They Rave On

From the UK via Crusading Rabbit ...
A jobsworth ambulance boss refused to allow his staff to enter six inches of water to treat a man with a broken back - because it breached heath and safety.
Stricken Brian Bendle, 45, suffered the agonising injuries as he stood in shallow water at a leisure lake in Somerset.
He was waiting to take his £10,000 jetski out onto the water when he was hit by another rider travelling at around 50mph.
......They floated the dad-of-three in the six inch ankle-deep water, where they supported him until an ambulance arrived amid fears moving him would aggravate his back injury.
But they were stunned when a paramedic arrived and refused his pleading staff to enter the water - because they weren't trained to deal with water rescues.
They had to slide a spinal board under him themselves and carry him to ambulancemen, who were stood on the bank just 6ft away.
One onlooker said: 'The paramedic wouldn't treat him.
'Two colleagues arrived in an ambulance but he stood in their way and told them, 'I'm incident commander - you aren't getting into the water.'
'The ambulancemen were pleading with him. I reckon a good ten or more minutes were wasted.'
Steve Cox, 47, who runs the Middlemoor Water Park in Woolavington with his wife Julie, said: 'The first bloke insisted they had to wait for the fire brigade.
'He kept saying, "Health and safety won't let me get in".'
......A spokesman for the South West Ambulance Service said only fire crews were trained for water rescues.
He said: 'The incident was managed in accordance with procedures.'
CR comment ....
"in accordance with procedures"...that bland, meaningless, gutless response of bureaucrats the world over.
This, in a country where ordinary people once tore through the rubble of unstable and dangerous bombed buildings with their bare hands to rescue survivors....
What have we come to?

But what CR ignores are the reasons why these people are scared to NOT follow procedure... becuase somebody will complain and expect damages to compensate them for not following procedure. There is nobody to blame but ourselves for the way we have screwed up the system in our desire for SOMEBODY to look after us.