'Warning! You Are High Up'

New Health and Safety Regulations could mean outdoor centres having to put up signs warning course members that they are 'high up' during instruction according to a Euro MP.

'This is madness - most people know that when they climb a mountain they will be up high,' commented Jonathan Evans, a Welsh Tory MEP. The draft regulations he's referring to have already been criticised by outdoors professionals - see this previous OM story - as being inappropriate for mountain use.

The nub of the problem is that bodies representing outdoor adventure centres, guides and professional instructors fear that regulations designed to safeguard workers on construction sites could actually make their jobs more difficult and even promote training that's less safe as a result.

More significant that slightly improbable fears about signs having to be used is the concern that the safe industrial ropework techniques aren't necessarily appropriate for climbing or caving instruction.

More than 1000 centres in the UK would have to pass safety inspections to obtain an operating licence and the fear is that their ropework systems might be judged to be 'unlawful'.

A spokesperson for the HSE quoted by the BBC played down these concerns saying that the agency wants 'sensible regulation, that's the ultimate goal' and stressed that concerns would be taken into account.

See this BBC news article for more details.