Elf n Safety police

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Agree totally with Neil. If properly conducted risk assessment stops you doing something, you shouldn't be doing it in the first place, unless you want someone to get hurt of course. If it stops you doing something which isn't unsafe, it hasn't been properly conducted, do it again.

[Roger Williams 2Participant @rogerwilliams2]

Hello all, + 1 on wearing lightweight gloves while working at the lathe. Keep your hands out of the way !!.

[chris stephensParticipant @chrisstephens63393]

Hi Guys,

Yet again I'm glad I'm getting old and don't have many years left, reading the above and seeing the way H&S regulated paranoia and society in general are going I'm glad I wont be around to see how it all works out, not for the better I suspect, correction, know.

chriStephens

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

The government here has set up a committee to sort out some of the silly regulations that have crept in. All houses being built at the moment require scaffold around them, adding (I think) $NZ13000 to the build price, the minister stated in Parliament about a month ago that for single story houses on flat land do not actually need a scaffold as the is nothing in the law to say they do. Single story is the majority of houses built in NZ, and the area of Canterbury I live in is the fastest growing part of NZ, and has been for the last 8 years, so that's a lot of houses around here.  This is the start of a friends new house, this type of foundation was designed for new builds after the 2010/11 earth quakes.  Lots more steel in the concrete, the white stuff is poly foam. More regs.

Ian S C

Edited By Ian S C on 27/10/2015 09:44:21

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Risk assessment, hmmmm, let's all sit round and consider the doom and gloom scenario for every situation. I remember a lecture given by a Ford representative explaining the risk assessment of not correctly welding two components of a steering component together. Easy, it will break and could cause a fatality, answer weld it together properly. No, seven pages of bumph.

Classic from the late sixties, Lynn Fawles-Wood, "Look what happens to a carrot when you put it into a collapsible garden chair scissor mechanism!" About same time molded on thirteen amp plugs appeared.

Wonder how much time Sir John applies to RA his "Today teatime" get the show back on the road jobs???

Sorry, no contest bucket loads of C/S accumulated from years past.

Regards Ian.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

This guy is a one man lesson of what not to do.

Nick

[Martin Botting 2Participant @martinbotting2]

Some common sense advice… I have to ask the folk that say its all useless this, if you saw a co-worker doing something a bit iffy would you say something or let them find out the hard way?

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

If My Willy would reach as far as My hand…………………..

[Johnboy25Participant @johnboy25]

Re. Hilarious electricity fails! Either this guy is a comedian or someone who doesn't learn by his mistakes! As much as I found this amusing – even if he's doing these things for effect he'll soon be leaving the gene pool and receiving a Darwing award.

Edited By Johnboy25 on 28/10/2015 18:38:56

[Bodgit Fixit and RunParticipant @bodgitfixitandrun]

I really enjoy DIY and have at times done some "Interesting jobs" including, several years ago, rebuilding my chimney whilst using a bit of rope to hang onto "for safety".

A couple of years ago I had just removed a fireplace and was cleaning up afterwards when for reasons I won't bore you with I needed to check on the whereabouts of my dog, thinking she had got out of the front door. On my way to check I tripped over the hoover cable and broke my foot. You never know when an accident might happen. H&S is about common sense. Even then it doesn't always prevent accidents.

Information is useful. Unecessary legislation is not. Most of us carry out a risk assessment every time we cross the road. We just wouldn't recognise looking both ways as just that.

If I remember rightly even RoSPA and the health and safety Exec have said that much interpretation of H&S advice/legislation is rubbish and most requirements are fufilled by the use of common sense.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Common sense is the problem because it can't be defined.

Some years ago I use to make ink mixers, just like a food mixer on steroids. The idea was they mixed printing ink in the tub it was despatched in to save cleaning out mixing tubs. This stuff is horrible the lightest smear of this stuff on your hands and Gert has purple knickers for a month.

So we had to get these things past CE and H&S and RFI and British Nuclear fuels etc, etc

To this end we had the help of the Derbyshire Small Industries Board who were very, very helpful, probably as we were paying them ?

Guy comes round and we talk the whole operation thru, when it comes to guarding the paddle in the ink tub which revolves at from 200 to 800 rpm he asked why stops you putting your hand it.

I replied common sense as no way do you want to come into contact with this stuff. His reply was, as you cannot define common sense and it means different things to different people you cannot use the phrase in the handbook.

At this point we broke off and went into the house for a brew. That morning I had been down to Argos and purchased a new kettle as I'd worn the old one out, so brand new kettle on the work surface complete with shiny new CE certificate. So filled the kettle with cold water and called across, "Look at this " and put my hand inside the kettle. "Look I've 'burnt myself" then proceeded to pour the cold water over my hand "Look burnt myself again" and nothing in the kettles handbook about sticking my hand inside a boiling kettle or pouring boiling water over my hand. Just generic warning to be careful.

Point taken says he signing off a future wave of knicker staining machines

[Gordon AParticipant @gordona]

Why is it that when I purchased a new saw from a well known DIY outlet it was printed on the packaging "Caution this tool is sharp" when I bought it to replace my blunt one?

Why does my favourite can of sardines say "Contains fish". How long before a risk assessment is made that requires all canal towpaths have a fence at the waters edge in case somebody falls in?

I have nothing against sensible safety rules. Having transgressed them several times during my working life and suffered the painful consequences, I have the utmost respect for safe working practices and implemented them diligently when I was working, but now all I see is a*se covering and I'm glad that I have retired and can make risk assessments in my own head without pages of paperwork and box ticking.

As in my original post on this subject, I think that H&S rules or the interpretation thereof are just trying to keep ahead of the trip or falls "industry".

Gordon.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Seen at the $2 shop, a Frisby with a label, Small Parts May Cause Choking, Not Suitable for under 36 months.

Also seen with the same note, a pack of half a dozen Tennis Balls.

Ian S C

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

You can do a risk assessment but still have an accident, but, having done the risk assessment you are OK H&S-wise.

The get-out is that the risk assessment obviously did not consider a situation that that resulted in the accident. The fact that you had done the risk assessment puts you in the clear. So now you do an updated risk assessment and off you go again.

Years ago I attended a seminar on the incoming (at that time) of the Construction and Design Management (CDM) Regs. The bloke doing the seminar broke off half-way through and said that he had been in H&S for 25 years and it seemed to him the most important thing was to get the paperwork right to cover yourself, if that resulted in a reduction in accidents then that was a bonus. I believe he was right in his assessment!

The problem is common sense is not taught in schools anymore, so we are not taught to think for ourselves anymore, we have a instead replaced it with a culture that nanny (state) knows best and will do our thinking for us. Us older folk still think for ourselves as we were trained to do, but the younger the folk you find………..

Chris

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

JS

Interesting re. the printer's ink – not only does it stain Gert's knickers but it also features prominently on the air freight Danderous Cargo listing. Can't now remember whether that was for toxicity or explosive properties but it's not nice stuff!! Apparently it's also mega expensive … so why do they waste it on the daily garbage product? Apologies for going OT

rgds

Bill

[Author]

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