[stevebrown]

How many of you know that cement is to be banned for dressing spillages? It's something I only learnt today at Snet. Apparantely someone involved in health and safety has said that dust blowing into a spectator area can cause someone with asthma to have an attack. So the new directive is to use DETERGENT!!! Apparantely it is supposed to break up the oil. Yeah maybe an hour later. It might work on water but on tarmac with thirty odd cars racing through a corner??? DUH!!!! This was used today and it most likely caused two incidents in two different races. Now I'm no scientist but putting detergent on oil on tarmac, doesn't that make it more slippy? Drivers I spoke to certainely thought so and couldn't believe what was used. TWO races later cars were still having trouble finding grip where the detergent was.
It also brings up another issue. What sought of detergent is being used? Will it irritate or burn my skin on contact? How safe will it be? Cement dust has never given me asthma or irritated my skin. Now it is supposed to be applied by a sprayer, something that wasn't available today but any marshal working in the area of the sprayer is going to get covered in detergent. Does that mean safety of marshals is not being considered?
Just who thought this up this directive? Someone who obviously has never been near a race track. This has to be the most STUPID idea I have ever heard in all my years of marshalling. Unless someone can say there is a good reason for using it and it does work.

Steve B