"Model Train Set" may have caused a fire?

Isn't it just typical of how association could lead to vilification?

These sorts of press comments can be so misunderstood by the non-cognoscenti?

Whilst doubtless the Fire Officer was correct in the assertion that ''an electrical fault'' possibly caused the fire.....and we assume it was on the mains side......there is no reason to asume [any] electrical fire is as a result of amateur workmanship.

yet this is the very thing the fire office wishes up to believe, with his follow-up statement.

electrical faults can occur just as much as a result of amateur workmanship, as that of a PROFESSIONAL.

[a ''who guards the jailor'' thing?]

Wiring mains electrical systems isn't black magic, or a dark art, whose secrets are only imparted to those chosen few who wish to make a profession...or ''living'' out of it.

The secrets of the trade are available to one and all.

especially to those who SEEK THE INFORMATION....like, a lot of railway modellers.

What would have been a more HELPFUL statement from those concerned...[but would be unlikely to be reported in its entirety, due to a lack of sensationalist impact], would be something like, if one is in doubt as to how to [wire a mains circuit]....employ a tradesperson to do the job.

Instead, those with model railways are now subjected to ridicule?

so, is railway modelling to be subject to the same general ridicule as...the Reliant Robin?

QUOTE Discrete rebellion and non-compliance is the solution in my opinion. What is wrong with a bit of risk? Life is/would be so boring without it.

sadly it is this very attitude which results in too many deaths, serious injuries.....and more importantly from an exhibition organiser's viewpoint, seriously massive litigation, in the event of an accident.

Health & Safety [legislation] came about BECAUSE of the cavalier attitude towards BASIC safety proceedures, on the part of employers, employees, organisers, and those generally responsible.

The days of sending 12 year old kids underneath moving cotton looms to retrieve odds and ends, at huge personal risk, have become intolerable to society.

Health and Safety is about raising awareness, of the fact that innocent actions on our part may well result in serious consequences for another.

For instance, if you own/drive a car, you are personally responsible in ensuring that car does not present any sort of danger to others.
To ASSUME others are aware of any risks you and your car pose, is dellusionary, and will result in having to answer to the law of the land.

As far as exhibitors are concerned, it is entirely reasonable that those wishing to display their wares/efforts, and needing a mains electricity power supply to do so, should be able to provide reasonable proof that their equipment will not compromise the safety and integrety of the building, or those others within it.

In the same way it is entirely reasonable to expect the owners of said venue to provide the appropriate fire escape and protection?

or is that a risk too far?

QUOTE uneccessary certification of 12V model railways

firstly, it isn't the 12 volt side that gets certified...its the 220/240volt mains side that needs checking....from transformer to wall socket.

secondly, don't confuse ''political correctness'' with ''health & Safety''....they are two, very different things.

political correctness is about not labelling anyone as a fascist without reasonable, accurate cause.

Health & safety is about not leaving one's car door wide open [for which one is responsible], on the expectation said fascist should actually ''watch where they are going'', and not collide with the door....its your car, your car door...your responsibility to create that safe environmetn around that car...no-one else's.

HOWEVER.....if said fascist actually exercises due care and concern for their OWN personal safety, and avoids that door you've inconsiderately left open, then we have achieved a safe environment..at that time.......no accident occurred, DESPITE one party not being as careful and responsible as they ought to have been.

If BOTH party's exercise responsibility in creating a 'safe' environment, then we would all see a huge reduction in injuries, deaths etc, from accidents .

sadly, health and safety issues arise because of a LACK of thought ....a LACK of common sense.

Besides, I understand fascism to be a distinctly right-wing political view?

Health and Safety legislation came about from distinctly SOCIALIST (ie reds under beds, etc) political pressures.

my non-job (because I enjoy it?) involves instruction..with the major emphasis on health and safety.

the reason is simple...the equipment my students are learning to operate hardly ever 'injures' folk when safety proceedures are ignored or short -changed.......................it invariably KILLS folk, such is the size and power.

as such, this equipment, and its lesser brothers, are responsible for a death rate higher than that usually associated with the general occupation of my students.

the trouble with common sense is, it is not evenly distributed within the population.

with health and safety issues, the proceedures and processes often seem churlish.

yet whilst no incident of injury actually happens..and this includes 'near-misses'....H&S is not considered.

Only when someone's life has been irrevocably altered by some innocent, forgotten act, does H&S come into our thoughts....and, what to do to prevent such a happening occuring again.

yet, whilst in any given 'situation', no harm befalls anybody, this may well be due to H&S actually working.

check out any building site?

I doubt anybody would consider entering such a working area without wearing a hard hat?

but people do forget, or ignore.....and folk still get their brains splattered by falling debris.

sometimes, employers don't enforce H&S, or pay lip service to it, and workers are put at risk...H&S officials are then needed to compel employers to comply....so the non-jobsworths really perform a vital function, especially when in this day and age, financial considerations always come first.