Me and the Mrs took our son (6 years) to the coast yesterday. After the usual visit to the arcades and having something to eat, we spent most of the afternoon on the beach.

Earlier in the morning I'd jokingly said to James, "if you dig down far enough, you'll reach Oz".

Anyway, we got to beach and we proceeded to do what most people do on the beach with young kids - dig holes and make sand castles.

So we dig and dig and dig and dig, until we have to make a secondary hole so that James could step down into the first one. When we'd finished, the hole was about 4ft deep.

Quick game of footy and making some sand castles and stuff, and a bloke from the Council comes up and says, "can I have a word". He basically said that our hole on the beach was a Health and Safety issue and asked that we fill it in.

He said, "a young child could fall in the whole and hurt themselves". I laughed, as I thought he was taking the pi55.

All credit to the gentleman from the council, he was always polite, but said that if I refused to fill in the hole, he would call the police

Anyway, the Mrs told me to fill the hole in to avoid any further aggravation, so that's what I did.

Has anyone else ever come across this, as I find it ridiculous that something that people have done for years and years, has suddenly become a h+s issue.

I'm tempted to go back in a few weeks time and dig an even bigger hole and then refuse to fill it in. It would be interesting to know what the police could do about it.

 

I can imagine it has now become a potential H&S issue and that the council is scared that if some dozey twonk falls down the hole they will be claiming compo before the tide turns. I suppose it's an extension of holes in the pavement and such like, may be an issue for the blind I guess as well. But I haven't encountered it before. I am not sure what if anything the Police could do unless there is something covering holes in the by laws?

 

I'm glad people have so much time that they are able to en-force things like this

Pathetic

 

LOL! That's pathetic. You should have buried him!

Have labour banned holes now then?

 

You don't know the whole of it!

 

We would have looked into it, of course

 

Only man holes, not PC!

 

Well pardon me, but I think a hole 4ft deep on a beach is a bit much. 2ft maybe, but 4ft, come on... If within reach of the tide, you could also have an issue with when it fills in and the tide retreats, some kiddy comes running along and wants to jump in the puddle then promptly drowns as he doesn't expect it to be that deep.

Agree that calling the police is pretty heavy handed.


PS If you enjoy digging holes in the sun, do you want to come round to my garden sometime?

 

You should have bought four 99 ice creams, turned them upside-down around the hole and told him that it was safe as you'd coned off the area.

Nick

 

I shouldnt laugh at that really but it is quite funny, in a lame sort of way!!

 

 

PMSL

 

Well how did you learn ?? By making a few mistakes, Would you jump in a puddle if you could not see the bottom ?? You only need 2 Inches of water to drown !! I do understand where your coming from, But the whole world has gone health & safety crazy, We shield people from potential problems far to much.
There is a lake Nr where i live & some residents are asking for it to be drained as a Kiddie may fall in, Yes it could be a potential disaster !! What about Education, Prevention, Should we Drain all lakes, Remove all Kerbstones (potential Trip hazard) Remove all Steps, Ban boiling water so as to not scald.!!!

Dean

 

how funny would that be though to watch! !

 

you'd better drain the sea too while you're at it

 

He was probably jealous that you and your son had managed to dig a 4 foot hole so quickly whereas it takes the council a fortnight to dig a 4ft hole in the road

 

LOL, I went to ASDA last night, and did the usual prop my self up on the trolly and free wheel down an empty part of the store. I was then prompty chased up by a member of staff and told not to do it, as I could seriously hurt myself!

Kam- 21 years old and still acting childish.

 

As a matter of interest, did he tell you what the maximum permissible depth is, and did he measure your hole to confirm it was oversized?

 

you should have invited him to fill it in himself if it concerned him that much....
astraboy.

 

Or just used him to fill the hole.

 

I ALWAYS do that, and i won't be stopping for a few years yet

 

Maybe you would consider a NRSWA Signing Lighting and Guarding course for you and your 6 year old son before your next excavation on the beach to keep the council bod's happy

 

...surprised there was 4 foot depth o sand actually.....

....It ll be compulsory to wear armbands and knee pads just to walk down the street before to long...

 

 

I think they need a sign (in 37 languages of course) saying "WARNING - Kids enjoying themselves"

That would be next to the sign saying "DO NOT THROW STONES AT THIS NOTICE"

dl

 

The council have a point!

From brown.edu

Inspired by a friend who saved a child swallowed by a sand hole dug for fun at the beach, former lifeguard and current second-year medical student Bradley Maron has published a study about the dangers associated with digging in beach sand.

A tranquil day at the beach can turn tragic when a large hole dug in dry sand collapses and swallows a youngster, said lead author Maron. "My friend, a lifeguard who was a rescuer in one of these situations, was a hero."

In fact, Maron also worked as a lifeguard at the beach on Martha’s Vineyard, where his friend saved the boy in 1997. Maron was not there when the accident occurred.

"I’m told there was pure pandemonium on the beach," Maron said. "After the collapse, the sand was completely serene. No one had an idea where the kid was. My friend began digging like hell with his hands He was somehow able to find the child's head. Using his hand, he set up an air pocket around the nose."

At first, Maron wrote a study about that single incident. But a Martha's Vineyard police officer, who had spent 30 years on the beach beat, said that such accidents happened more often than people might realize.

Through media accounts and in conversations with friends and colleagues, Maron and his father, cardiologist Barry J. Maron, M.D., of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, chronicled seven incidents of dry-beach sand hole collapses in the United States between 1997 and 2000. Other nearby accident sites included Hyannis, Mass., and Salisbury, Mass.

Last week, their study appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association. It is based on details gathered through telephone and personal interviews with rescuers and other witnesses.

In each instance, a person was submerged suddenly when hole walls collapsed. In the majority of cases, the individual vanished from sight leaving little or no trace beneath what appeared as undisturbed sand.

"It's probably the last thing on the mind of parents," said Maron. "This study is not meant to eclipse water safety or other beach concerns. But we want parents to know that something completely recreational can lead to instant tragedy."

In four of the seven accidents, individuals suffocated and died. The three survivors faced life-threatening circumstances, but were rescued by lifeguards and beachgoers who dug frantically by hand to expose the submerged bodies. Within 3 to 10 minutes, digging created air pockets around the nose and/or mouth of survivors. Five minutes without oxygen can lead to brain damage and even death.

Accident victims ranged in age from 8 to 21. Six of the seven victims were male. The holes were between 3 and 15 feet in diameter and between 3 and 9 feet deep. They were dug by hand or with beach toys.

In five of seven cases, the holes were dug as part of recreational activities. In the other two cases, the holes were present before the accidents. Before the incidents, two people were at the bottom of holes before their collapse. The others either fell or jumped in, triggering a collapse of the walls. Six of the seven incidents occurred on Atlantic Coast public beaches less than 20 feet from the surf line. The other incident took place in a backyard.

To date, "the risks and threats to the recreational safety of children associated with dry-sand holes have achieved little attention in the general public and medical community," the authors said.

"We don’t know how often this type of dry-sand incident happens, but we believe that it is rare," Maron said. "However, we think it is safe to say that there is some danger on land at the beach a well as in the water.

"When sand reclaims its natural form, it severely limits rescue capability. You can't use a metal shovel if you don't know where a person is. You can kill an individual by jamming in a shovel blindly. And as you dig by hand, the sand continues to fill in around the excavation. The three individuals survived because of prompt, heroic actions of rescuers."

The researchers hope to build a registry of dry-sand beach hole collapses. They don’t want to frighten beachgoers, but suggest that parents shed lax or cavalier attitudes toward safety on the sand.

"If a child digs a wide, deep hole, as a parent, you’re dealing with potential tragedy," Maron said. "Such a situation demands parental supervision."

 

Yep until there's a tax on them, once that's in place then you can have as many as you can afford.

Roo

 

I'd have put a blanket over it..!



and maybe some bamboo spikes at the bottom..!

 

LMFAO

I'm 31 and still do that. Drives the wife mad

Cem

 

We did that with a towel on the beach in malia - greece...

Was funny as **** when one of the lads came back from the sea, sat back on it, fell **** first into the hole and got stuck and couldnt get out!

David