Health and Safety

[Cronkilla]

Started a new job monday and was given a health and safety intro. If i see a fire i press the buzzer and run.....now c'mon if i see a fire im putting it out. Id rather die in an explosion than be caught in the flames and be in pain for a long time.
Dont lift anything above knee height,again very stupid.
If a box is above youre nipples ask for help no matter how heavy it is.
The fire meeting point is situated close to the warehouse doors(of which highly flamable material is held),im sure this is a hazard in itself of meeting close to a potential hazard.

Its alot different from the PRMC brief of " If you see a fire p*ss on it and ask for help", " IF you see a suspicious package give it a good kick" . Now the second may have been a joke but i would have give it a good poking anyway

Any other 'regulations' you have encountered which are very stupid ?

[chunky from york]

ronkilla. In real life I attended the project managers safety course.

It was explained that when we erected the perimeter fence, we had to be careful about the signs we erected on, for example we could not put 'DANGER' as someone could ignore the sign, go on the site and hurt themselves.


By placing such a sign we were admitting liability, by admitting that the site was dangerous we had to put up something along the lines of 'all visitors must report to the main gate'


That certainly kept the thieving Ba****ds out, tee hee

[Sisyphus]

Cronk,

Did you manage to stay awake during the intro? Usual fire drill if you detect the fire is:
a) Raise the alarm;
b) If safe to do so, tackle the fire
etc........................................

Re lifting weights, ask your firm's safety rep/officer to see a copy of the 'Manual Handling Regulations'

They specify what weights can be lifted and at what height (you can lift a heavier weight from waist high than you can, say, from the floor).

Oh, and men are allowed to lift heavier weights than women.

Sorry about that girls!

Actually, if you heard right, your firm is operating to safety standards that are far higher than they need to be. Any vacancies?

[Sisyphus]

Chunky

If you put razor wire, say, on the top of a 10' fence the law requires that you put signs at specified intervals along the peri-fence, stating Danger - Razor Wire in use. Similar for non-drying paint on drain-pipes, etc.

Check out the sign on a electrical sub-station door next time you pass one.

[Archie]

Putting on my H&S hat for a minute, part of my role is to oversee the H&S of our staff, clients and any public silly enough to cross our path.

The bottom line with H&S is not about peoples wellbeing, it is only about not being sued. A good H&S manager creates a system whereby his employers are not liable for anything. This is done by training staff, not so they can avoid problems, but so the company can actually blame them for not following policy and procedures in the event of an accident.

The same applies with warning notices, they aren't concerned if you slip and break your neck on that wet floor, as long as you've been warned, you are considered to be negligent if you choose to ignore the warning.

Basically its all nonsense, couched in a thinly veiled guise of H&S principles.

A couple of years back the average industrial injury claim was around £60,000. The H&S managers job is to avoid such claims against the company, end of story.

[Sisyphus]

Oh, Archie, such cyncism!

Most -sorry,All - good H&S managers ARE concerned about health and safety. It is not sufficient to just post notices to discharge a company's H&S responsibilities.

I, for one, always stated that no one should be injured or killed just for the sake of company profits. And, believe it or not, most Corporate management sang from the same hymn sheet. The problem comes from middle managers working to a deadline.

Sorry, too big a subject to discuss on a thread like this.

[Archie]

Sisyphus, of course my primary concern is the wellbeing of my staff and the public.

My point is that the higher up the corporate tree I go with clients, the more cynically the H&S principles are applied.

I agree totally that it's far to big a subject for this thread, and I for one find doing endless risk assesments incredibly dull.

I sent one internally recently which included a warning that the reader should not play with the staples in the report for fear of cutting themselves.

[always go commando]

On building sites you are only aloud to carry a 10kg bag od cement, which is stupid because they usually come in either 25kg 50kg and 100kg.
apparently your supposed to put it into smaller bags to move it around site. Its stupid and only ever gets done when there is a safety officer on site.
some Health and safety regulations are ridiculous but quite a few are important. like wearing harnesses when working over the 2nd floor etc..

[Cronkilla]

I understand the need for H&S but some things are plain common sence.

[Archie]

But have you noticed that common sense is actually not all that common?

In some places it's downright rare.

[Sisyphus]

Archie,

I guess it depends on which company you work for. Some (a few??) are ahead of the game when it comes to setting safety standards. Sounds like the one Cronk works for is one such.

Mind you, now that some Directors from the rail company and the contractor are being charged with manslaughter after H****(?) any bets there'll be a massive change in attitude??

[THE HAPPY WANDERER]

Hi AG Commando,
With regards to manual handling of materials on a building site,the maximum weight of any block used on site is 20kgs,and this weight limit also applies to all other materials designed to be lifted by one person,should the design of the building require the use of a block weighing more than 20kgs then a seperate manual handling risk assessment must be prepared by the site manager/safety officer,the law states that the assessment must then be forwarded to the local HSE officer for his approval.The easiest way is to contact the architect/designer and ask him/her to design the problem out.

The Happy Wanderer

[always go commando]

is this your general knowledge or is it your job?

[joe]

There is some wooden decking at the back of the building that I work at (smokers generally go out there on a fag break). There is a sign up that says 'WARNING: Wooden floor gets slippery when wet". I keep meaning to place a sign up that says something like "WARNING: The laws of physics apply equally here as they do elsewhere in the universe."

[lew]

You lot are taking the piss out of health and safety, but I kid you not it is V important!!!


I work with children, and have to do a risk assessment form every day, I had to add that there are bee's in the field around the flowers that the girls seem to like picking, just incise they get stung, and one is allergic, to cover MY own ass, I had to include, things like splinters in the frame work of swings, choking on rappers on sweets, the un evenness of the path leading up to the building. I have to check all the food to make sure it's free of nuts, just in case one of them has an undiscovered nut allergy...

Not only do I have to do this I also have to tell them (over and over again) tell the parents, (over and over again) as they’re just as stupid!!! And anyone else that happens to show his/ her face, even the caretaker...

Obviously my primary concern is the welfare of the children, but I do all this as well so I can’t be held as liable,

lew


ohh you even have to ask if kids are allergic to plasters, these days kids seem to be allergic to everything
...