I have just been informed by a colleague at work that Total Wipeout is filmed in Argentina because of our "Draconian health and safety laws".

Has anyone else come across this?

Andy

I suspect this is the normal ‘elf and safety’ bashing we regularly come across. The series is filmed in Argentina by Endemol on behalf of the BBC. This is done to save on costs (even taking flying contestants out there into consideration). Endemol use the same sets for all the versions of the show that they produce across the world (except the US version who stay at home). They use Argentina as a base as the costs of running and building the sets are lower there and the weather is generally kinder. Our “draconian H&S laws” don’t really come into it. If a contestant was to be seriously injured then BBC would still carry the can and the damage to its reputation would mean that they couldn't really hide anywhere.
Remember the BBC carry out some mad stunts on UK based shows notably Top Gear and they have been investigated once by the HSE following Richard Hammond’s crash a few years ago. The stunts continue.

I'd figured it was H&S bashing.

Just wondered if anyone else had heard this about the show.

Andy

I can't remember where I read it but I read recently about a successful compensation claim for someone who sustained a broken neck in an it's a knockout type competition.

I'll see if I can find a report...

There's a recent one not yet decided: http://www.bbc.co.uk/new...ngland-cornwall-12343537

It's been successful recently in that he's won the right to sue the organisers but he hasn't yet had a successful compensation claim, as I understand it.

It's one of those rulings I don't really understand - the judges conclude that diving head-first into a shallow pool was obviously risky so it should have been explicitly prohibited by the organisers. Does that mean any time you do anything you need to explicitly prohibit all conceivable risky behaviours? Does the briefing need to say "don't dive head first into this shallow pool of water, don't stick your head under water without holding your breath, don't poke these sharp sticks in your eye..."

There is presumably more to it that the press doesn't bother with - the throwaway comment regarding inadequate risk assessments suggest that.

The case referred to previously is Uren v Corporate Leisure & Others.
As far as I am aware there was no criminal action. The civil claim for compensation has been "lost" by that I mean the claim failed and no compensation has been awarded.

Phil

I meant to add that Dom Joly injured his ankle whilst participating in this event.

It not really about "elf and safety" (i.e. regulations etc) but as much if not more about negligence and civil liability. If a highly paid celeb is injured they can make an argument for significant loss of earnings and substantiate a hefty claim against organisers. Hence insuring such events is a specialist business. Not something your "High Street" insurer undertakes.
Phil

Martin are you sure?? I thought the moon landings etc... Were filmed in Hull?

Sean

Sorry - you are of course correct - it was Hull

I heard from a very reliable source that it was Grimsby

No, no, no - there is always a lot of confusion over this. The test flights for the lunar landing craft were done at Grimsby. The B&B prices were too high in Grimsby making Hull a better option for the long periods of filming.

That can't be true! -Sean says they only took one day to do the film (his Auntie told him)

What happened to little Noel then?

Another Mr.Blobby related incident I presume?

Sean

i'm beginning to question you intergrity, you quite clearly said one day:





Now you are changing your story.


To be honest I don't know who to believe now

Walker

Point taken. But I really would like to know - this one does not ring any bells. What happened?

Is this referring to the bungee jump?

wikipedia has a summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/...ow#Death_of_Michael_Lush

The substance of it accords with my recollection form the time - member of the public, bungee jump, rope not attached, questions about supervision / training.

I'm not sure of every fact - I'm not sure what you use in place of an elasticated bungee rope to do a bungee jump, and I couldn't have named the chap that died.

But 25 years ago I was not a H&S professional, so I didn't pay a professional interest in it at the time.

My recollection is that the death of Michael Lush in Nov 1986 as described attracted considerable media attention at the time. However, despite the various shortcomings which apparently led to the death, I can't find readily any mention of a subsequent prosecution by HSE. Even so, the circumstances and the ensuing adverse media reports almost certainly prompted a major shake-up of arrangements for and attitudes to health & safety within the BBC, and perhaps also the companies which produced programmes under contract to the BBC. Can any better-informed forum users confirm and expand on these aspects?

Also, though an elasticated (bungee) rope was involved, the BBC activity may not necessarily have been billed specifically as a bungee jump. If it was described as such in subsequent media reports, this would certainly have annoyed competent exponents of bungee jumping. It's appropriate to add that a strict code of safe practice was devised years ago (not sure when - does anyone know?) for the activity by the British Elastic Rope Sports Association (BERSA) in conjunction with HSE and others.

In the early 1990s I found out that one of my employer's sports centres was having a summer fair and advertised bungee jumping from a tall crane for anyone who fancied having a go. This prompted a visit by my then boss and I to visit the jump operator and find out more from seeing a similar event a few days beforehand. We were impressed by the operator's standards which were more stringent than those of the BERSA code which covers various aspects like pre-medical questionnaire, weighing aspiring jumpers and matching them to the use of a bungee rope with appropriate length & load specification. The operator also hired a high reach hydraulic crane (with operator) to lift and lower the jump platform which is manned by an experienced jump master who liaises by radio with the crane operator. My boss and I concluded that the activity, though potentially dangerous like various other activities such as motor sports, mountaineering and scuba diving, was reasonably safe by virtue of the precautions followed by the operator involved - and it reportedly proved to be very popular at the summer fair.

The BERSA code of safe practice doesn't appear to be readily available on the internet, but the webpage at http://www.ukbungee.co.u...nt/14/safety-information for example seems to give a fair summary of the safety aspects involved. Though I'm not a bungee jumper myself I hope the above information may be of interest and use to forum users.