When Two Parents Are Not Enough!, Health and safety policy in a flap? Options

[Jupiter]

I dont think chas 1937 is too far off the mark here.
Changed days indeed and Im sure many of you frequented Woodside Baths in years gone by.Kids queuing to get in.
Other Corporation run baths were probably the same where
the attendants crammed two kids to a changing cubicle and also had kids getting changed in the upper passage behind the changing cubicles.Now that was crazy overcrowding and not an adult in sight in the pool.I shudder to think how thr water filtration system coped.
Its as though the state is saying via H&S laws we dont think you are capable of the task of looking after your own children.

[angel]

Well Jupiter , chas 1937 may not be to far off the mark here
but you give me any day in the week were a child has'nt drowned
or been injured in a public pool because of these rules , then for me , that sure beats a lawsuit any day .
Also I never experienced the conditions that you have described
regarding woodside baths , when we moved tp possilpark I went swimming in woodside when I was a teenager on many occasions
I thought it was OK .

[Jupiter]

Hi Angel, the time Im talking about is early 60s and it was just accepted that the pools were packed, and can you oblige and run your point by me again,I think Im missing something.I dont quite understand it.Are you saying the rules are ok? Thats fair by me.

[angel]

Yes Jupiter I am saying that those rules are good .

To my mind , it is immaterial the true reason for them , as long as lives are saved and injuries prevented , then that is what is important .

Also Jupitor , I don't think that the H&S laws are saying that parents cannot look after their children , although some can't ! .

Looking after kids in a packed pool is extemely difficult . no matter what those parent's may think , lets face it , it's like a mad house .

[GG]

Reflecting on what the Glasgow Life spokesman said:

"We operate a pool admission policy in line with national industry guidelines for the safety of all customers, particularly young children. Easterhouse Pool was very busy at the time of the family's visit, so this policy was fully applied in the interests of health and safety."

One problem is this: if the official is saying that the safety of children would have been compromised because the pool was "very busy", then this would have been the case if the family had been allowed entry prior to the pool becoming very busy. Therefore, by their own admission, it appears that it is fact that the pool was allowed to become "very busy" –overcrowded? – which itself poses the possibility of exposing young children to the danger which Glasgow Life say they were trying to avoid.

Surely better facility management, in terms of controlling the rate of entry, would be a more sensible policy to avoid 'danger to safety'?

GG.

[GG]

Just posted by Barbara Rohloff via the 'Report' button:

How utterly bloody ridiculous, I just hope that ludicrous law doesn't find it's way to New Zealand, surely it is PC going over the top!

GG.

[GG]

... Its as though the state is saying via H&S laws we dont think you are capable of the task of looking after your own children.

I agree with you, Jupiter and the others who raised this point. And in the scenario I mention above where the family could have gained entry prior to the pool becoming very busy, it is exactly this kind of capability and initiative that we would hope would be exercised by young parents if indeed the overcrowding had posed a valid danger.

My personal opinion is that too much legislation and interference by officials is actually eroding the development of personal responsibility to the extent that it can create more danger rather than less.

GG.

[Jupiter]

GG an interesting point is whether they are implementing H and S or National Industry Guidelines.If the latter I would assume that there must be stated numbers of persons using a pool at any one time eg 50 x25 metre pool would hold 100 persons.Just a shame that these issues are not made clearer to the public instead of being suddenly pulled out the hat.

[Doug1]

We live in an imperfect world and the pool staff probably could and should have handled the situation better but at the end of the day the safety of the kids in the pool is paramount to the staff and if any accidents did occur the first people the public would blame would be the pool attendants.

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[Jupiter]

I read an item,not that long ago but unfortunately I cannot remember exactly where(maybe some of our posters can help) which basically said that society now,via H&S and such like rules and regs
basically wraps our children in cotton wool and thus leaves them ill prepared to face the tough realities of later life.I think certain organisations,although I have no facts figures or other data,do make full use of these rules in order to minimise the risk of any claims against them.

[Doug1]

Spot on Joop. As every year goes on the rules and regs regarding kids gets weirder, ask any kindly dad who does a local football team or takes kids swimming. I read just recently of a local school football game when one of the kids had a tumble and the guy looking after the team was not allowed to go over and carry the lad off (this was a minor tumble) because of rules. Another school, in England, banned kids playing conkers in the playground in case any kid got injured. This is a subject that could go on and on
Goodness me when i was a kid i was climbing big trees and sometimes falling out of them and running up and down back court dykes and falling of these as well thats what toughens you up for what life is going to throw at you later on

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[Scotsman]

I have read this a couple of times and I dont really get it!! Are they saying that health and safety rules apply some times and then they dont apply at other times?? I dont think this makes sense and how is a family supposed to plan a tip if they dont know if they will get in or not. If its a policy then it should be applied all the time otherwise its not a policy but just a bit of a mess.... to me looking at it at least.

[Heather]

I have never in all the years I have taken my g'children to Easterhouse Swimming Pool saw it busy even during School holidays. That always surprised me as for for quite a few years the Glasgow School children get free passes into the Glasgow Swimming Pools. As far as I know they apply for the passes through their School.

As we have not been to the Pool much in the past year, things must be picking up for the Pool to have been very busy the day those parents were turned away with their children.

[Scotsman]

Spot on Joop. As every year goes on the rules and regs regarding kids gets weirder, ask any kindly dad who does a local football team or takes kids swimming. I read just recently of a local school football game when one of the kids had a tumble and the guy looking after the team was not allowed to go over and carry the lad off (this was a minor tumble) because of rules. Another school, in England, banned kids playing conkers in the playground in case any kid got injured. This is a subject that could go on and on
Goodness me when i was a kid i was climbing big trees and sometimes falling out of them and running up and down back court dykes and falling of these as well thats what toughens you up for what life is going to throw at you later on

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Ha-ha.... I remember all that and also looking for the odd wee treasure to be found in the middens!!

It really is sad that so many kids now dont get out and play and have a bit of a rough and tumble.... and now they are even getting stopped going to the local swimming baths. We used to all pile into the Elvan Street baths on a Saturday morning and it was pure mayhem!! None of us ever got into any bother.... although you would had to watch oot for the cockroaches!!

Whats going to happen to these cotton wool kids when they grow up??

[*GuestDon.stuart@xt*]

Rules are rules and can you imagine outcry if some wee kid was drowned. The Coatbridge pool saved the day because they had different rules. So they go there because safety rules aren't so strict. What's the hue and cry about.