Will the cliff rescue at night in sleet and a gale be dangerous?

If anyone was in any doubt that the world is going mad then a glance at HM Coastguard should convince them. First coastguards are banned from using flares because they might be dangerous despite the fact they light up an area like daylight for a search and rescue. Instead they have been told to use torches.

No one produced figures about how many injuries flares have caused but then health and safety these days is not about facts just what ifs and maybes. When they are bored with looking for reasons to ban anything that looks like it might be remotely classed as fun they must sit for hours thinking of the most unlikely possibilities of danger. Have you ever thought what would happen if electricity and domestic gas supplies had not been invented and someone came up with the idea today? We would be living in caves eating carrion and grass.

Anyhow I digress, Then we had the coastguard in Cleveland reprimanded for saving a girl seconds from plunging 300ft down a crumbling cliff because he did not go back to his vehicle and set up a harness and full safety equipment - he resigned after 13 years service.

Meanwhile in South Devon a girl was swept out to sea and the local coastguard took out their boat and rescued her, no doubt saving her life, only to have their boat confiscated and to face disciplinary action. The boat it seems needed repair and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency were so slow the crew paid £2,000 for the repairs themselves but as the form fillers at the MCA had not carried out an inspection of the repairs - which would have taken most of the summer - the boat could not be used and the girl, obviously, should have been allowed to drown to avoid any extra form filling.

Now it seems that for land based rescues the coastguard have to fill in a risk assessment form before they set out. Most coastguards are volunteers and that is one way to ensure that a risk assessment might be needed upon what is likely to be the suggestion as to where most of those forms should end up.