Posted By Peter F
Merv,

I would like to respond but there seems little point.

Posted By A Campbell
Probably not yet attended the £250.00 ++ course Mr Letts attended during his filming of his recent programme!!

Posted By Kevin Brown
Check out the Mail. Looking at the photo in their report it looks a bit iffy (is the flagpole inclined outwards, where is the ladder to be sited/secured) to me but there are other ways around the problem, including a cherry picker. Obviously a case of money talks, flagflying walks.

http://www.dailymail.co....lag-Queens-birthday.html

Posted By Graham Bullough
Merv

Thanks for flagging up (!) the press article about access to the flagpole on the roof of Bourne Town Hall in Lincolnshire being banned because of "elf n safety". However, by your questions, it seems that you've fallen into the trap of assuming that the ban has come from a H&S adviser. Most if not all of the silly "elf n safety" scenarios in local authorities which get publicised seem to stem from managers who use "elf n safety" as a spurious reason to try and justify decisions they've made about banning activities for other reasons.

I've no connection with South Kesteven District Council but guess, probably like most others reading this thread, that the council's H&S professionals have not been involved. I know of another council which had a silly "elf n safety" situation at its town hall which was rightly highlighted by a press article several years ago. When I later met one of its advisers and the story cropped up in conversation, she told me that reading the press article was how she and her colleagues first became aware of the situation.

Posted By Graham Bullough
Merv

As a regular reader of your contributions on this forum I should have twigged that you were being teasingly provocative about this matter. Anyhow, I fully agree with your sentiments about real health and safety being about enabling, facilitating and protecting, not banning.

The photo on the Mail website is most useful. The base of the pole appears to be accessible from the top of the steps behind it, so perhaps the rope on the pole got stolen. I bet most people on this forum who looked at the photo shouted "cherry picker" or "MEWP" when they saw it, and probably thought of at least one other safe way of of dealing with the matter. Crikey, better not ask if and how the pole gets painted or the face of the clock high up on the Town Hall facade gets cleaned!

Is it too much to hope that the matter will be resolved by the next time a flag should be displayed from the pole?

If a VIP such as a member of the Royal Family were due to visit Bourne at short notice, no doubt the matter would get resolved in a flash. As an aside, several past experiences prompt me to mention that impending royal visits work wonders in getting organisations to find funds and decide to repair, clean and redecorate the buildings to be visited. Rumour had it that after a visit by Princess Anne to a large educational establishment in my area some years ago, the route she followed inside the establishment could be readily identified by seeing which corridors and rooms were clean and newly decorated compared with the off-route parts.

Cheers

Graham

Posted By Graham Bullough
It's good to report that, according to a press article at

http://www.peterborought...urn-on-flying.5286664.jp

there has been a u-turn about the flagpole, although it doesn't seem to mention the method by which the matter is to be resolved. Any bets on the use of a cherry picker as the most likely one?

Also, this thread is currently listed as about the 4th hit when you do an internet search under Bourne + flagpole.

On a general note, most hijackings of "elf n safety" by people who are not H&S experts as an excuse for banning things tend to identify themselves because the people involved use the easy blanket term "health and safety". Surely most situations can be classed under either "safety" or "health" but not both at the same time! Concerns about "safety" may have been claimed (but not justified) as the basis for the flagpole scenario, but it had nothing to do with "health".