Safety snarl-up

The death of Alison Hume (your report, 3 March) brings an appalling new facet to the way our quality of life is being eroded by the pusillanimous perversion of health and safety by bureaucrats intent on covering their own backs.

Why had the management of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue service so hobbled the senior officer at the scene that he could no longer use his own initiative to authorise the use of its ropes to lift the casualty to safety? Does the possibility of someone suing them for rope burns outweigh the risk to life?

Perhaps someone at the top of the fire service should hold themselves responsible for these rules and the way they are enforced and perhaps too relinquish the large salary we, the taxpayers, give them to protect our safety rather than their own backs.

NICHOLAS MARTIN

Drongan

Ayr