Aviation firefighters ladder training points to losing battle with nanny state

Aviation firefighters are forbidden from training on ladders that are more than two metres high.

When will we know the nanny state has won? Presumably a government committee will be formed to consult widely, assess all the available information and let us know through a carefully planned public communication strategy.

Or perhaps it is too late. Perhaps the battle has been lost already and it is just that no one has made the pronouncement. How else to explain how the nation’s official senate estimates proceedings — a serious parliamentary examination of government expenditure and practices — can reveal information and evidence that is beyond the imagination of the boldest satirists?

On Monday night Labor Senator Alex Gallacher asked a question of Airservices Australia chief fire officer, Glenn Wood: “Is it true that under your authority no aviation firefighter is currently allowed to train on a ladder that’s over two metres?”

“That’s correct, Senator,” replied the chief fire officer Wood.

“I don’t want to laugh,” stifled Senator Gallacher, “but I’ve got these visions of firefighters going up ladders that are about 30 metres high not two metres.”

“Yes well we take the safety of our people very seriously, Senator,” replied the chief fire officer, “and there is a risk of fall from a ladder and we’ve examined that issue and we’ve determined that at this time we will restrict our firefighters from climbing up a ladder greater than two metres, so they can practice the necessary skills, while we form a working group to look at an improved way going forward and whether that improved way includes harness systems and the like.”

.@chriskkenny on rules prohibiting firefighters working at Australia’s airports from climbing ladders more than two-metres high during training exercises: Watch out Australia, the nanny state is taking over.

MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK #thekennyreport pic.twitter.com/i6MVW7qusD

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) February 20, 2019

There would seem to be a number of stumbling blocks for this approach. For instance, how will the working group look at improving practices unless it too, risks climbing a ladder that is more than two metres high? And if it is determined that the working groups needs to climb higher than two metres in order to recommend practices for making such climbs safe, will it need to commission a further working group before it commences? The mind boggles.

But back to the real world evidence from Canberra. Chief fire officer Wood said the fireman at our airports can continue to practice their skills daily on ladders that are up to two metres high. “You may laugh, Senator,” he objected at one point, “but it’s a serious thing.”

He said that 99 times out of every 100 times a firefighter climbs a ladder it is in training, so the move to restrict the height to two metres “significantly reduces the risk of a fall from ladder from height”.

That it does. Then again, if they abandoned ladders and training altogether, surely no one will ever get hurt.