell through a skylight and landed on it.

People who make this sort of legislation are scum, frankly.
 
Our lass was in Carlisle yesterday and got talking to some people who knew the poor lad. He was in his fifties and was from an ice-cream family well known in the Penrith area. A lovely man apparently who a short while ago started acting weirdly and a bit aggressively. Not a pisshead. Mental health problems. A suicide attempt which went wrong is the accepted theory.

He got onto the ladder which starts about 12 feet up the chimney by taking his own ladder into the compound. So it was obviously premeditated.
 
PNEFC111 said:
This is the issue though pal - despite no doubt complying with regulations - the authorities will deem it wasn’t enough because the security was breached.

They ll be in trouble for this - which is unfair - but like I said earlier the world needs someone to blame.

I recall another tragic incident on a building site a few years back . A chap cleaning a manhole broke just about every Regulation he could , absolutely reckless. The contractor was watertight - everything complied - sadly the chap was killed - the contractor was fined £125,000.
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They had decent perimeter fencing and the temporary ladder started 30 foot off the ground. No prosecution there.
 

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