Michael Kilpatrick wrote:
On 18/10/2012 22:29, Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:04:52 +0100, Michael Kilpatrick wrote:



The point is that it is absurd to imagine that the arcing suddenly began
today or that it will be significantly worse tomorrow morning. It just
happened that someone noticed it today, not yesterday or last week, or
last month even. The idea that the problem *must* be attended to
*immediately* if someone phones at, say, 3pm is just bonkers. As I said,
trees don't spring up overnight.

Of course. But, if it was reported at 3 p.m., and at 4 p.m. someone was
injured as described, the power company would be liable...


Well, it follows that I wouldn't hold them liable. I take the
consequences of my own philosophies, obviously.

Besides, it's a rather fatuous argument. If it were reported at 3pm but
it took 2hrs for a team to be mobilised then it's still too late for
someone injured at 4pm.

I think you're still missing the point. As long as they started mobilising
once notified, they wouldn't be considered negligent, even if operational
reasons caused some delay.

if they sat on their hands and did nothing until the next day, they could
be held negligent if the fault could be considered life threatening and
someone died before they'd started mobilising.

Tim