Risk Assesents
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Sat 19 Mar 2011 10:00
Last Sunday morning I arrived back in the UK. It was a four flight, thirty hour journey to get home to the Highlands. Because of the multiple flights and having a meccano set holding my pelvis to my shoulders and a physical ( pathetic I know) inabilty to carry my own bag (full of 20 kg of parts and a pair of socks and underwear) I thought it would be the right thing to do to request a wheelchair at the airports. This is a very difficult thing to accept and my immediate justifications and explanations would commence as soon as was asked to sit in the wheelchair. It is a terrible feeling and the temptation to just get up and walk myself without assistance was hard to contend with. Yet I knew that there was a much bigger goal, to get fit enough over the next couple of weeks to possibly continue my circumnavigation. There is no question that making the journey at all with a broken back was probably not the most rehabilitation enhancing passtime so any
measures to make the journey easier needed to be taken. I would just have to humiliatingly sit in the wheelchair and shut up. Not easy you understand.
On arriving in London there were two other passengers awaiting wheelchairs so all three of us would be taken by one of these wee electric cars that go at three miles per hour and beep annoyingly. I was mortified. I was asked to sit in the front, close the door and to fasten my seat belt. Yep, that was one of the rules. I was back in the UK, so it was just one of the rules. The next rule was explained to the two people in the back. They had to have a safey bar fitted across them and no bags were allowed beside them. "Yeah, not safe" the driver explained.
"New rules". " "oh my! what happened" enquired the elderly passengers in the back ( who had probably been through the second war I was guessing). "A bag fell off one of the carts last week" came the horrific, terrifying answer. I double checked my safety belt. Not for my safety but for fear lest I should run off back down the gangway to escape this state sponsored, fatcrat designed and implemented H&S BS. Not of course to create safety but to allow the state, the jobsworth beurocrats and wastocrats an excuse to control, to build departments. Little empires. In case you are thinking " oh that boy, he is a barbarian!" just wait till you hear what happened round the corner.
Round we came with 80 decibels bleeping from the bleeper and our revolving Amber euro safety light flashing reassuringly, to come upon the terrifying, dangerous, life threatning scene of a man pushing his wife in a wheelchair.
The maniac was not even wearing a flourescent jacket nor a hard had and though I could not be certain I don't think his footwear had steel toe caps.
Our driver stopped. I tried to bend my back to cringe down behind her but I couldn't. "Your not insured to push that wheelchair" she introduced herself. "Um, er .. My wife has become really ill and I would like to get her through the airport" the poor man stuttered in disbelief at being caught doing such a risky thing as pushing a wheelchair. "It doesn't matter " she persisted, " you're not insured and you could have an accident". "that's what I am trying to prevent" stuttered the reckless stuntman pushing the wheelchair, " my wife has been really ill and is faint". I kid you not, but just wait for this...... "you have not been trained in the use of that wheelchair and you are at risk of causing and accident..... And you're not insured ..... So if anything happens it will be you're own fault"
With my mortification now moving into a phase where bladder control was close to being lost, the poor guy came out with the oscar winning line while neither losing his temper nor bursting out laughing said "that's a risk I am prepared to take....." Now if any of you are reading this and think this is not a sad pathetic indictment about where this society has been brought to in the last twenty years may I respectfully suggest that you get a real job. In the real world.
This week I have been at the office in Gael Force every day and the recuperation has not really progressed any and certainly not as I would have hoped. I still feel that I must find a way to continue my circumnavigation.
Whatever happens, if I continue now it would be very much earlier than ideal. Sometimes however you just have to do what you have to do and deal with it. If I go and something happens to regress my injury I will fully understand the chorus of " it's your own fault, you should have given your back time..... "
I could try and rule out all risk and stay at home. This week I considered going to a "how to avoid going under a bus" course but I had to cross three roads to get there and without having first attended the course this seemed too risky.
Perhaps knitting would be a risk free pursuit? No. Sharp needles. Anyway I don't have the neccessary safety wear and the Knitting Safety Police and Offknit would probably not allow me to start without the appropriate certification and risk assessments.
Looking at the risk in everything I think I should do nothing and stay at home.
However I would die of boredom. DIE.
That of course, as long as I did not get a knitting needle in the eye, go under a bus or cause death by wheel chair pushing, would be fine by the nanny state who want to take control of our lives and regulate and create rules for every aspect of our lives ... Just as long as I had risk assesed boredom.
Which of course I have, so I think I may just have take my life in MY OWN hands and sail off to the South Atlantic.