H&S gone mad

[WotEver]

“Two north Devon coastguards who were reprimanded for taking a teenager to hospital in a van rather than an ambulance, have resigned. “

https://apple.news/Azq5b5iy4R6moGTjkNnixMQ

[Alan de Enfield]

Absolutely !!

[Kudzucraft]

Not just H&S that is gone mad. But that is TOTALLY STUPID. 

[1st ade]

And

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/05/veteran-coastguards-sacked-rescuing-car-cliff-edge-bosses-told/

[bizzard]

General Heydrich nazi butcher, controller of Prauge in WW2 was taken to hospital in an old butchers van when he was fatally injured during his assassination attempt ''Operation Anthropoid''.  No one seemed at all bothered about the conveyance.

[roland elsdon]

There probably was a 3 hr ambulance delay...

[Graham Davis]

Well I'm going to go against the perceived forum "wisdom" here and say that I agree with their bosses. 
As far as can be read from a known sensationalist paper the "casualty" did not have a life threatening injury and therefore a 2 hour wait for an overstretch Ambulance service vehicle is not uncommon. Plus neither of these people would have been insured if anything had gone wrong, both personally and for their vehicle. 
If they were that concerned they should have contacted the Ambulance Service again and stated EXACTLY why there were further concerns and should have waited with the casualty until help did arrive.

[Neil2]

I think the casualty was lucky, I was once taken 50 miles to hospital in an ambulance it was so uncomfortable I think I would rather have been in the back of a van. 

 

TBH I would be reluctant to jump to conclusions based on a Telegraph article.  From what I know about the voluntary services ( my brother in law is a coastguard and my wife is ex mountain rescue) there can be a lot of interpersonal friction, - these services are typically populated by strong personalities.   So there may be a lot more to these stories than is being made public. 

[mrsmelly]

16 hours ago, Neil2 said:

I think the casualty was lucky, I was once taken 50 miles to hospital in an ambulance it was so uncomfortable I think I would rather have been in the back of a van. 

 

TBH I would be reluctant to jump to conclusions based on a Telegraph article.  From what I know about the voluntary services ( my brother in law is a coastguard and my wife is ex mountain rescue) there can be a lot of interpersonal friction, - these services are typically populated by strong personalities.   So there may be a lot more to these stories than is being made public. 

Its a newspaper so it WILL be incorrect, its what they do best, all of them.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Its a newspaper so it WILL be incorrect, its what they do best, all of them.

They do like to stir it and get people excited. Being a born skeptic I take news reports with a grain of salt.

[KevMc]

The Beeb have reported it too

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-48893054

 

And it appears that the reprimand was for putting the coastguard stretcher into his own vehicle .... I mean how irresponsible can you get... if he'd sent the casualty off in the ambulance on the coastguard stretcher he might never have seen it again ... so he was keeping an eye on company property

 

[Machpoint005]

19 hours ago, Graham Davis said:

Well I'm going to go against the perceived forum "wisdom" here and say that I agree with their bosses. 
As far as can be read from a known sensationalist paper the "casualty" did not have a life threatening injury and therefore a 2 hour wait for an overstretch Ambulance service vehicle is not uncommon. Plus neither of these people would have been insured if anything had gone wrong, both personally and for their vehicle. 
If they were that concerned they should have contacted the Ambulance Service again and stated EXACTLY why there were further concerns and should have waited with the casualty until help did arrive.

 

Those were my thoughts, too, Graham, and it's the litigation culture imported from the USA that is to blame.

 

The reasoning behind the bosses' actions wasn't "elfin safety gorn mad" at all, it was the fear of being sued the next time something similar happened.  It does annoy me when H&S is used as the smokescreen for other (often financial) motives. 

26 minutes ago, KevMc said:

I mean how irresponsible can you get

Rendering your vehicle insurance void is a responsible act, is it?

[rgreg]

19 hours ago, Neil2 said:

I think the casualty was lucky, I was once taken 50 miles to hospital in an ambulance it was so uncomfortable I think I would rather have been in the back of a van. 

 

TBH I would be reluctant to jump to conclusions based on a Telegraph article.  From what I know about the voluntary services ( my brother in law is a coastguard and my wife is ex mountain rescue) there can be a lot of interpersonal friction, - these services are typically populated by strong personalities.   So there may be a lot more to these stories than is being made public. 

My thoughts exactly whenever I read this type of article. You don't always see the full background.

[Keith M]

It was not because they did nor what for a ambulance but because they used a stretcher in a private vehicle 

[KevMc]

3 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

Those were my thoughts, too, Graham, and it's the litigation culture imported from the USA that is to blame.

 

The reasoning behind the bosses' actions wasn't "elfin safety gorn mad" at all, it was the fear of being sued the next time something similar happened.  It does annoy me when H&S is used as the smokescreen for other (often financial) motives. 

Rendering your vehicle insurance void is a responsible act, is it?

It's entirely possible that the driver's insurance covered him - we don't know that either way.

[RLWP]

4 minutes ago, KevMc said:

It's entirely possible that the driver's insurance covered him - we don't know that either way.

For a stretcher in a vehicle? How would the 'passenger' be secured

[KevMc]

Just now, RLWP said:

For a stretcher in a vehicle? How would the 'passenger' be secured

Again.. we don't know the situation. It is possible that the driver has a need to put wheelchairs in his vehicle and as such has appropriate anchoring points.

[Heartland]

There are elements to this event that have yet to come out. For example what was the cause of the accident? Was the patient conscious and breathing? Was the transport in the vehicle authorised? Did the transport to receive medical care prove to be beneficial to the patient. It is also common for paramedics to attend such issues, did one attend and if so what advice was given?

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, RLWP said:

For a stretcher in a vehicle? How would the 'passenger' be secured

 

Obvious innit. You attach the stretcher to the roof bars. ?

[Keith M]

Sadly two competent officers have resign because of a formal warning, because they took a injured man to hospital. 

all of that experience and expertise has been lost.

[Machpoint005]

So competent that they apparently didn't know the rules?

[furnessvale]

1 hour ago, KevMc said:

It's entirely possible that the driver's insurance covered him - we don't know that either way.

Without lookin things up, it seems entirely unreasonable that motor vehicle insurance is rendered void by using the said vehicle to transport someone to hospital in a medical emergency.

 

If it is indeed the case there are many such instances annually where people are transported in uninsured vehicles.

 

George

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, furnessvale said:

Without lookin things up, it seems entirely unreasonable that motor vehicle insurance is rendered void by using the said vehicle to transport someone to hospital in a medical emergency.

 

If it is indeed the case there are many such instances annually where people are transported in uninsured vehicles.

 

George

Slightly different, but my insurance states that anyone can drive my car if I am medically unfit.

I think it only refers to taking me either home or for treatment not 'going on holiday'.

[Graham Davis]

2 hours ago, KevMc said:

The Beeb have reported it too

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-48893054

 

And it appears that the reprimand was for putting the coastguard stretcher into his own vehicle .... I mean how irresponsible can you get... if he'd sent the casualty off in the ambulance on the coastguard stretcher he might never have seen it again ... so he was keeping an eye on company property

 

Having been involved with voluntary organisations that used their own equipment, such as stretchers, I have never known a piece of equipment that hasn't been returned promptly by either the hospital or the Ambulance service. 

[Keith M]

49 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

So competent that they apparently didn't know the rules?

Yes they were aware of the rules but by waiting for an ambulance it was going to around two to three hours