strict sites

[telectrix]

was on a site a few tears ago. red hot august. roofers were ordered to put their hard hats on. perhaps a jumbo jet was going to drop frozen turds on them. they all walked off site. main contractor got them back only after binning the h&s hitler.

 

[dingledong]

old school sparks didn't need this sort of shyte. you knew the hazards and dealt with them accordingly, not blindly following the rules laid down by some suit/jobsworth who knew less about electrical installations than my dog.

Tel what does your dog charge for a coupl e of days work as a mate

 

[trev]

Late afternoon we were asked to stack light fittings upstairs in a building we were second fixing so we daisy chained a few lads and were passing them between us. I was on a half landing about a metre above floor level.
H&S ---- ordered me to put a harness on, gave me the choice between getting one on or being kicked off site.
How I laughed a few days later when I saw him wandering about the site with his hard hat on back to front.

 

[Diddy]

Trev - I agree with you but I also disagree lol. For a start H & S has to look after the lowest common denominator (People). There are plenty of unskilled people working on building sites. Some of them are bloody dangerous to be around. Then the flip side is when an accident happens it follows on that the injured is poss going to need treatment/cash they may have a case that they were "forced" to work in less than ideal conditions...some people need saving from themselves.
True story - I was subbying on a site for Romec in dover. Easy job easy cash good hours ect. Anyway about 3 weeks before handover 1 of my fellow sparks falls off a pair of steps...prat was working from top rung. This accident turned into big deal because the bloke landed freakishly on his arm.....which had to be amputated.
When I heard him scream I rushed into the room and straight to his aid....an old hand beside me said ffs Dave where's his hat.....we quickly threw one beside him..job done he got his compo and whatever else he was entitled to. The moral here is if he was found not to have been wearing ppe he would not have got anything and may even have been fined.....Arse covering all round im afraid.

 

[trev]

I guess we'll all have stories about H&S gone mad but some of it is good because it has cut the number of deaths and injuries

 

[telectrix]

if e was standing on the top of steps, he should not have go any compo. hard hat, my arse. any fool knows that balancing on the top step of ladders is stupid. i've walked off 2 sites where i was asked to do this and received pay for the dead time.

 

[Diddy]

if e was standing on the top of steps, he should not have go any compo. hard hat, my arse. any fool knows that balancing on the top step of ladders is stupid. i've walked off 2 sites where i was asked to do this and received pay for the dead time.

He blamed the steps but one of the other lads had noticed what he had been doing.....hard hat ect all true honest. The lads closed together and all backed the bloke up. The HH was put in place before site agent ect turned up at scene....it was one of the 1st things he/they asked. Poor condition steps supplied by the client were to blame in the end.....

 

[Dean Williams]

i worked at a site for a household kitchen appliance manufacturer near me where a worker was crushed by a scissor lift, the guy had a broken arm. the company gave him a load of money and told him to come to work every day but do no work....just so they could keep their 'accident free record' intact!!

 

[Dcf]

Like the electrical police scams ,the h&s scam has been thrust upon us over the years.
its another industry piggybacked on the top of ours that has to somehow justify its existence.
ive never fallen off a pair of steps in 27 years ....I'm not going to start now am I?
the no step rule is a great example.
no steps at all until the doors go on and you can't get a podium through.
can I levitate? Not unless I'm david Blaine.
ill get a pair of steps then.
ok.
every big site I've been on some donut has fallen down the lift shaft from varying heights regardless of the barriers/permits to work put in place.
as tel says old school sparks did not need this ****e in place for you to work safely.
its too risky , beat it gaffer / do it yourself would be the answer.
common sense is where it should be at.

 

[trev]

Don't get me wrong, I've refused to carry out work because proper access equipment hasn't been provided. I've also walked off sites if I've been asked to work in an unsafe manner BUT we all carry out our own risk assessments whether we're aware of it or not. Just the majority of times they don't get recorded.

 

[Adam W]

My last site was one of these 'strict sites'. 3 of us started on the same day, finished the 4 hour induction and went up to the site. It was baking hot and we were just second fixing in a room with a finished ceiling so we took our hard hats off. The H&S guy caught us and told us to go back down for re-induction. One guy walked.
The official stance was non-retractable knives were 'banned'; the electrical contractor's stance was 'don't get caught using one'.

On the plus side these sites usually have better welfare facilities.

 

[telectrix]

unfortunately, common sense has gone out thew window and it's now 1 cap fits all. legislate for the dumbos who, should, by all rights, die in accordance with the darwin theory, and leave the intelligent ones to determine how to work safely without having to allow for mongs.

 

[Adam W]

we all carry out our own risk assessments whether we're aware of it or not. Just the majority of times they don't get recorded.

Like I say - you carry out a quick unwritten risk assessment every time you cross the road.
I think we'll all be in trouble if people lose the ability to do that for them selves.

 

[trev]

Had an hour long site induction from the electrical contractor once. When it was finished we were herded into another room to get the Bomer & Kirkland hour long site induction which was pretty much word for word what the previous guy had told us.
We were moved to another site after a few weeks where we faced the same. I suggested getting the B&K guy in and they could each cover what the other missed thus saving time (and obviously money)
I was viewed as a radical.

 

[telectrix]

Tel what does your dog charge for a coupl e of days work as a mate

she's not ready yet. being trained to run under floors and in confined spaces with a draw cord attached to her collar. when trained up, she's for hire at £100/day + treats.

 

[shanky887614]

Like the electrical police scams ,the h&s scam has been thrust upon us over the years.
its another industry piggybacked on the top of ours that has to somehow justify its existence.
ive never fallen off a pair of steps in 27 years ....I'm not going to start now am I?
the no step rule is a great example.
no steps at all until the doors go on and you can't get a podium through.
can I levitate? Not unless I'm david Blaine.
ill get a pair of steps then.
ok.
every big site I've been on some donut has fallen down the lift shaft from varying heights regardless of the barriers/permits to work put in place.
as tel says old school sparks did not need this ****e in place for you to work safely.
its too risky , beat it gaffer / do it yourself would be the answer.
common sense is where it should be at.

been on a site before, no steps.

the ceilings went up and couldnt get podiums through the doors let alone stand them up.

every doorframe and most walls have marks on them where they have been bashed by podiums.

i have not known anyone to fall off a pair of steps, because you get people to hold them if they need steadying.

i have crawled/walked along cable trays before now and nothing wrong with it, no way to fall because your surrounded by pipes

 

[shanky887614]

Don't get me wrong, I've refused to carry out work because proper access equipment hasn't been provided. I've also walked off sites if I've been asked to work in an unsafe manner BUT we all carry out our own risk assessments whether we're aware of it or not. Just the majority of times they don't get recorded.

im sure we have all told our boss etc "no im not doing that, do it yourself" lol

 

[trev]

Like I say - you carry out a quick unwritten risk assessment every time you cross the road.
I think we'll all be in trouble if people lose the ability to do that for them selves.

It astonishes me that people have to be told that doing something is a bad idea. On the local news the other week there was a thing on about York university students being told that it isn't clever to walk along the river bank while rat arsed on cheap spirits.

 

[telectrix]

can't do it now, old bones and all, but in the past, i have climbed gantrys with a SWA tied round my neck, walked across girders and steel roof trusses, swam across canals, too old now for that. let the young 'uns try it with the h&s suits breathing down their necks.

 

[Adam W]

It astonishes me that people have to be told that doing something is a bad idea. On the local news the other week there was a thing on about York university students being told that it isn't clever to walk along the river bank while rat arsed on cheap spirits.

I don't think people have got 'stupider', but the emphasis has shifted from 'you should have seen it was dangerous and gone a different way' to 'the council should have put up a barrier and a sign', which discourages people from thinking for them selves - why bother taking responsibility for your own actions when 'nanny state' will do it for you?
You see it with kids straight out of school - give them a bit of responsibility and they're completely lost.