Cheapo fork lift

[Agrismith]

My boss considered the H&S side of it with regards to working at height and decided that rather than wearing hard hats we would just take sensible precautions to avoid accidents, after all the hard hat worn by the guy at the top could fall off and injure the guy at the bottom , so we just avoid being under anyone when they were working up a mast whenever possible, if you have to below them then the person at the top doesn't use any tools so they can't accidentally drop anything on you, and wherever possible the tools are on lanyards.

Basic common sense, after all whether I go up the mast or my mate does we are both responsible for the others safety, so the guy at the top tries not to drop anything on the guy at the bottom and the guy at the bottom is responsible for winching the other guy up and lowering him back down again in one piece.

That would be ok but hse have banned the use of man baskets on forlifts and telehandlers in anything but emergencies if the work is none emergency cpuld of been forseen or such like scaffolding or a cherrypicker must be used the only machines exempt are some of the new telehandlers that can control the machine from the basket

 

[slim_boy_fat]

The reversing aids such as cameras and blue lights are tested monthly.

Not being smart, but aren't blue lights reserved for official Emergency Services vehicles?

 

[brightspark]

plant machinery are yellow

 

[8ob]

Not being smart, but aren't blue lights reserved for official Emergency Services vehicles?

Or carrying the lunch bag to the canteen.

Bob

 

[evobilly666]

Not being smart, but aren't blue lights reserved for official Emergency Services vehicles?

Amber light on roof for overall machine visibility. Green light on roof to indicate operator is wearing seatbelt. Blue flashing strobes to warn people vehicle is reversing. Bear in mind these are off highway trucks, the light combination is pretty much an industry standard.

 

[Kayos]

Amber light on roof for overall machine visibility. Green light on roof to indicate operator is wearing seatbelt. Blue flashing strobes to warn people vehicle is reversing. Bear in mind these are off highway trucks, the light combination is pretty much an industry standard.

Seen them on the motorway and wondered what the green light was for

 

[Welderpaul]

Seen them on the motorway and wondered what the green light was for

It just means the drivers seat belt is fastened...across the seat...and he's sitting on the belt!

 

[evobilly666]

It just means the drivers seat belt is fastened...across the seat...and he's sitting on the belt!

I've seen someone sacked for just that. He hopped out of the machine to speak to the gaffer and the light was still flashing

 

[Bill Edwards]

I've seen someone sacked for just that. He hopped out of the machine to speak to the gaffer and the light was still flashing

Ouch - surely it wasn't a first offence but a final straw?
Or has the country really deteriorated to that level?

 

[Robotstar5]

....Green light on roof to indicate operator is wearing seatbelt...

I wondered what the green light was for and kept meaning to ask on here, now I know.

Our FLT's have a blue reversing light that projects a blue arrow onto the floor behind them.

 

[Bill Edwards]

It's a difficult one at times.
I work on a farm where productivity/working your knackers off to get something done in half that time that it's possible to do it in is all the boss really cares about.

We're not expected to wear seatbelts when driving a telehandler (and round the yard where there's no real risk of overturn it's not necessary) but hate to imagine how you'd be expected to work if you had to fasten and unfasten it every time you need to jump off. On some jobs that's something you constantly do.

 

[Revs1972]

We were told that before the ladder could be ascended, we had to drill two dirty great holes in the customer's house for eyelet bolts, to which the ladder would be fixed. Then the same had to be done at the top.

How did he suggest you get up to drill and fix the top bolts ??

 

[brightspark]

How did he suggest you get up to drill and fix the top bolts ??

drill the lower ones 1st. tie ladder climb up and drill and fasten the top

 

[ajlelectronics]

How did he suggest you get up to drill and fix the top bolts ??

That was one of the two quandaries that he had. The other was the ascent up the roof ladder to drill "Mrs Jones'" chimney.

Some of our jobs involve cabling horizontally along a building. According to said elf 'n safe tea bunny, everytime the ladder is moved along, more eyebolts are required. Can you imagine what "Mrs Jones" would have to say about that?

Many years ago, if we needed high access, we could hire a cherry picker which would be dropped off on site. Driver would say " do you need any tuition on the controls?". If no, as would be the case, we would just get on with the job.
Now such things are impossible due to the nanny bureaucracy involved. Yes we need to work safely, but there has to be a realistic balance. I don't believe that the nanny brigade have any idea where that ought to be due to their lack of practical experience.

 

[ukracer]

Seen them on the motorway and wondered what the green light was for

A doctor....

 

[ukracer]

I think some of the nonsense is driven by desk jockeys, who are scared of everything that real workers do. In my case we had an 18 year old who came out to find out something about the industry, in the beginning of the elf 'n safe tea movement. It was clear that he had probably never seen a ladder let alone used one and considered that anyone using one must be suicidal. We were told that before the ladder could be ascended, we had to drill two dirty great holes in the customer's house for eyelet bolts, to which the ladder would be fixed. Then the same had to be done at the top.

When it came to the roof ladder, he had a blue fit about transfer from one to the other. Said laddie then demanded that the chimney be drilled for more eyebolts. On top of that, it was required that a hi-viz and hard hat be worn.

Utter and complete nannying nonsense, especially the hard had business for working up a ladder. I suppose the sky could fall in or something?

So in summary, not only was his demand unreasonable in terms of unecessary damage to the property, but drilling the chimney would be likely to result in serious damage as they are only single skinned. In fact when I was an employer, I sacked an engineer for doing just that.

I think you can tell that I am not a fan of nannies. ;-)

And it's only going to get worse.....read a book believe what you read without real life experience......

Even a decent time served H and S bod will eventually need to make up some work as there is only so much bull you can throw around.

 

[CornishPete]

my experience of the h&s courses I've been on are just basic common sense, and very expensive for what they are. My pasma course was £200, a day off work (£150 lost income). There were 12 of us, we spent a morning (2 hrs max)looking at a slide show and listening to an 18 year old tell us various facts and tales, a subway platter for lunch, then splt into teams of 4 after lunch for the 'practical' which was 2 of us put up, then other 2 take down, then got home for two o clock! Someone made a lot of money that day for not a lot of work and it wasn't me!
I didn't even learn anything I didn't already know, it's the company I subbed to insist on it, along with asbestos awareness and cscs health and safety. I passed all costs on to them who presumably passed them on to the client who happened to be the council. Overall result, no one was any safer and the taxpayer paid more than was necessary!