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Health and safety vital

WE ALL share Bill Williams’ anger at the Grenfell Tower tragedy. We are all diminished by it.

However, Bill is confusing societal issues with Health and Safety legislation.

The development of H&S legislation in Britain from the early 1800s was a fascinating story, necessarily driven by the impact of the Industrial Revolution.

The ideas incorporated in early legislation, culminating in the last of the Factories Acts, in 1961, were advanced, and the ongoing development of ideas in this country continues to form the basis of H&S thinking worldwide.

Incidentally, here and there you’ll still find the 1961 Factories Act printed, albeit in small letters, on a poster stuck to a wall - it was that good!

The transition from prescriptive legislation to the more widely applicable and risk-based framework of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, was a very significant landmark in H&S law.

In the UK, the rate of fatal injury per 100,000 workers has fallen by more than 80per cent since the introduction of the 1974 Act. The “UK consistently has one of the lowest rates of fatal injury across the European Union” (source HSE.gov.uk).

Despite this, industrial accidents continue to happen - less often than they did - but they are horrible.

I, for one, am grateful for the comprehensive H&S legislation in the UK.

I know Bill’s comments in parts of his letter are a bit tongue in cheek, but I’d invite those who might sometimes be a bit sceptical to reflect on why the legislation was introduced, even if perhaps it is not always applied perfectly.

DANIEL PITT, Okus Road, Swindon

Plan for Akers Way

WITH two months gone and two months still to go before the refurbishment of Akers Way is due to be completed have our highly educated council officers and councillors devised any way to ease the congestion especially at peak hours?

It takes a motorist up to 45 minutes to get from Bruce Street to the old Rodbourne Arms and likewise from Pembroke Park eastwards.

A person using the controlled crossings from the school and to get to the bus stop which is situated right next to the crossing takes about five minutes and this causes further delays.

Would it not be a good idea until the work is finished, to put in temporary three-way traffic lights, move the bus stop down to where the Co-op is situated thus allowing traffic to move away from the junction?

All lights should be phased so that people can cross safely with the one in Moredon Road just before the 20mph sign allowing traffic at Church Walk and South and the shops consideration.

With the traffic at the junction having free movement this alone would assist in movement of vehicles.

Perhaps some one in at the council would like to comments.

JH OLIVER, Brooklands Avenue, Swindon

Kids need £165k cash

WHEN you look out of your window at the children playing in the street it is important to remember that eventually they will all grow up and one day they will need homes of their own.

In addition to a home they will also need a transport infrastructure and a wide range of pubic services including schools, hospitals, water, gas, electricity and sewage disposal.

Providing all these things for the next generation comes at a cost. It involves capital spending.

The infrastructure of the country needs maintenance and things like power stations do not last for ever.

Studies on this subject have been made and it is estimated that each child will need to be backed up by £165,000 of capital spending during their lives.

This capital expenditure is initially made by the government and the costs are slowly recouped when the person gets a job and repays the expenses through income tax to the government on their wages.

STEVE HALDEN, Beaufort Green, Swindon

Advice for the PM

Let me give the British Prime Minister some advice regarding winning elections: stop threatening and antagonising the silver-haired brigade of which I and my good lady are proud to be included.

There are a lot of votes in that area, or did your highly paid, sacked advisers fail to advise you on that simple truth?

Stop giving £13bn away in Foreign Aid and spend it on our own citizens, exceptions being natural disasters or famine.

Repeal the Human Rights farce - the financial gravy train to the insidious.

Ensure Britain leaves the Disunion with no strings attached, forever. Put more police on the streets out of police cars to reassure the public. Make the conglomerates pay their fair share of tax like the rest of us do.

Finally, act regarding your own instincts regardless of other people’s opinion. You never know, on that basis you may go down in the history books not as Miss Brasier, your maiden name, but as Prime Minister Brazen in the fight for the return of democracy on our island.

Finally, stop allowing 11 per cent rises in Parliament while keeping nurses on one per cent - that is hypocrisy at it highest level.

BILL WILLIAMS, Merlin Way, Covingham, Swindon

Thank you for help

WE all would like to say a big thank you to some very kind strangers who help me and my mummy out while we were at the Critical Care Centre at the GWH on June 27.

I sustained an injury while at school and went to be checked over. It was late at night and mummy and I left in a hurry and we had no cash on us. They gave me some money to buy something to eat and a man gave me some chocolate. Thank you all so very much.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED