Health and Safety
Police, firefighers and paramedics refused to go to the aid of an accident victim lying in just 18 inches of water because they believed it was too dangerous.
A senior fire officer banned his men from using ropes and ladders to climb down a 15-foot-bank to the victim, who drowned, after carrying out a ‘risk assessment’.
Acting on advice, ten police officers who attended the emergency also failed to rescue father-of-three Karl Malton, 32, as he lay head-down in the shallow water.
An inquest into Mr Malton’s death today heard that officers no longer have to swim or receive life-saving training.
This evening Mr Malton’s father Peter branded the emergency services’ response to the tragic accident as ‘unacceptable’
He spoke out after it emerged that when relatives of his son arrived at the scene, they found emergency workers standing around drinking tea.
The shocking case prompted a new row over how health and safety restrictions are preventing the emergency services from fulfilling their most basic duties.
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Male, retired and the rest is of little interest to anyone. The site keeps me busy and if it helps others to stay abreast of daily events then my time is well spent.
Mac Says:
Given the times described in the article, it’s unlikely the victim would have been resuscitated but that never stops the media from sticking a microphone in the family’s face and asking questions designed to embarrass emergency responders.
Let’s see… 33 minutes face down in water after being struck by a car. Yeah, he was dead. If the driver who’d struck him had ignored the well-intentioned advice of the EMS dispatcher, it might have been different but there’s no guarantee of that either.
Isn’t yellow journalism wonderful?
Posted on August 1st, 2009 at 12:38 pm