It got me thinking. How is it that health and safety can differ so much from one place to the next?
We load at one place and they do not give a toss. As long as you’ve got a high viz on they don’t give a flying F what you do. Then you go to somewhere like travis Perkins and your not even allowed on your traiker. The same health and safety laws apply to both companies so why does one get so ■■■■ about it and the other doesn’t care?
Why does one place deem it safe for you to sit in your cab while your on a bay getting tipped, then the next place, under the same H&S laws deem it too dangerous for you to wait in your cab?
At one place I don’t even bother putting a high viz on and I’m up and down on the trailer climing over pallets to strap it, then I go to pallet line an again, under the same health ands after Laws they won’t let me on the trailer at all and make me wear a hard hat when all I’m allowed to do on site is unclip the curtains and pull them back?
If it’s the law, or H&S regs or whatever you want I call them or whatever the company wants to tell you they call it. Then why do some companies choose to go all out with it, and others totally don’t care whatsoever?
Are the one’s that have been hit with a claim for something before. It only takes a solicitor, being hauled up in court and fined large amounts of cash to start initialising every H&S rule in the book.
The ones that couldn’t give a monkeys, haven’t been taken to court.
I used to wander around Port Talbot steelworks in just shorts and T shirt, clamber all over the load whilst chaining it down and puff away on my Embassy Regal like everyone else did. No chance of that now.
The way I see it is, it’s all down to common sense. But that’s been legislated out. If they really get up yer snotter about things remind them that their safety record is… whatever…135/200/15/76 days since the last time lost accident, whilst yours is quite probably zero days. You’re also responsible for your own safety so why is some twonk telling you what to do.
^ Plus it just justifies the “Union Health and Safety Rep”'s job. You know the guy, the one you see walking around the yard in a massive hi vis jacket, safety goggles, hard hat and ear defenders in a normal trailer park
I dropped a few pallets at Veolia in Marchwood and had to sit through a 7-8 minute safety video first!
Then I had to do a quick questionnaire about the video and sign it…
Complete load of bollox and wanted to just pull out of the place, but what can you do when you limp?
It’s usually the corporates who worry more about H&S compared to the little companies. They’ve got a lot more people who could make a claim (or in theory might), and thus they have a lot more people working in the H&S dept trying to justify their jobs.
Went to a building site recently and the guys up the scaffolding weren’t wearing hard hats, gloves, hi-vis and a couple just had battered up trainers on! This is with large concrete beams weighing several tonnes swinging around and being placed into position by same lads. Suspect HSE might have had something to say about it.
Compare that to the place where we load the beams, you can get booted off for not wearing hi-vis everything (trousers, gloves, vest) just to go sign in. However that’s a corporate and the other site was a little building company which illustrates the difference.
You could start going through all of it and ask why. There’s somethings I understand and begrudgingly agree with. Such as taking the keys off you. I agree it would be an easy mistake to make to drive away and someone has just fallen off your trailer. I agree with some hi viz, ie a basic vest even if I do think a whole high viz outfit is over the top.
But, how is it not safe to wait in your cab (keys handed in) while on a bay? What accident can happen there where you or them can get injured?
Hard hat for pulling curtains back? Not on a building site or anything. Just a regular place doing a standard pallet side tip. Just…why?
It’s always comical how a practice carried out at one site to keep you safe, is liable to get you banned from another for reckless endangerment. Or like the place I loaded today, small trading estate with 6 units, 5 acknowledged it was a Joe public free for all, so no ppe required, and one slap bang in the middle made everybody wear hi viz and boots
Rowley010:
Hard hat for pulling curtains back? Not on a building site or anything. Just a regular place doing a standard pallet side tip. Just…why?
My favourite for this was cemex. I used to leave it on the catwalk, mainly as you’re standing on the pavement to pull one curtain (which is a ppe free route) and the vehicle is in a “safe zone”. I used to complain about a bad neck and back, due to bending almost 90 degrees backwards to see the top of the trailer.
I used to play them at their own game with h&s. I tipped goods in once, and they wouldn’t let me drive straight forward into the shed, even though it was my turn by the time I was tipped. So I drove around to the back of the queue with the curtains flapping like an eagle. One across the car park route and the other hitting the silo wall. A bloke stopped me and asked what I thought I was doing, when I said I was driving around to the sheeting area as it’s the only place I can touch the curtains, he said he can’t say anything then, and I just proved it’s a stupid rule.
Evil8Beezle:
I dropped a few pallets at Veolia in Marchwood and had to sit through a 7-8 minute safety video first!
Then I had to do a quick questionnaire about the video and sign it…
Complete load of bollox and wanted to just pull out of the place, but what can you do when you limp?
So they’ve got the computer’s steam drive working again?
Rowley010:
If it’s the law, or H&S regs or whatever you want I call them or whatever the company wants to tell you they call it. Then why do some companies choose to go all out with it, and others totally don’t care whatsoever?
Because some companies suffer from petulance and power gone mad and a deep misunderstanding of what is required of them, and others are just incorrigible lawbreakers.
Health and safety done right is something you shouldn’t really notice much and is accepted or even embraced by the majority of the workforce, because dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’.
Agree with most of the above, its only really the bigger places where they are hot on it, presumably because they have a department/some staff dedicated to h&s down to small details on that site. some of smaller places will just do enough to cover themselves and that’s it.
All about common sense as above, most guys will go through there working life pretty much accident-free.
Same firm with different rules at each site is a PITA when you can do some thing in some but not in others, like walking through the warehouse to get to the bog in 1 and having to walk all the way round the outside the building at another.
The petrol depot I worked at had a long walkway painted across the open concrete yard to where the lorries were parked up. If you stepped outside this walkway or you never had your helmet or goggles on and hi viz fastened up you had a warning yelled over the tannoy if you were noticed from the office.
Turned up for work one day and new concrete had been laid right across this walkway with plastic fencing around it. A couple of us said that we are unable to work today as we can not get to the lorries.
The obvious reply was to walk around the barriers to which we replied are you asking us to break your own H & S regulations. We milked the situation for all we were worth and insisted that we were taken over to our lorries in the depot pick up truck. This was over ten years ago.
Numbum:
The petrol depot I worked at had a long walkway painted across the open concrete yard to where the lorries were parked up. If you stepped outside this walkway or you never had your helmet or goggles on and hi viz fastened up you had a warning yelled over the tannoy if you were noticed from the office.
Turned up for work one day and new concrete had been laid right across this walkway with plastic fencing around it. A couple of us said that we are unable to work today as we can not get to the lorries.
The obvious reply was to walk around the barriers to which we replied are you asking us to break your own H & S regulations. We milked the situation for all we were worth and insisted that we were taken over to our lorries in the depot pick up truck. This was over ten years ago.
I’ve had many a meeting with customers who have banned a driver off their site for ■■■■■■■ outside the designated area or some such trivia. I tend to explain that all the sites we deliver to have different safety requirements and that it’s difficult for the driver to remember exactly where he can ■■■■ safely on various different sites. Normally after a ‘period of suspension’ they are allowed back on site.
Thinking about H&S on different sites reminds me that one of our customers have updated their requirements and now all our artic drivers have to wear a hi-viz saying “Driver” on the back (I wanted one with “Superman” but that was a special order for XXXL), cannot wear shorts or short sleeve tops, cannot get on the trailer beds and must wear a new protective helmet with a visor whilst on site (hehe). Fortuantly, I work on rigids delivering pallets so these rules do not apply and these days of 25 degrees+ & no air-con in the cab I ain’t giving up my shorts any time soon…
p.s. Delivered to one grain processing site where they asked if I had seen the video? I said no but if they had “Dances with Wolves” or “Airplane” I was willing to give it a shot Result? Got onto site with no problem as a “one-off” lol
Had a Tesco once where I had to cut the bolt seal on me box, no big deal but the lead up was interesting apparantly no one was trained in the use of the bolt croppers and the S & M rep was on hand to surpervise.
Anyway approaching the back of the box rusty bolt croppers in hand I advised him not to stand to close as the bolt could fly anywhere advice he appeared to ignore, so eyes shut and tugging away with all my might the bolt snapped and hit him in the leg. The irony was quite amusing at the time.
Because H&S is per individual for every place. What suits your home for example won’t suit a person with very young active children or a person with certain disabilitys
Was on one of the super conscious H&S sites this morning every piece of PPE had to be worn, all certificates checked etc. Bloke then moans like hell because he had 5 pieces of paper to sign, didn’t look happy when I said it had to be done.
Most stupid rule for me is Poundland at bilston. Open right container door, walk along drivers side, around front, down passenger side, open left door, then return round to drivers side to lower trailer suspension. All so you don’t walk past an open door. Right joke
