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wur
11 Jan 10 10:43
Joined:
Date Joined: 25 Aug 03
| Topic/replies: 2,592 | Blogger: wur's blog
Householders and businesses have been warned not to clear snowy pavements - as they could be sued if someone slips.
Icy paths mean hospitals have been inundated with patients who have broken bones in falls.
But the professional body that represents health-and-safety experts has warned businesses not to grit public paths.

More than 50 people turned out to dig snow and ice from pathways and the carpark at Elson Junior School, Gosport, Hampshire today
In its guidance to members, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health warns that if people assume an area is clear and then slip and injure themselves, they could take legal action claiming damages.

And members of the public say they have been warned by councils about the legal risks.
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Report Five By Five • January 11, 2010 10:46 AM GMT
Its a great time to be alive isnt it... nothing is anyones own fault anymore always someone else to blame/sue for compensation.
Report MRGRUMPY1 • January 11, 2010 10:46 AM GMT
Have now replaced all snow to its original place.
Report travelling_man.. • January 11, 2010 10:48 AM GMT
So now the biggest threat to people's health and safety is Health and Safety :(
Report what do i do now? • January 11, 2010 10:49 AM GMT
ah yes, 21st century britain.

and yr also guilty, unless u can prove yr innocence.
Report Barry Conway • January 11, 2010 10:50 AM GMT
Nonsense. I thought this urban myth had already been put to bed.
Report Ovalman. • January 11, 2010 10:50 AM GMT
Heard that the other day about shop fronts. PC gone mad.

I also seen one lady throwing a bucket of boiling water down her path to clear it. I said nothing :0
Report Reyes • January 11, 2010 10:54 AM GMT
if only it were nonsense Barry.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/6957957/Frozen-Britain-our-health-and-safety-rules-have-slipped-up-again.html

The president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers sums up the predicament thus: "If you do nothing, you cannot be liable. If you do something, you could be."
Report MRGRUMPY1 • January 11, 2010 10:55 AM GMT
^ so a third of the population will never be liable for anything.
Report The beauty of Buzzer • January 11, 2010 11:01 AM GMT
Admittedly, the chances of success for a case brought against a well-meaning pavement-cleaner may not be high, but they do not need to be.

The chances of success of suing a well meaning pavement cleaner will be none , this article is just rubbish and should be ignored .
Report baracouda30 • January 11, 2010 1:18 PM GMT
Very much the done thing to moan about H&S these days.

I just wish I could be sure that the people that moan wouldn't take the chance to earn a few quid if they could.

Anyway, cleared mine this morning. If someone slips and sues, I'll deny all knowledge and say it must have been a good samaritan.
Report No chatname registerd • January 11, 2010 1:37 PM GMT
To be fair, its the wrong kind of snow.
Report flatliner • January 11, 2010 2:16 PM GMT
Tell me about it.....
Report tol5tov • January 11, 2010 2:21 PM GMT
did the pavement outside mine and next doors house yesterday.
Report Ivor • January 11, 2010 2:22 PM GMT
you're looking at a 'Community Service' sentence for that lot!
Report Ghostdog • January 11, 2010 2:24 PM GMT
Buzzer is correct. No chance of any successful
Report tol5tov • January 11, 2010 2:24 PM GMT
so i coud be sued for making it safer,does household insurance cover it,if it does i'm not arrised.
Report Ghostdog • January 11, 2010 2:24 PM GMT
No chance of any successful case against good samaritans.
Report HH Sultan Vinegar • January 11, 2010 2:32 PM GMT
I'll just say someone else must've done it in the night.
How can they prove it was me?
If someone's been sad enough to film me doing it then I'll have to take the rap.
Health and Safety - walofs.
Report madsimon • January 11, 2010 2:34 PM GMT
wonder if gocompare will find me the best deal on public liability for clearing snow protection?
Report kingfisher 23 • January 11, 2010 2:35 PM GMT
dna when your nose was running as your were working mate, theyll track you down mate, be worried lol
Report HH Sultan Vinegar • January 11, 2010 2:37 PM GMT
:^0 kingfisher. Fvck them!
Report kingfisher 23 • January 11, 2010 2:38 PM GMT
i have a spade , a bag of salt and a high vis in the boot. Cant be too careful. High vis to keep the H and S cronies happy :D
Report madsimon • January 11, 2010 2:43 PM GMT
have you done all you can to ensure the work of snow clearance will be done by an ethnic mix cureently reflecting your area?
Report V4 Vendetta • January 11, 2010 3:07 PM GMT
Government scared people might start doing something themselves and stop the next useless gravy train department being set up.
Report HH Sultan Vinegar • January 11, 2010 3:10 PM GMT
They said on our local news that the council are going to have an emergency meeting today to "review their grit policy."

It's going to be fascinating taking the minutes at that one imo.
Report TheGoldenVision • January 11, 2010 3:13 PM GMT
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers".. Shakespeare. King Henry VI act IV, Scene II

Not quite as Willie Boy intended but a bl00dy good starting point for most of todays ills.
Report sibaroni • January 11, 2010 3:23 PM GMT
i have read this guff in a few places, but have yet to read the basis for it. No court that I know of would stand for such a claim.
Report wur • January 11, 2010 3:40 PM GMT
Because it could be argued that clearing paths removes snow but leaves small patches of rock hard ice that you would need to break with a sledge hammer to get rid of. The apparently cleared path would create a false sense of security, but would actually be more dangerous than one covered in snow as it would be slippier and therefore more dangerous.

This should not apply to paths that have been gritted, though.
Report sibaroni • January 11, 2010 3:44 PM GMT
It could be, but it would be struck out at a very early stage, I am sure. This is the media behaving like d*cks, trust me. You will not see one succesful action on this basis.
Report Kevin1958 • January 11, 2010 3:45 PM GMT
If anybody falls and breaks a leg and sues for compensation they should have their other leg broken as well. These **s are ruining our country.
Report Joe Jordan • January 11, 2010 3:46 PM GMT
MRGRUMPY1 11 Jan 11:46
Have now replaced all snow to its original place.
---------------------------
yellow side up ?
Report sibaroni • January 11, 2010 3:47 PM GMT
Kevin - it is not going to happen. Don't believe all that you read.
Report Joe Jordan • January 11, 2010 3:48 PM GMT
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242059/You-sued-clear-ice-paths-out...
Report Barry Conway • January 11, 2010 3:50 PM GMT
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242059/foreigners-unsuitable-for-dr...
Report sibaroni • January 11, 2010 3:51 PM GMT
the clue is in the title you paste Joe, the "Daily Mail" bit. You will not see one prosecution - unless some *rse hoses water across a footpath deliberately say, which is a rather different matter.
Report HH Sultan Vinegar • January 11, 2010 3:54 PM GMT
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242059/chitchat-forumites-stirringt...
Report cretan • January 11, 2010 5:36 PM GMT
Reyes - 'Association of Personal Injury Lawyers'.

Exactly - lawyers, not H&S.

Mind you, how many of you lot moaning would sue someone if you slipped.....? Its the way it is today and we (the great british public) created it & maintain it!!
Report Klaus Kinski • January 11, 2010 6:46 PM GMT
See below for response from IOSH

Tha Mail and Telegraph get it wrong again. You would nearly thing that they are doing it on purpose :)

The Occupier Liability Act dates from 1957. I haven't been able to find a single case where a successfull claim has been lodged.

[i]The Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday both ran a story on Sunday 10 January claiming that IOSH was warning businesses not to grit public paths because this could lead to legal action. The Sunday Telegraph stated that,
Report Five By Five • January 11, 2010 6:49 PM GMT
http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/residents-reluctant-to-clear-snow-for-fear-o...
Report Barry Conway • January 11, 2010 7:42 PM GMT
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242059/immigrants-urinate-on-old-la...
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