Oh dear, please forgive me, I've been on The Daily Mail website...

[Jiffy]

I'm sorry - I didn't mean to do it

but an article in The Oxford Times led me there.

There's a story about how the use of stepladders have been banned for use to reach the top shelves in a reading room at the Bodleian library due to Health + Safety.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...each-books.html

WTF

It's been fine for the past 400 years or so and I've spent plenty of time working on stepladders in that room.

Stop me from adding my comments to the bottom of their webpage!

Perhaps this is why Halfstep is so called.

...She's the only person to meet H+S requirements!

 

[PinkFairy]

PMSL

My mum buys the DM paper, but I seldom read it, choosing to read random articles online instead (

). But all the tabloid and news coverage of Katie and Peter's "split" has made me step further away!

 

[perfect11s]

[ QUOTE ]
PMSL

My mum buys the DM paper, but I seldom read it, choosing to read random articles online instead (

). But all the tabloid and news coverage of Katie and Peter's "split" has made me step further away!

[/ QUOTE ] Yes god knows why all the papers not just the mail gives that pair of vain, boring and self serving non entities the oxygen of publicity

still people must be intrested other wise they woulden't print all that "celeb" crap, I tend to read the telegraph... would recomend that if you like news and interesting articles

 

[perfect11s]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sorry - I didn't mean to do it

but an article in The Oxford Times led me there.

There's a story about how the use of stepladders have been banned for use to reach the top shelves in a reading room at the Bodleian library due to Health + Safety.

Maybe its time to tell these heath and safety muppets that just because they are stupid and totaly lacking common sense it dosen't mean everybody else is .. im sure we would be better off if less thick people went to uni and more found a usefull trade instead

 

[H's mum]

PMSL!
Oh my word whatever next?

Kate x

 

[Halfstep]

LOL!! We still have our step ladders securely in place in my reading room! They are talking about the books at the very top of the shelves at Arts end of Duke Humphrey's - they are MILES up and the ladders are scary. To be honest, I don't blame them. But this isn't new - these books haven't been fetched for years because of this problem.

Ps. LOL at my name - Jiffy you are evil.

 

[teapot]

The girl moaning about the British Library doesn't appreciate it one bit - at the BL you get stuff given to you, no need to fetch anything there; bloody Oxford students

(and Jiffy will understand my musings

)

I could be stupid, it could be sensible - depends on how high some of these books actually are surely?

 

[Jiffy]

I know what it's like as I helped moved all the books out of Duke Humfrey, Arts End and Selden so they could renovate the ceiling in DH about 12yrs ago.

So, I was stuck up there for many hours at a time.

Come to think of it, I do recall hearing a few years back that books wouldn't be picked from there, which seems to defeat the object of why books are in a library anyway.

 

[Halfstep]

The ladders that have been withdrawn were only for use by staff. And the books are very rarely requested, and are usually available elsewhere in Oxford. I'm sure a staff member took a tumble off one of the ladders at some point which is why they stopped being used. As usual, the DM is rather economical with the actual facts.

 

[teapot]

[ QUOTE ]
The ladders that have been withdrawn were only for use by staff. And the books are very rarely requested, and are usually available elsewhere in Oxford. I'm sure a staff member took a tumble off one of the ladders at some point which is why they stopped being used. As usual, the DM is rather economical with the actual facts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh well that's fair enough then, especially if these books are the sorts of books that are only requested once every 5 years.

Still find the student complaining funny - what do they think every other student in the UK has to do if they need more obscure books? Tis why I wanted to go to Oxford as their resources are so good. Beats commuting into London every day *goes off muttering*

 

[Jiffy]

[ QUOTE ]
... I'm sure a staff member took a tumble off one of the ladders at some point which is why they stopped being used.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you sure you're not confusing this with something out of an Inspector Lewis or an Inspector Morse script?

It sounds as if this 'news' a lot of fuss about nothing then.

 

[Halfstep]

Nope, I think it happened before the DH refurbishment, so it would have been around 2000. But maybe it was the Taylor ladders that someone fell off? Same issue there though.

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]

WTF

It's been fine for the past 400 years or so and I've spent plenty of time working on stepladders in that room.

Stop me from adding my comments to the bottom of their webpage!

[/ QUOTE ]
Blimey Jiffy, how old ARE you?

I'd leave a comment if I were you... if it's anything as acidic as mine are, it won't get posted online anyway...

 

[FinnishLapphund]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sorry - I didn't mean to do it

but an article in The Oxford Times led me there.

There's a story about how the use of stepladders have been banned for use to reach the top shelves in a reading room at the Bodleian library due to Health + Safety.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...each-books.html

WTF

It's been fine for the past 400 years or so and I've spent plenty of time working on stepladders in that room.

Stop me from adding my comments to the bottom of their webpage!

Perhaps this is why Halfstep is so called.

...She's the only person to meet H+S requirements!

[/ QUOTE ]

Well it's all your fault, I'm a firm believer in that if I haven't read/heard about it, it almost hasn't happened, so if you hadn't read the Daily Mail, it hadn't happened!

No seriously, though I think it's ridiculous with all these new warning signs, but why not just plaster them full of signs saying "Warning, you're high up in the air and if you fall off, you might hurt yourself or anyone you fall down on..." And they say evolution goes forward but human intelligence... ***sigh***

 

[Jiffy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

WTF

It's been fine for the past 400 years or so and I've spent plenty of time working on stepladders in that room...


[/ QUOTE ]
Blimey Jiffy, how old ARE you?

[/ QUOTE ]

*Sniggers*

I'm a bit younger than Shilisdair and as you know - I'm just a couple of years older than you PF.

I feel the moment has passed and don't feel the urge to paste on the DM site atm, but maybe later.