Masterton playground's 'unsafe' tractor and bulldozer removed by council staff

Forums › Off topic › Masterton playground's 'unsafe' tractor and bulldozer removed by council staff

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scuwp

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#2623131 17-Dec-2020 10:08

Nothing to do with "PC madness", everything to do with liability and risk.

The age of self responsibility is gone, it's always "someone else's fault" now, and all those "someone elses'" are trying their best to make sure they meet their responsibilities lest they be accused of not doing something they should have done in hindsight. In my day this was simply called being better safe than sorry.

I get the outrage, I really do, but the world has moved on. Health & Safety laws are now wide reaching, and no business or council want's to be on the front page of our click-bait media stories, let alone be accused of failing in a duty to ensure they take reasonable steps to ensure no harm.

Welcome to 2020 and beyond...

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

MadEngineer

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#2623137 17-Dec-2020 10:16

Every playground should have a rust bucket. Call it the Darwin tractor.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

MikeB4

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#2623180 17-Dec-2020 11:39

MadEngineer: Every playground should have a rust bucket. Call it the Darwin tractor.

Not cool or funny, these are children's play grounds

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

mkissin

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#2623187 17-Dec-2020 11:58

Lets do a little reductio ad absurdum on this.

Probably nobody would think that leaving loaded guns in a playground would be a good idea. Even if they were chained in place to keep them from being stolen. There has to be a line somewhere. Yes, it's highly likely that we did, as a society, accept that kids got more injuries in the past. That doesn't mean it was right.

The removal of dangerous playground equipment frees up space and maintenance for newer, better equipment. It doesn't actually affect the ability of kids to have fun in any real way. It does however, mean that a parent doesn't have to hover over their kids ready to pounce into action at a moments notice. The kids can play in a slightly less supervised fashion. Surely that is actually a good thing.

And yes, I have a toddler.

neb

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#2623235 17-Dec-2020 12:16

gzt: I will quote the article:

Which part? It's so confusing and contradictory that it could be saying anything:

Last month, Masterton councillors rejected a recommendation from staff to remove the playground equipment, which is more than 60 years old.

[...]

The decision [to remove? not to remove?] was made in response to outrage from the community [invalid link], with more than 350 people commenting on a popular social media site within four hours.

[...]

There had been a lot of interest in doing the work to bring the equipment up to scratch and it was being taken away so the work could be done.

"This article has been written by 1,000 chimpanzees. Any resemblance to a coherent story is purely coincidental".

mkissin

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#2623239 17-Dec-2020 12:30

The article is absolutely poorly written. It does, however, give the distinct impression that it has been temporarily removed to try and bring the equipment up to scratch.

In the linked article about the previous outrage that spurred the potential removal is this gem:

"Cr Nixon, who has a background in playground design and injury prevention, said most injuries in playgrounds were from equipment that meets existing standards."

That's incredibly disingenuous. Of course they would be, as one would assume that most playground equipment meets the standards, and this says nothing about the severity of those injuries.

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CokemonZ

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#2623248 17-Dec-2020 12:43

I am in support of this type of equipment being removed and refurbished.

It will have been there for ages, will need rust taken care of and repainting.

No different from any other piece of playground equipment.

If they are in very poor condition the should be removed - just like any other piece of equipment.

I mean - everything has a lifespan.........

MileHighKiwi

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#2623387 17-Dec-2020 17:20

We go to this park several times a year and its brilliant for kids. The old tractors are heaps of junk and my kids don't have any interest in them as 4 & 6 year olds. All you can really do is sit on the drivers seat, they're not 'fun'. They prefer the huge maze playground and various swings and climbing frames, and the train, ducks etc. Its a wonderful park for a picnic.

As long as they're replaced with something and not just a hole in the ground its fined with me. The settlers museum is across the road if you want to see old farming equipment.

MadEngineer

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#2623397 17-Dec-2020 18:13

MikeB4:
MadEngineer: Every playground should have a rust bucket. Call it the Darwin tractor.

Not cool or funny, these are children's play grounds

Don’t be so sensible.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

gbwelly

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#2623413 17-Dec-2020 19:07

MadEngineer:
MikeB4:

Not cool or funny, these are children's play grounds

Don’t be so sensible.

Kids should be allowed to make stupid mistakes and not pay for it with their life. I know you are joking but it's just in bad taste.

cyril7

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#2623428 17-Dec-2020 20:12

Hi, on the way home this afternoon Wallace had a look at this and had the mayor call in, it seems the tractors have been removed for refurbishment, the council have listened to the people and now understand they want the items in the park. However they are not in a good way after 60yrs outside.

They are now looking for interested parties who are keen on a project to clean down, smooth off, make safe and re paint these gems so they can be returned to the park.

Sounds like a perfect "Mens Shed" project to me.

Cyril

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alasta

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#2623446 17-Dec-2020 21:06

Does anyone remember the tunnel maze that used to be where the skate park is now? I used to love it when I was a kid during the 80s, but I think they were also removed for safety reasons sometime during the 90s.

Geektastic

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#2623495 17-Dec-2020 21:24

It’s nonsense that 350 people commenting on social media can make a council do anything.

If 400 people on the same site comment to demand the immediate return, will they do that instead?

CokemonZ

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#2623726 18-Dec-2020 10:23

alasta:

Does anyone remember the tunnel maze that used to be where the skate park is now? I used to love it when I was a kid during the 80s, but I think they were also removed for safety reasons sometime during the 90s.

I remember that - Huge concrete mound with concrete pipes in it?

Didn't know it was gone, am an aucklander now.

Bit sad, but oh well.

alasta

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#2623775 18-Dec-2020 11:36

CokemonZ:

alasta:

Does anyone remember the tunnel maze that used to be where the skate park is now? I used to love it when I was a kid during the 80s, but I think they were also removed for safety reasons sometime during the 90s.

I remember that - Huge concrete mound with concrete pipes in it?

Didn't know it was gone, am an aucklander now.

Bit sad, but oh well.

That's the one! It's been gone for many years now.

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