Much fretting over the common idea that the official advice is not to clear the snow from the path outside your house or shop – if anyone slips, you could be sued. This of course, is down to elf’n’safety rules in the litigious society we have become.
I can remember this advice first becoming popular in the 1960’s – or possibly even as far back as the 1950s. The theory was that instead of being helpful you might just create a greater hazard as it is impossible to ensure that a cleared surface will be completely dry, will not be covered by a film of water which can freeze into lethal black ice. And yes, you might be liable if anyone slipped.
It may be no coincidence that this change of heart came about just as more homes were getting central heating or at least modern gas or electric fires (encouraged by the Clean Air Act); the ash from the open coal fire used to do at least as good a job as modern salted grit, & so was made good use of. Extraordinary now to remember that this otherwise constituted by far the biggest component of household waste sent to landfill - hence the way that even modern plastic dustbins & wheelie bins come inscribed with the warning NO HOT ASHES.
It was an icy step that caused consternation among the medical fraternity of Manchester in (I think) the 1860s. A woman slipped on an icy step & fractured her wrist. Something went wrong with the setting & she lost the use of her arm completely. So she sued the doctor at The Infirmary & was awarded £50 compensation.
The local branch of the BMA called an emergency meeting to protest at this unprecedented imposition upon one of their profession.
