Health and safety advice for university caving clubs

nickwilliams

Well-known member
My thread on this topic was lost in the recent hiatus, which was a shame 'cos it had started to generate some interest.

For those at the back not paying attention, my idea is for BCA to co-ordinate (and possibly fund) a panel of H+S professionals and CIC holders to provide free H+S advice to university clubs in the hope that (a) the university won't try to force their club to pay for lower quality advice from their own H+S advisers and (b) we can get the message across that actually caving is a safe and well organised activity.

I've had several responses from CIC's offering to help with this, but no-one with a professional H+S qualification (e.g. IOSH, etc) yet. I've also had no negative feedback, and if anyone can think of any good reasons why this proposal won't help I want hear what they have to say.

Thanks

Nick.
 

graham

New member
This is exactly what BCA should be doing. More power to your elbow, Nick.

Afraid I don't have any relevant qualifications though :(
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
You are definitely barking up the right tree here Nick. As long as the impression is not given that people with bits of paper and "professional" qualifications are somehow more authoritative than experienced cavers, I don't see a problem. Remember, "amateur" does NOT mean incompetent. "Professional" just means you've worked out how to get paid for it (and good luck to those who can).
 

Brains

Well-known member
Go for it, then at least the information will be from people who know what caving is all about, not from some buch of Athletic Union jocks who want to close down "fringe" sports to pay for their own preferred activities. The problems publicised in Descent that SUSS have had seem to point to this being a least partlt true!
 

biffa

New member
An excellent idea. I'm safety and training officer for SUSS (who have been reaffiliated).

Max Holliday and Assosciates administer our H&S advice, and with the sad loss of Dave edwards must appoint a new CIC now that we come under their remit again. The union is paying a lot of money for this, but at least we can officially recruit at freshers fair again. However when I expressed a choice of CIC to do our safety and training (on account of Nige Atkins being a good bloke, DCA training officer, doing the work at minimal cost etc) this was automatically gain sayed because Nige hasn't been 'legally trained' by Max Holliday.

With this sort of attitude I can't help but feel that certain universities would choose to ignore this better and cheaper advice for the sake of beurocracy. Sadly I feel Sheffield is leading the way in this respect.

If anyone has any suggestions as to how to deal with beurocrats , please let me know.

None of the above opinions are those of the SUSS committee, just my personal views
 

Brains

Well-known member
So who is going to tell Nigel he isnt legally trained? If you are out there reading this Nigel, what is your opinion on this? Do any other CIC holders want to add their pennyworth?
 

cap n chris

Well-known member
Google doesn't come up with anything for Max Holliday & Associates. Does their level of expertise really out-strip that of CIC?
 

hrock

New member
sheffield although now providing free h+s advise again were very reluctant but have free h+s ad did help alot in perswading them to take us back. (free of charge)

once one or two uni's have exepted it i think others will folow sute.

having takon us back this year we have reseved nirly £700 in funding i just dont understand how they think at all.


henry
 

graham

New member
hrock said:
sheffield although now providing free h+s advise again were very reluctant but have free h+s ad did help alot in perswading them to take us back. (free of charge)

once one or two uni's have exepted it i think others will folow sute.

having takon us back this year we have reseved nirly £700 in funding i just dont understand how they think at all.


henry

They don't teach basic typing skills at Sheffield, then?
 

cap n chris

Well-known member
I know that many cavers sport a beard but there also seems to be a very high prevalance of dyslexia within UK caving; is this a) because lots of people are dyslexic or b) because people with dyslexia are more prone to pursue caving or c) a bit of both?
 

AndyF

New member
Peter Burgess said:
Perhaps their brades get tangled up with their figners while they are tpying.

:LOL:

..erhm... you aren't going to endear youreself to this newsgroup with quips like that. IFAIK Hdrock IS dyslexic, but still makes a valuable contribution to this forum. It isn't a joke.
 
S

scoop

Guest
Perhaps if Henry really is offended, he can speak for himself? I know a few dyslexic people and they make this sort of joke about themselves!

I'm sure no offence was intended.

What say you, Mr B?

Scoop
 

Mark

Well-known member
Peter Burgess said:
Perhaps their brades get tangled up with their figners while they are tpying.

:LOL:

Might just be worth slipping this in at this point

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to rsceraeh at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thguhot slpeling was ipmorantt.
 

cap n chris

Well-known member
Mark said:
Peter Burgess said:
Perhaps their brades get tangled up with their figners while they are tpying.

:LOL:

Might just be worth slipping this in at this point

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to rsceraeh at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thguhot slpeling was ipmorantt.

... in which case French Connection UK t-shirts and other merchanise ARE genuinely offensive rather than merely hiding behind a technicality?.... what say you?....
 

cap n chris

Well-known member
.... other than f*** OFF! (oops, sorry, should have written FCUK OFF but perhaps I've got mild dyslexia too?...)
 
S

scoop

Guest
Thought I might just add that while I understood every word of Hrock's contribution, AndyF's left me slightly puzzled. Who the hell is Ifaik?

I'd rather read 100 mis-spelt posts than a single one containing those dreadful forum acronyms.

Well that's my opinion FWIW.

Scoop
 

Peter Burgess

New member
Scoop said:

I'm sure no offence was intended.

Quite right, Scoop, no offence intended, and I trust no offence was taken. Compared to the 'jokes' that appear elsewhere on this board, I thought this was quite mild, but if anyone really thinks I've overstepped the mark, PM me.

Peter
 

graham

New member
As the person who started this can I make a couple of points.

Let us assume that hrock has been correctly diagnosed as dyslexic.

If that is the case then one of two things follow from it: Either he needs to be taking a degree that does not rely on writing skills because employers will not accept results like this. His CV will not get past most selection processes. He will not get the chance to show his worth at interview. Or he needs to improve this aspect of his skill. According to the Dyslexia Institute Each dyslexic person's difficulties are different and vary from slight to very severe disruption of the learning process. There is no total cure but the effects of dyslexia can be alleviated by skilled specialist teaching and committed learning. See their FAQ list here..

Thus, there is every reason to suppose that hrock can get help with his problem. I therefore reiterate:

They don't teach basic typing skills at Sheffield, then?

Perhaps they should.
 
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