Would you wish to be flown by a pilot who has already clocked up his permitted hours for the week - I suspect not.

BBC: NHS: Should government targets be scrapped?

The directive limits the number of hours they can operate before shutting down, and many coal plants are choosing to burn through their remaining permitted hours by April when the UK government introduces a carbon floor price.

CNN: Shale gas boom sparks EU coal revival

Choudhury, who publishes the independent newspaper The Weekly Blitz, was summoned to court on May 25 and made to stand on a dais in a room without air conditioning for several hours, and not permitted to sit.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

Unlike teen retail and service workers, agricultural laborers 16 and older are permitted to operate hazardous machinery and to work even during school hours.

CNN: Obama, strengthen rules on child farm labor

In addition, clubs are permitted to train their young players for a maximum of five hours a week nowhere near the 10, 000 hours which sports scientists calculate it takes to train a world-class athlete, from the time they start playing.

WSJ: Scoring Skills are Heading South

Research from the society also suggested there are outlets around the UK coastline which are discharging sewage more than the permitted 10 times a year, including one in Kent which let out waste for more than 1, 000 hours during the bathing season in 2010.

BBC: Charity warning over raw sewage discharge levels