Prime example of bureaucracy overdone #1 - EU style

[Queasy]

EU bureaucrats

EU give swings the push
By JOHN COLES

A VILLAGE had to get rid of its playground swings because Euro rules say they are too TALL.

The three swings were erected more than 25 years ago.
Kids playing on them have suffered nothing worse than a grazed knee ever since.

But now Brussels bureaucrats have introduced a new maximum height order for swings throughout the UK.

The EU edict, European Standard BS EN 11 76, states the height of children?s swings must be no more than three metres (9ft 10ins).

The set at the park in Great Somerford, Wilts, are 60cm (2ft) over the limit.

The directive also includes a mind-boggling set of other rules including the distance from the seats to the frame and to the ground.

The Great Somerford swings were condemned during a routine inspection by playground equipment firm Wicksteed Leisure last month.

Now the seats have been removed to stop kids using the swings and a notice has gone up explaining why.

It has left Sarah Beeby, 11, Hannah Lonford-Brown, ten, and Luke Whitmarsh and Jacob Botterill, both five, bitterly disappointed.

Little Luke said: ?It?s very sad. The park?s not exciting any more.?

The EU standard is NOT law, but failing to comply could leave the parish council open to legal action if a child were injured.

The council is trying to raise £4,000 to get new swings. It can?t simply raise the ground around the exisiting frames because steps aren?t allowed in playgrounds either.

Chairman Toby Sturgis said: ?These are barmy regulations.?

 

[freegeekss]

YAEBP

Yet Another Europe Bashing Post

move on, nothing to see here

 

[jjones]

This issue is not unique to the EU. This exact same thing has been going on in the US for at least a dozen years. These relate to playground equipment safety standards as well as recent accessibility standards. The biggest proponents of these matters are of course the playground equipment manufacturers; they can visit a playground and then tell the owners (city, school district, etc.) that their equipment is out of specification. There is no legal imperative that changes be made to bring the playgorund into specification, no legal reason to shut the playground down, but once an inspection is made and if the playground is not brought up to current specification, it gives that much more weight to an impending lawsuit should an injury ever occur.

Of course, after an inspection, the equipment catalogs are soon brought out and methods discussed of appropriate fund-raisers to pay for new equipment.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: freegeekss
YAEBP

Yet Another Europe Bashing Post

move on, nothing to see here

Not a Europe bashing post (that is too easy) but a bureaucracy bashing post. Just one of two interesting things I heard/read today concerning bureaucracy causing more problems than it is worth.

Example #2 - Bureacracy Georgia Style

 

[Kenazo]

there was a playground near here that raised some big time $ to put in new equipment (the old stuff was about 40 years old), so they did. then the next year they found out treated wood is cancer causing, so it all got ripped out, and now they're fundraising again. if no one got hurt on that old stuff in 40 years, why would the pain start now? are people easier to break these days?