Editorial: The lunatics are in charge

Peter Jackson.

Worksafe NZ clearly believes that many of us are suffering a degree of paranoia over the new Health and Safety at Work Act.

It insists that the extraordinary restrictions that many believe they must endure are a figment of their imagination, that the Act's job is simply to recognise genuine risks and deal with them appropriately.

So the office Christmas party is apparently beyond the reach of bureaucracy. That's a relief.

The fact though, is that our national obsession with making rules to cover every conceivable mishap, however remote, rampages on unchecked.

The lunatics really are now running the asylum.

Look no further for evidence of that than the Northland Age building in Kaitaia.

The landlord has so far committed to spending tens of thousands of dollars, half of that on structural strengthening - earthquake-proofing - and half on amenities that defy all logic by an even greater margin.

Our landlord is not alone. Buildings all over Kaitaia, not a recognised earthquake zone, are in for the same treatment. If they're not getting it already they soon will be.

One denizen of this building has made the observation that the new steel beams directly over his head have simply added to the hard things that might squash him when an earthquake does strike.

He might have to live to a very ripe old age to see it, but then he's not bureaucracy material.

Appallingly, rumour now has it that the ridiculous earthquake building standards imposed in Northland have now been reduced dramatically, too late to save some owners massive expense that was never warranted and never will be.

But that's not all. Our landlord is now the proud owner of a disabled toilet. That didn't come cheap, or quickly - the firm that made the modifications tore down the wall before discovering that it didn't have the required sliding door, so disappeared for several weeks. It's still not finished, and even when it is it will probably never be needed.

The toilet is at the rear of the building, wheelchair-accessible only from the rear.

Anyone who uses it will have to get into the building through a roller door at the back during the working day, and navigate a working print shop to reach it. This is not permitted.

WorkSafe NZ will have a fit when people start rolling through the door, past all sorts of hazards, not least machines with the ability to maim, and all sorts of fumes, to go to the loo.

To be clear, this is apparently a public toilet, not one just for staff and/or customers. Signs at the front of the building (which also promise disabled parking at the rear, as yet unmarked but who knows what's to come?) and the rear declare it to be so, but anyone who would like to use it will have to make do with sitting outside in the service lane and looking wistfully at the forbidden source of relief.

Outside working hours, would-be patrons will have to get through a small door, too narrow for any wheelchair, set inside the roller door, then deactivate the building alarm.

They will also need a key to open the too-narrow door, but, having got inside (which they won't), they will be able to get out again, thanks to a new lock and handle that have been installed on the inside, for those with limited manual dexterity.

If it's dark they will also need a torch. Candles probably won't be allowed.

And there's more. We now have battery-powered emergency lighting the length of one short passage between reception and the print shop, which comes on when the power goes off.

It worked a treat last Thursday morning, although the last light had almost given up the battle to remain illuminated by the time the first person - me - arrived.

These lights are apparently designed to make exiting the building safe should the power go off during the hours of darkness.

The only person likely to find themselves in the dark, once again, is me. I have spent thousands of hours here between sunset and sunrise over almost 40 years, and should the power go off, as it does from time to time, I am prepared to take my chances on getting out without barking my shins.

The odds have been further improved though by new Exit signs, including one immediately inside the front door.

The old ones had to go - a fraction too small, and the new ones glow in the dark. They have yet to prove their capacity to save lives, even after Thursday's power cut.

But are they enough? Imagine it - power cut in the middle of a dark, moonless night.

One stumbles out into the street, taking great care not to suffer a life-threatening injury on the way, and emerges into - total darkness.

Perhaps we should have strip lighting, like they have in the aisles of aircraft, to illuminate the footpath. I'm surprised that this fundamental safety measure has been overlooked.

Who knows exactly who has come up with all these rules, but when it comes to the toilet, lights and exit signs it is the Far North District Council that is doing their bidding.

Obviously it has to obey the law, but a little more intelligence and less alacrity would be nice. Has the council tried to baulk? Doubt it.

It might simply be the instrument of the law, but it is playing its part in heaping substantial, totally unwarranted costs on a landlord, a town and a district that has bigger things to worry about.

It's hard to criticise measures to reduce the potential for damage and loss of life in the event of a natural calamity, but some recognition might be given to the relative risk.

Clearly that has now happened, somewhat belatedly, given that the earthquake building standard has reportedly been amended, but how great is the risk, even in genuine earthquake zones?

The loss of life in Christchurch in 2011 can largely be sheeted home to the CCTV building, which was clearly defective.

Last month's even bigger Kaikoura quake toppled a few buildings, directly claiming one life, but how many collapsed in Wellington? None.

There is no argument that we need proper building standards to minimise the risk from the earthquakes that can be expected regularly, but this phobia about banishing all possible risk to life and limb in any conceivable situation has to stop.

There is no point in enforcing standards that might - might - save a life in the worst possible circumstances but leave buildings empty because the owners cannot comply, people unemployed and businesses closed.

We risk our lives every time we set foot outside, and even inside our homes.

People will continue to die by misadventure, and at the hands of nature. It is incumbent upon us, if we value our lives, to moderate those risks as much as we reasonably can.

And our politicians and bureaucrats have a duty to design as safe an environment as they can, but there comes a point where rules become nonsensical and ruinously expensive.

Even if we accept that building owners have a duty of care for tenants in an earthquake, or this newspaper's case nuclear holocaust, demands for a toilet and lighting that will never be needed are insane.

This has to stop, before Kaitaia becomes the safest, most disabled-friendly ghost town on the planet.