The Department of Labour struggles in the wind

The Department of Labour has distinguished itself in what I believe is a pretty average effort.

The Department of Labour are the people responsible for Occupational Safety and Health. Now that's a pretty important business and to be perfectly honest I normally expect any decisions they make to err on the side of caution and promote personal safety first and ask questions later.
I mean... Better to say "Sorry we were a bit heavy handed there with the regulations" than "Crikey, we thought the odds of that happening we pretty slim".

So it's a bit of a surprise to come across this letter from a Mr Mike Munnelly (Regional Manager (Central) of Workplace Services). In it he is responding to a letter of complaint where a frost fan has been operating during windy conditions.
Wind places stresses on frost fans that they are not designed for and as a result they can be prone to failure (you know, blades separating and flying in all directions sort of thing).
Now Mike Munnelly states that there is no authoritative source that makes a recommendation on a safe speed, so he will have to sit on his hands for a bit longer (read, reviewing and updating documents if necessary).

Well, he might be right... but there is this reference from the University of California which has done a review on frost fan safety and they state "Never operate a wind machine when winds are at 4mph or greater". Wow. A University. Aren't those folks pretty smart? Mabye not. They are American after all, its not like they put men on the moon.

Well perhaps the winegrowers know better... Err.. Actually the draft "Wind machine code of practice" that was put out by the NZ Winegrowers early in 2008 recommended "Avoid operating a wind machine in the following conditions... when winds are 8kph or greater". OK... What would those Winegrowers know about mechanical stresses? They're probably on the second bottle right?

Now if the manufactures had something to say, perhaps Mike Munnelly could be moved? Welll.... Actually the good folks at FrostBoss build an anemometer into some models of their frost fan so that they can be shut down when the wind gets over 10kph You can check here if you want (careful, 2.5Mb download!). Surely they're overreacting?

What if a safety organisation had something to say? Ok, you know where this is going... At this link from THE SAME DEPARTMENT that Mike Munnelly works for we find them saying "Never operate a wind machine when winds are at 7 km/h or greater".

So... This is why I'm confused.
A University says it's unsafe, Winegrowers say it's unsafe, Manufacturers say it's unsafe and the Department of Labour say it's unsafe.

Mike Munnelly's not convinced though.
Good job. Safety first right?

Addendum:
While Googling to find out who Mike Munnelly is, I cam across him as the spokesperson for the Department of Labour, apologising for "the failure of the original investigation to reach what now appears a reasonable conclusion" in the case of the researcher that was infected with meningococcal disease while working at an Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) laboratory. The article is here at Scoop. In the review of the original investigation, it turns out that the Department of Labour concluded that an absence of any reasonable alternative indicated that Dr Adu-Bobie did contract meningococcal disease at the ERR Lab.
So I suppose a conclusion can be made without evidence as well.
But not for frost fans. No... wait.... We have evidence there... Hang on.... I'm getting confused.

But wait there's more

In a prosecution by the Department of Labour of an egg farm and a feed supply company over a worker who was seriously injured after falling from a feed silo, Mike Munnelly, spokesperson for the Department said;

"Accidents on farms can cost the farm enterprise dearly in the loss of production and the need to find temporary or replacement staff. Farm managers should be aware that good health and safety is not just good for their staff, but good for their business. Farms ‘win’ by acting in a socially responsible way because it is also the economically sensible thing for them to do."

I hope your all listening to Mr Munnelly. Farms ‘win’ by acting in a socially responsible way!