All eyes are on the HSE as they prepare to publish draft regulations on working at height early this autumn.

Mountaineers and cavers have been working with them to explain the differences between a building site and the great outdoors but so far this advice has fallen on deaf ears. The most recent version of the regulations insists that workers use a prescribed two-rope system unless they can prove that one rope is safer and this will create many problems for anyone teaching climbing. Alongside the plight of circus performers, expected to wear hard hats, the impact (sic) on climbing has caught the media’s eye.

Many of them recognise that such legislation cannot work, with Chris Bonington summing the situation up very well in a piece he wrote in the Guardian last week: "It is important that guidelines are not solidified into regulations, since the possible circumstances are so diverse that they can not all be covered in this way. There is a danger that regulations stifle not only initiative, but also effective risk management by the individual climber”. The legislation began in Brussels as a reasonable attempt to reduce the very high number of accidents on building sites. HSE say they are bound to implement this legislation but have been accused of a slavish enthusiasm for new regulations; in contrast to many of our European neighbours. In responding in the Financial Times to accusations of creating a nanny state the HSE Chairman, Bill Callaghan referred specifically to the flexible approach they were adopting to rock climbing instructors so hopefully our message is finally getting through. - John Cousins, john@mltuk.org

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