Surely the British Fire Brigade is also manned by volunteers - or are they conscripts?
As for the training, the personnel from that paricular incident had also, obviously, only recieved 'limited training' - it says so, they were only trained to 'level one' - ie. kiddies inflatable paddle pool depth!
I tend to err on the side of "What the f"*) is all this H & S ********" about? When did it become "law" rather than jus legislation? I t was originally intended as a setof guidelines, to remind people that they had a moral obligation to not endanger other people by their actions (or inactions).
It has now become corrupted, with all the "experts" who, as a previous post mentions, seem to just delight in making life more difficult for individuals and businesses.
As a truck driver, I see examples of H & S almost daily on motorways - two cars have a very slight bump, and get onto the hard shoulder, traffic slows but continues to move, then the police turn up, and the whole motorway grinds to a halt! Whilst I agree that they have a right to work in as safe a manner as possible, they just take the p*ss!