It was the UK government that decided to metricate in 1965 well before
joining the EC. Safety information was "filed" in metric as a result of
that, not because of the EU.
In Britain today we cannot guarantee everyone (especially children) will
know their height in either system so they both have to be marked in safety
critical situations like swimming pools. Besides not everyone at swimming
pools will necessarily be British, we have a duty for the safety of visitors
as well as local people.
Had Britian carried out the changeover more decisively as Australia did
these dilemmas wouldn't arise. BWMA want to preserve the present unenviable
and potentially dangerous situation indefinitely.
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Humphreys" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 8:56 AM
Subject: [USMA:33302] Re: Height restriction signs
I think its more to do with an EU directive forcing safety information to
be filed in metric. When it gets to the "ordinary person" they appear to
be allowed to use feet and inches (or both ft,in and metres). I'm not sure
why this hasn't happened in other areas - then you won't get the likes of
BWMA being so "active"
I think a similar situation is crime. I believe that for filing it's
meant to all be in metric but when it comes to the "front end" the info
gets translated into imperial (eg. He was white, 6ft 3in and used a 5
inch knifein the attack).
The strangest situation is with pool depths - hardly anyone knows their
height in metres (in the UK) but depth of pools used to show metric only.
I say "used to" because todays 'compensation culture' has (IMHO) seen
double labelling get used in many pools again.
From: "Philip S Hall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:33295] Re: Height restriction signs
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 20:06:29 +0100
Thanks for this Terry.
It's crazy isn't it?
Dear Mr truck driver, you must have a height indication in your cab coz
it's taller than 3 metres.
Oh right. Let's see ... (scribble scribble) ... there 3.5 metres, OK?
No mate, feet and inches please!
Eh?
Phil Hall
(and they say the Brussels beaurocrats are barmy!)
----- Original Message ----- From: "Terry Simpson"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 5:49 PM
Subject: [USMA:33294] Re: Height restriction signs
>Philip S Hall
commercial vehicle drivers do have to know. They are supposed to have
a sign inside the cab with the height on it in both metric and imperial
but as far as I know there aren't any laws requiring it.
All vehicles with an overall travelling height of more than 3 metres must
have an in-cab indication of the vehicle height in imperial units. There
is
no requirement to have metric units.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/sr/sr1998/19980225.htm
