West Ham Online

Inside a building, people wandering around with ‘champagne sparklers’ ie naked flames sticking out of champagne bottles
Some sitting on people’s shoulders set fire to the ceiling
Utter stupidity
The people involved should be identified & presuming they aren’t a charred mess be charged with mass murder

northbankfrank wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 15:10

What personal risks does Health and Safety prevent you from taking that you would otherwise take?

This is very sad. 
But in a nanny world that seems obsessed with health and safety, I would have thought any sort of naked flame in an indoor public setting would have been outlawed years ago. 

wils wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 13:29 I was in that part of the world just before Christmas. I am no fan of our health and safety culture stifling personal risk taking, but at the same time I did notice in several places around Switzerland and southern Germany that they do things that we wouldn't allow here.

So when you see things like this and you realise they are less likely to happen in England, it does make you see the 'elf and safety culture in a different light. A lot of families have lost their kids in this for no reason other than people thinking the rules aren't for them. Mostly teenagers killed.

This used to be an all-too-regular occurrence in Thailand a while back. A case of Jamesons would ensure a night club got it's fire certificate from the authorities and the cycle went on.

It seems to have been brought under control (a bit more) now, but that will only be because such events scare tourists (and their lovely, lovely money) away.

I partly agree with the comments on the over-bearing H&S implementation in the UK/western world, but I feel they're focussing too much on preventing people committing stupid acts, rather than unsafe business practices (where a case of Jamesons would impress absolutely nobody).

I understand people do need to make a living, but they - and they alone - should bear and suffer from any risks doing so may raise.

Fauxstralian wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 13:58 You set fire to the ceiling of a building through sheer stupidity you need to be held accountable 
Anyone over 5 who sits on someone’s shoulders at a concert , a sporting event or in a bar should be arrested along with the cսnt holding them
Any toothless junkie at a ‘rave’ doing the same should be machine gunned 

 

You set fire to the ceiling of a building through sheer stupidity you need to be held accountable 
Anyone over 5 who sits on someone’s shoulders at a concert , a sporting event or in a bar should be arrested along with the cսnt holding them
Any toothless junkie at a ‘rave’ doing the same should be machine gunned 

Fauxstralian wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 12:36 Inside a building, people wandering around with ‘champagne sparklers’ ie naked flames sticking out of champagne bottles
Some sitting on people’s shoulders set fire to the ceiling
Utter stupidity
The people involved should be identified & presuming they aren’t a charred mess be charged with mass murder

I was in that part of the world just before Christmas. I am no fan of our health and safety culture stifling personal risk taking, but at the same time I did notice in several places around Switzerland and southern Germany that they do things that we wouldn't allow here.

So when you see things like this and you realise they are less likely to happen in England, it does make you see the 'elf and safety culture in a different light. A lot of families have lost their kids in this for no reason other than people thinking the rules aren't for them. Mostly teenagers killed.

Irrespective of how the fire started it seems that fire escape precautions were not fit for purpose.

You would think that after the like of the Station nightclub fire back in 2003 people would learn.  That was probably one of the worst documentaries I've ever seen, horrific.  But people still play around with pyrotechnics inside and wonder what happened when things go terribly wrong.  Awful.