U.K.: safety signs, second ropes for rock climbers?

Sounds like an April Fool’s joke, but it’s the wrong time of year dept.: “Because of a bizarre decision by the Health and Safety Executive — that a European Union directive designed to promote safety on building sites must be applied to rock climbers — British mountaineers will have to endanger their lives by fixing […]

Sounds like an April Fool’s joke, but it’s the wrong time of year dept.: “Because of a bizarre decision by the Health and Safety Executive — that a European Union directive designed to promote safety on building sites must be applied to rock climbers — British mountaineers will have to endanger their lives by fixing two separate ropes up rock faces instead of one. It will also be necessary to fix safety notices on mountains to warn climbers when they are approaching icy or snow-covered surfaces.” The move is said to have dismayed Britain’s leading climbing and mountaineering organizations. (Christopher Booker, “Notebook: HSE has no head for heights”, Daily Telegraph (UK), Aug. 17)(and see Jul. 23, Jun. 30).

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