The walk among us. Over the top Safety people.

[Chillitt]

Many years ago, I got roped into helping a friend build a big box which was to be filled with heather to take the stink out of a sewage works. the box was made of GRP panels about 5 foot square that bolted together. The box was one panel high and 8 or 10 panels along each side, because we were constructing it was a construction site and had to wear hard hats, which is fair, but we had to wear high vis as we might get run over in the middle of a maze of pipes and little huts we struggled to walk through. As soon as we got a corner built it became a confined space so we had to harness up. I asked i I could take off the high vis as there was no danger of getting run over inside a confined space and was asked to leave...

 

[dobbslc]

It's the box ticking that cause this problem. They don't make site any safer but just make the job harder to do and cause people to cut corners to do it!

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Was it a retail place?

Empty school hall.

 

[mike os]

I'm putting a dealing with idiots hns charge into my t&c I think.... is £200 an hour or part thereof reasonable?

 

[Parm]

Empty school hall.

That explains everything, Probably been on a Friday afternoon “course” so of course knows everything

 

[carbon]

A quick question, I work at a two distribution centres occasionally so have artics moving on site. Sites have a 10mph speed limit and require hazard lights to be operated. There rules so fine don’t have a problem with it but why as makes no sense to me as you don’t have a clue as to what direction a vehicle is intending to move. To get to the location I work at means deviating from the marked traffic lane so I turn my hazards off and indicate I also have strobe lights working. I’ve asked why but don’t seem to know just site rule.

 

[addjunkie]

A quick question, I work at a two distribution centres occasionally so have artics moving on site. Sites have a 10mph speed limit and require hazard lights to be operated. There rules so fine don’t have a problem with it but why as makes no sense to me as you don’t have a clue as to what direction a vehicle is intending to move. To get to the location I work at means deviating from the marked traffic lane so I turn my hazards off and indicate I also have strobe lights working. I’ve asked why but don’t seem to know just site rule.

Many rules on sites are a result of knee jerk elf and safety with out thought.

Something happens, leader ship feel they need to be seen to make a step change. They make a rule, you are then stuck with it as no one wants the hassel of challenging it!

 

[ajlelectronics]

Something happens, leader ship feel they need to be seen to make a step change. They make a rule, you are then stuck with it as no one wants the hassel of challenging it!

That's why I could never be an employee or a serviceman! I wouldn't be able to pass that by on the other side.

 

[Dcal]

I was once told by a Site Dafty officer, I had to wear a safety harness and a lifejacket while repairing/testing an under bridge MEWP over deep water, the cherry picker was located on an embankment footpath. He got told if he wanted the MEWP repaired, "To go away in jerky travel mode, I will not wear a harness and a lifejacket together". He wasn't a happy bunny, but he didn't come back after I reported him to the site operations manager.

This gets my goat and shows how little some (most) safety bods know.

There have been a few fatalities recently where people have been clipped on when working over fast flowing rivers.
They got dragged under and drowned when they fell in because they were teathered, even though they had been wearing lifejackets.
If they had been wearing only a life jacket they would have floated away and could have got picked up downstream.

Every situation need it's own assessment, but we normally only wear life jackets and don't clip on if working over or close to water.
Also we make plant operators wear manual lifejackets because if the plant goes in, you don't want to be trying to get out of a cab with a inflated lifejacket that is pinning you to the roof.

Often more (or the wrong) PPE makes the situation worse, but try telling that to some people.

 

[Robotstar5]

 

[Dieselman 63]

Empty school hall.

I remember at my school we had this huge A frame climbing frame made out of steel section, timber and rope. Teachers said it was dangerous so we never got it out until... the inspection people came and got it out - and gave it a pass for safety

It was certified safe but it was dangerous if you fell Many happy memories playing gladiators on it whilst supposed to be doing gymnastics

This gets my goat and shows how little some (most) safety bods know.

There have been a few fatalities recently where people have been clipped on when working over fast flowing rivers.
They got dragged under and drowned when they fell in because they were teathered, even though they had been wearing lifejackets.
If they had been wearing only a life jacket they would have floated away and could have got picked up downstream.

Every situation need it's own assessment, but we normally only wear life jackets and don't clip on if working over or close to water.
Also we make plant operators wear manual lifejackets because if the plant goes in, you don't want to be trying to get out of a cab with a inflated lifejacket that is pinning you to the roof.

Often more (or the wrong) PPE makes the situation worse, but try telling that to some people.

My dad works in aviation and told me about an Ethiopian air crash where despite being told to only inflate the life jackets after leaving the aircraft, a lot didn’t. The plane struck the ocean and broke up (there’s a video somewhere where a tourist unwittingly captures it), most fatalities were from people who couldn’t climb out of the submerged fuselage.

Also another one he reminds me of whenever we fly is people who slip their shoes off for takeoff. There was an accident where a jet took off and failed to climb, crashed and everyone had to climb out of the wreckage over broken metal, burning av gas - a lot of people suffered bad injuries because they didn’t have their shoes on.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

The new RAMS are on site and approved by the "human".

The changes are.
Call outs can be attended by one engineer. But limited too "No more than 2 minutes ladder work in one go".

Any defects rectification is one engineer and one safety person. Site will provide an escort.

All works over 30 minutes is to be carried out. In out of hours time.

We can see the price going through the roof.

I am waiting to see if our tool list is excepted.
He has banned our detector removal pole, as dangerous. A tool designed to remove detectors.

I am going to............
Plus I will insert into him a ..........

This is a friendly forum. So I will not repeat what a lot of people have said.
One said he is a flat bottom boat on the river Cam.

 

[Parm]

Many rules on sites are a result of knee jerk elf and safety with out thought.

Something happens, leader ship feel they need to be seen to make a step change. They make a rule, you are then stuck with it as no one wants the hassel of challenging it!

If elf and saaafffeeettty is done properly it should involve employees from the start so there shouldn't be any need for challenge after implementation

 

[armalites]

Have you ever thought about the possibilty it's the way you interact with people that causes some of the issues?

I am a field engineer dealing with different people all the time who see their problem as the most important thing (and it is to them) yet I don't seem to get any of the drama you get.

The only person I know who seems to have similar amount of these encounters to you is my best mate and I can say with certainty he is at least 50% of the problem in those situations due to the way he reacts.

If you go to someone else's site you abide by their rules, whether you think those rules are appropriate is irrelevant. I go to places where I'm going to be working in a computer room but have to walk near a production area and have to wear safety boots,helmet,glasses,ear plugs and Hi-Viz. I won't be going near or working on anything that requires that level of PPE but those are the rules and there is no need for me to make a song and dance out of it.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

You are right.

I should post about the good sites.

Like today, free food. Because I went the extra to help her out and saved her some money on a call out.

Or the site, near Swindon, were the manager has banned 5 engineers already this year. But I get on very well with him. Because I listen.

Or the site last week, where I resolved an on going H&S by suggesting a simple, but a new way of carrying out a task.

My sites are different everyday, just the work is the same.

I have 2.7Gb flash drive, full of the different site rules what we have to obey. 90% is common sense and the same across the lot.


But that would be dull.

This range of post are good, they show how mad some parts of the world is and lets others express similar incidents and allows engineers to let of steam.

 

[addjunkie]

If elf and saaafffeeettty is done properly it should involve employees from the start so there shouldn't be any need for challenge after implementation

Spot on, but by companies trying to save time and money many folks miss the point completely and try to do it all in advance.

Risk assesments and method statments are usless unless they truly represent the task, local conditions and circumstances.

I have been on both sides of this, and do truly understand where the frustration comes from, but in reality it should be nothing personel and is just buisness.