ezydriver:
I hope Ed Friend doesn’t use electricity in his home. An anagram of his name is “Fried end”.
What a sweet irony that would be.
Perhaps the ‘Health & Safety Agency’ should be closed down because it’s too [zb] dangerous 
and replaced by the ‘Common Sense Agency’ .
Tiger.
gogzy:
soon we wont even be allowed to get in the truck without a ladder and a safety harness.
Reebok at Morecambe will not allow you into/ out of the trailer unless you use the stepladders.
Stan
Fastrantiger:
Perhaps the ‘Health & Safety Agency’ should be closed down because it’s too [zb] dangerousTiger.
Fantastic idea! I would love to volunteer to run this organisation as long as I could slap anyone I found without common sense.
lmao im watching the fun police on 4od, lol they really need to get a grip on some of the things in this program. and £400 quid a day to tell somebody how to lift something correctly? just shows how {zb}ed this country is
crap pay for driving a 44 ton artic but £400 a day to tell somebody how to lift a box
im in the wrong job i think lol
bobthedog:
Victorian conditions?OK, so maybe there is a little logic there, but I have heard that we no longer send children up chimneys, and the workhouses closed a while back.
Seriously, it ALL comes down to commonsense. If the floor is icy, try not to walk on it, or be careful when you have to. If you spill oil, clean it up and be careful, If you need to move something heavy then lift it and be careful.
Notice a common thread to this?
It comes down to the individual being careful. Some goon sat in an office on the 10th floor may think to himself “Cleaning these windows would be really dangerous so we had best put legislation in place to sort that.”
The funny thing is that the people who clean the windows know it is dangerous already. They don’t need to be told it by some fat little toad.
The world has gone mad!
I totally agree with some of the stupid things that are done in the name of Health and Safety. I think most are done by people who have Health and Safety as part of their job title. They either really don’t understand thier job or are the type of people who need power over others to satisfy thier sad little lives.
But the fact we have some Health and Safety in place is the reason that we don’t still work in Victorian conditions. The Victorian worker might of had plenty of commonsense, but that didn’t stop it being very dangerous, due to unscruperlerous employers who would cut costs by not having guards against machines or proper safety clothing.
What I’m trying to say is that don’t knock Health and Safety as an idea, the problem seems to be those who get the job of Health and Safety officer.
gezt:
PLEASE PLEASE WHEN WILL IT ALL GET SENSIBLE AGAIN
strewth you can’t ■■■■ now unless you have a permit
I think you may have misunderstood the wording on the permit, it states ‘■■■■■■■ without a permit is OK, however if you wish to light it, then a permit is required but only after extensive training on how to use the lighter and on the proviso the relevant exams have been passed’ 
at one of the companies i worked for the H&S officer told us lots of does and don’ts i asked a question why have silly H&S rules he said there are no silly rules just silly people the don’t seam to care about them selfs.
if you are told of a H&S rule to where you work and you don’t care about that if you have a accident on company property you may not get all your claim paid as you were told of the said danger
commonsense is your choice but if you don’t use it that’s your own fault
del
I think that the title goes to their heads, there are so many stupid rules that get in the way of proper safe working practises.
We should not need a sign to tell you that fork trucks are working in this area, vehicles may be reversing, trip hazard, wet floor, hot water, noise pollution, acids can burn. etc
Neither should we need to be told a single way to fasten 11 coils of steel to a trailer. Each trailer is different.
6 weeks ago. I was refused because the wheeled forklift loading ramp had had the safety hooks removed and fitted with D shackles. Because my trailer didnt have lashing rings. the trailer had to be taken away and transhipped using a standard loading ramp with hooks.
Coffee,
your spot on about the doors on the tunnel, next time your on take a look at the test dates on the fire extinguishers. I have seen some recently with 1999 as the last test date written on the bottle. 
The car train is just as bad for out of date equipment, Eurotunnel say its because they use the serial number now. However a fireman on the tunnel told me that by law the bottles themselves need to have a written test date on them signed by the person who inspected it.
Hot drinks are the least of their worries!!
N2N Transport:
Coffee,your spot on about the doors on the tunnel, next time your on take a look at the test dates on the fire extinguishers. I have seen some recently with 1999 as the last test date written on the bottle.
The car train is just as bad for out of date equipment, Eurotunnel say its because they use the serial number now. However a fireman on the tunnel told me that by law the bottles themselves need to have a written test date on them signed by the person who inspected it.
Hot drinks are the least of their worries!!
The test date has actually to be the test expiry date, not the date it was tested.
I reckon those coffee machines will be replacing the Chef de Treins ■■■■■ anyway, another cost saved. You will pay your hard earned to Welcome Break for a croissant and get a tepid coffee from the machine
Hang on, you think that H&S have dragged us out of the dark ages. Maybe they did originally make a difference but you will never convince me that they are much more than a hindrance now.
If they remove all thought and responsibility from us then we no longer think for ourselves and that is dangerous. It’s the self devouring snake because people will automatically assume that everything has been mapped out by some fat little bod and is safe.
If you don’t know that ice is a hazard then it is not something you can be told, you have to learn it for yourself, otherwise you can never learn the degrees of safety or of danger. The same with hot coffee. If you burn your mouth then it is too hot. How many of us have never scalded ourselves with tea or coffee?
Those same women that can no longer offer fried eggs in a service station will still be able to go home and drop the deep fat fryer on themselves because H&S aren’t there and couldn’t care less because nodody is likely to get sued.
There is a line, and we have gone way past it now. It has gone from being a body with the workers interests in mind to an anti prosecution group.
If you try to wrap people up in cotton wool then they will not only look like sheep but will start to act like them. How many times have you heard someone say that something is unsafe when you have been doing it perfectly well for years?
It is only unsafe when it goes wrong, but we are people, not computers. You can’t reprogram us and there is no norton to protect us. That’s why H&S are spam to most normal operating systems.
Last night I was outside in the snow putting up Christmas lights. I had the cables dragging across the garden and I know I could have got a belt, but there is no real way of doing them without trailing cables. Later, I have to go on the roof and put the sleigh and reindeer up there, and it is -21 with windchill of -34 at the moment.
Now that IS safe.
BTD gets off his soapbox and takes a bow
bobthedog:
Hang on, you think that H&S have dragged us out of the dark ages. Maybe they did originally make a difference but you will never convince me that they are much more than a hindrance now.BTD gets off his soapbox and takes a bow
Thanks, now my turn to get on that soapbox
Yes I do think that Health and Safety has dragged us out of the dark ages and I don’t think the problem is with Health and Safety as such, but the sector that feeds on it and therefore has to come up with stupid rules to justify thier existance and to avoid people who know that drinks are hot, but also think they can sue if they aren’t warned. The truth is that most of these cases would get thrown out of court, but companies are more willing to settle because it save them the cost of hiring lawers to get it thrown out of court.
And we need a HSE, people have common sense, but they also get complaicent and employers get side tracked by just trying keep the company going.
But in the process they forget simple things like not putting stuff in the way of Fire Doors, not changing the cable on a power tool because the insulation has been damaged.
Quite often when they analyise a major disaster it isn’t one big thing that went wrong, but a series of small errors and oversights and if only one of these things were picked up by then a disaster and loss of life could have been avoided.
Thanks for letting use your soap box Now must go and get some chips. 
But…
If the insulation is damaged on a powertool at work then you can always draw it to the attention of the boss and then it is up to him to get it fixed. As far as HSE are concerned, the safety factor is their alone to decide and they have run amok. You know, I trust, what is safe and what is not. If the boss says that the copper core showing is safe to use then he is wrong, obviously, and should get it repaired. Failing that, don’t use it. If the cord was damaged on your power tool at home then you would fix it, wouldn’t you? You would also be able to judge that a scuff on the insulation is nothing to sweat over. HSE would say it is damaged and that would be that.
I am not so sure of the need for HSE to police everything in the way they do. As I said, there is a line. Once you get into the realms we have reached then it has gone the same way as political correctness and is nothing more than a joke.
And I agree that people get complacent, but that is part of human nature. I am as relaxed on the lakes as I am on the highway as a rule because I have a fair idea what I am doing. Same goes using the chainsaw or brushcutter. Same in the kitchen.
I reckon any H&S person would have a fit if they ever spent a day in the real world, and that is, as you well know, where we live.
got my tin 'at on this time 
Thursday, I was told I couldn’t bring my pump truck with a pallet full of paper into the reception area of Barratt Homes offices in Watford. When I asked why they replied “health and safety”. I retored with “What, incase I run somebody over and they die?” and they just replied with “health and safety” again. Thus, I had to carry the whole lot in - obviously health and safety doesn’t apply to the strain on my back and knees etc.
In this case, the hidden motive was that they didn’t like the look of a greasy old pump truck in their lovely carpeted hallway. I think for most so called “health and safety” mad decisions, there’s probably a hidden motive behind them and H&S is merely being used as an excuse, a scapegoat or a way to spite somebody!
manowar:
Thursday, I was told I couldn’t bring my pump truck with a pallet full of paper into the reception area of Barratt Homes offices in Watford. When I asked why they replied “health and safety”. I retored with “What, incase I run somebody over and they die?” and they just replied with “health and safety” again. Thus, I had to carry the whole lot in - obviously health and safety doesn’t apply to the strain on my back and knees etc.In this case, the hidden motive was that they didn’t like the look of a greasy old pump truck in their lovely carpeted hallway. I think for most so called “health and safety” mad decisions, there’s probably a hidden motive behind them and H&S is merely being used as an excuse, a scapegoat or a way to spite somebody!
I’d of left at the door and said I can’t handball because of H& S Manual handling regs (use mechanical means, get assistance etc etc), touche.
Too many peeps use the regs as a bloody scapegoat as Manowar suggests, but it does work both ways, resulting in stalemate .
I’m currently using the regs to ensure I’m not loaded arse about ■■■ seeing as no-one else seems interested, they all woke up though when I put a ‘Hazard report form’ in
I considered leaving it but my boss insisted that I can’t. Why the hell are they using palletways to deliver to offices I’ll never know! I’m on trial as I’ve only just started this firm so unfortunately I have to do everything with a smile for a little while yet 
bobthedog:
But…If the insulation is damaged on a powertool at work then you can always draw it to the attention of the boss and then it is up to him to get it fixed. As far as HSE are concerned, the safety factor is their alone to decide and they have run amok. You know, I trust, what is safe and what is not. If the boss says that the copper core showing is safe to use then he is wrong, obviously, and should get it repaired. Failing that, don’t use it. If the cord was damaged on your power tool at home then you would fix it, wouldn’t you? You would also be able to judge that a scuff on the insulation is nothing to sweat over. HSE would say it is damaged and that would be that.
I am not so sure of the need for HSE to police everything in the way they do. As I said, there is a line. Once you get into the realms we have reached then it has gone the same way as political correctness and is nothing more than a joke.
And I agree that people get complacent, but that is part of human nature. I am as relaxed on the lakes as I am on the highway as a rule because I have a fair idea what I am doing. Same goes using the chainsaw or brushcutter. Same in the kitchen.
I reckon any H&S person would have a fit if they ever spent a day in the real world, and that is, as you well know, where we live.
got my tin 'at on this time
no need for a tin hat.
I do understand where you are coming from, but if you had no health and safety legislation and just left it to bosses and your common sense then there would be far higher rates of death and injury.
Back to the power tool. (not sure if this was such a good example ) With no Health and Safety legislation, You go to the boss and he says “it still works so use it or get another job.”. So what do you do, especially if jobs are in short supply?
I think manoways post sums up the problem, somebody doesn’t like you doing something so they go “can’t do that! Health and Safety” They haven’t got a good reason, but feel by saying health and safety it covers everything.
I heard an interview with somebody from the HSE he said it wasn’t there to stop people doing things and he realised that everything involved risk, but his job was to find the best way to minimise the risk and to make people aware of the risks, but as I’ve said already there is an army of a H&S people who don’t understand this, but still need to justify thier wages.
Gonna keep the hat on for now. Got my wolly 'at on underneath so I am warm enough.
I don’t exactly disagree with you, and never really have, but it really has gone too far.
The power tool was an excellent example. So you have picked up the grinder, (having already put on the goggles, gloves, protective leggings, safety boots and hi viz vest and put up the cordon and warning signs) and are about to cut the rusted bolt off the trailer so you can put in a new one. You notice some damage to the disc so you change it, then you notice the power cord is damaged.
So now you have to strip all the gear off and sound the all clear siren before going to the boss, because the boss won’t allow you into the office in anything less than a crime scene tyvex suit (elf an safety dont-you-know!) and he tells you “tough”
Don’t know about you but I would probably render said tool completely beyond repair and then throw the HSE at the boss if he fired me.
In situations like that I agree wholeheartedly.
But…
Not being allowed to fill thermos flasks or cook fried eggs…?
As I say, there is a line and that line is commonsense. A little darwinian perhaps, but man has survived for many thousands of years on the same principles.
Coffeeholic:
The vending machines which have been installed on the channel tunnel trains, to be used at weekends when they don’t have the trolley dollies in action, dispense only lukewarm drinks. The Chef du Train told us the other Saturday it is because the H&S nutters won’t allow them to use hot water.Even after the recent fire we can still take our chances in carriages which do not have all 4 doors working, so limiting escape options in another fire incident, but we can’t enjoy a hot drink while doing so. I’m not seeing the logic here.
Hang on, may be they know there could be panic if exits are limited so don’t want people getting scalded in a crush. I mean being scalded must be worse than being trapped and choking to death on smoke or roasted alive by a 1000 degree inferno.
ii hate that stuff comes out like tepid treacle nearly as bad as the breakfast through the week although if a few of us are on there i can usually get one of them to buy the tea and danishes only fair i usually end up getting the first bottle of wine in boulogne !