We have had a few H+S stiffs riding with us drivers for the last couple of days.
I work out of a builder’s merchants, so there is a case for a bit of PPE etc, but one of the stiffs puts on his hard hat to climb out of the cab, then takes it off again when he is on the deck, AND PUTS IT BACK IN THE CAB!! Later, he takes it from the footwell, puts it on again to climb back in!
anyone else have examples of this type of thing? Frickin nuts!
i had a driving assessor wanting me to check my reverse lights by starting the engine, putting it in reverse then getting out and walking behind the trailer to check the lights are working. i dont think i will try that anytime soon 
Deliver containers to a job that lift them off the truck using a standard crane and a bloke with a rope… 30t containers…
THEN, they insist I wear a hard hat to get notes signed, when box is back on wagon… I was in the fricking truck when they were swinging 30t a foot or so from my cab, but I’ve got to wear a hard hat when it’s finally twist-locked down and safe?
I nearly chucked a hammer at a “supervisor” the other week. My curtain wouldn’t open becuase the rollers and the roller skirting was completely ■■■■■■. So I climbed up on to the top deck of the trailer 16ft high and started hammering away at this ■■■■■■ curtain so I could at least pull it open, I was up there for about 20 minutes hammering away, sweating, getting very ■■■■■■ off when some jobsworth on a forklift comes up and starts beeping at me with his stupid little horn and telling me I shouldn’t be up there etc etc at which point I had retracted the hammer to behind my head but thought better of it.
Sometimes you’ve just got to crack on and get the job done or do the best you can.
I got the curtain open in the end and “dekers” the trl people came and done it whilst I was waiting to load.
I do bricks and blocks on the agency, and when I’m delivering to one particular very large national builders merchant, their rules insist that I wear a hard hat when I’m 12 foot up in the air on a top seat crane with 93 million miles of sky above me, but their customers can walk underneath me swinging a 1 tonne pack with only shorts and trainers on. 
Ken.
Because one of their drivers pulled off a bay with dock leveller still down and staff in the trailer after they had gone back in having given him the keys and told him to go, a certain RDC insists on salvo locks on suppliers’ trailers and their own.
Makes perfect sense, you might think…
The resulting H&S investigation concluded that as the trailer was a fridge it was fridges that were the risk.
So the chill bays have the locks, even though the driver has handed in his keys and is in the chill chamber tipping his own trailer.
The ambient ones don’t, clearly because a van or curtain sider would never do such a thing
Even better, if you take ambient goods in a fridge, even the dangerous fridge doesn’t need a lock.
Regards,
Nick
spanker:
We have had a few H+S stiffs riding with us drivers for the last couple of days.I work out of a builder’s merchants, so there is a case for a bit of PPE etc, but one of the stiffs puts on his hard hat to climb out of the cab, then takes it off again when he is on the deck, AND PUTS IT BACK IN THE CAB!! Later, he takes it from the footwell, puts it on again to climb back in!
anyone else have examples of this type of thing? Frickin nuts!
I used to work at a builders merchant but i left because the health and safety was just getting to dangerous 
I used to grab bulk bags of sand with the brick grab to unload them but then they insisted i use the loops on the tops of the bag which means positioning the crane over the bag then getting on the lorry bed and hooking the loops on the grab.
Then they decided we couldn’t get on to the bed of the lorry
So now we had to put slings throough the loops on the bags before the forklift puts them on, when on the lorry the slings hang down the side. So when you come to unload you put the grab down by the side of the lorry and you can hook the slings onto the grab off the floor.
Now thats fine but when you come to lift the bag off it’s dangling about 4 feet underneeth the grab
Them wrecking balls ain’t half hard to control 
t
not so much H & S lunacy, but in a recent drivers meeteing i was told that many construction sites i dustrial sites have banned rigger boots , as being unsafe footwear
spanker:
‘…one of the stiffs puts on his hard hat to climb out of the cab, then takes it off again when he is on the deck, AND PUTS IT BACK IN THE CAB Later, he takes it from the footwell, puts it on again to climb back in…!’
Unless I’'ve missed summat, surely slapping his hat on leaves his hands free to properly effect his getting in/out of the wagon, ie, at least three points of contact, blah, drone?
Meanwhile:
FarnboroughBoy11:
‘…My curtain wouldn’t open because the rollers and the roller skirting was completely [zb]. …Sometimes you’ve just got to crack on and get the job done or do the best you can…’
And sometimes doing ‘…the best you can …’ includes defecting or at least reporting knackered kit: Is it possible and, contrary to the law, that this hadn’t been done by the previous user?
Putting kids up chimneys and breathing asbestos aren’t good things to do in 2011 but its not as if we can’t talk with these very often, “Billy-No-Mates” H&S people in order to fully understand what’s what to help us draw a pension well into old age.
Happy Keith:
spanker:
‘…one of the stiffs puts on his hard hat to climb out of the cab, then takes it off again when he is on the deck, AND PUTS IT BACK IN THE CAB Later, he takes it from the footwell, puts it on again to climb back in…!’Unless I’'ve missed summat, surely slapping his hat on leaves his hands free to properly effect his getting in/out of the wagon, ie, at least three points of contact, blah, drone?
Meanwhile:
FarnboroughBoy11:
‘…My curtain wouldn’t open because the rollers and the roller skirting was completely [zb]. …Sometimes you’ve just got to crack on and get the job done or do the best you can…’And sometimes doing ‘…the best you can …’ includes defecting or at least reporting knackered kit: Is it possible and, contrary to the law, that this hadn’t been done by the previous user?
Putting kids up chimneys and breathing asbestos aren’t good things to do in 2011 but its not as if we can’t talk with these very often, “Billy-No-Mates” H&S people in order to fully understand what’s what to help us draw a pension well into old age.
In a perfect world Keith this would of happened yes. I phoned the other driver who was using that trailer last and he said he managed to pull the curtain fine which i beleive. Im no sherlock but i think it was probably done by a forklift within the time the trailer was being tipped and loaded and me starting work the next evening and has i managed to close curtain fine before i left i assumed everything to be ok. I should of really taken a picture of it but it could only of been done by a forklift getting a pallet on or off the top deck as this railing was bent/squashed you name it…completly ■■■■■■.
What you need to remember is H&S execs need to keep coming up with more regs to justify their salary or fee.
It’s a double edged sword. On one side it does protect the employee from unscrupulous employers, but on the other hand it comes up with some utter madness … like making school kids wear goggles to play conkers, or that case in Nottingham where the council hired a cherry picker to remove all the conkers from a tree incase someone threw a stick at it and injured someone. Or a case in some small town I forget where they removed all hanging garden baskets in case one fell down and hurt someone. I’ve not checked online, but I don’t remember ever hearing a story about someone getting injured by a falling hanging garden. Or a school kid being blinded whilst playing conkers either.
I blame the lawyers and the compensation culture. Again it’s a double edged sword, on one side it protects people against negligence, on the other etc (ad infinitum)
ever tried loading at lafarge? H&S, where do I begin? You must strap the load, you can’t use ratchets if you’ve got internals, but internals from the centre rail are too short, and the ones from the side rail stay clear by a good inch and a half, but thats ok to leave with. Safer to strap fresh air than not use straps at all. You have to push a trolley with a blue light on when undoing curtains, not allowed on the trailer, bed has to be clear, got told once that a stack of palletts could kill someone, to which i replied, only if i smack you over the head with one. I put my steels on when I got out of the lorry and got a telling off for not wearing them when I got out. Said I wear trainers to which fork lift drivers says I need to wear steels to drive a lorry. His face was a picture when I told him I passed my test in a pair of reebok classics 
Happy Keith:
spanker:
‘…one of the stiffs puts on his hard hat to climb out of the cab, then takes it off again when he is on the deck, AND PUTS IT BACK IN THE CAB Later, he takes it from the footwell, puts it on again to climb back in…!’Unless I’'ve missed summat, surely slapping his hat on leaves his hands free to properly effect his getting in/out of the wagon, ie, at least three points of contact, blah, drone?
Meanwhile:
FarnboroughBoy11:
‘…My curtain wouldn’t open because the rollers and the roller skirting was completely [zb]. …Sometimes you’ve just got to crack on and get the job done or do the best you can…’And sometimes doing ‘…the best you can …’ includes defecting or at least reporting knackered kit: Is it possible and, contrary to the law, that this hadn’t been done by the previous user?
Putting kids up chimneys and breathing asbestos aren’t good things to do in 2011 but its not as if we can’t talk with these very often, “Billy-No-Mates” H&S people in order to fully understand what’s what to help us draw a pension well into old age.
no, he put the helmet on in case he fell from the truck while exiting the cab. i keep mine in the passenger footwell, but apparently, i could have hit my head with the passenger door as i went for the hat…
Squiddy:
What you need to remember is H&S execs need to keep coming up with more regs to justify their salary or fee.… like making school kids wear goggles to play conkers,
that one is an urban myth,
H & S have never put a law into place that says school children must wear goggles or any protective clothing to play conkers .
this actually comes from a comment made by a head teacher , who commented that it’s a surprise in this day & age, H&S havent made kids wear goggles to play conkers when commenting on a local radio feature , the rest as they say is chinese whisper history
At these various sites where H&S has become completely over the top, I’d be interested to see what would happen when a driver turns up with a much needed urgent load on a tilt needing a full strip for a crane off tip.
Driveroneuk:
At these various sites where H&S has become completely over the top, I’d be interested to see what would happen when a driver turns up with a much needed urgent load on a tilt needing a full strip for a crane off tip.
They put scaffolding around you, or use the crane to lift the sheet back, like they used to in the Alcan in Falkirk
i would like to know why the ‘victim’ appears to have no responsibility for their own safety. i delivered to…somewhere (no desire to cause them any hassles) with a forklift driver who admitted to not being a safe driver but he was a fast tipper so i was advised to stay out of the way as he didnt want to hit me in the forklift. no hiviz requirements and i was more than happy to keep an eye on him while i kept out of the way as my own safety is ultimately my responsibility and that is true for everyone. regulations will never prevent 100% of accidents, particularly those that arise from stupidity or recklessness
scanny77:
‘… i delivered … with a forklift driver who admitted to not being a safe driver but he was a fast tipper so i was advised to stay out of the way … i kept out of the way as my own safety is ultimately my responsibility…’
The Devil does his evil work within distorted detail.
Thus, it really should be appreciated that your safety is his responsibility too, which is why it’s illegal to ‘not bother’ although it’s true that you (me or he) could pay the ‘…ultimate…’ price with our health and/or lives 
Quinny:
I do bricks and blocks on the agency, and when I’m delivering to one particular very large national builders merchant, their rules insist that I wear a hard hat when I’m 12 foot up in the air on a top seat crane with 93 million miles of sky above me, but their customers can walk underneath me swinging a 1 tonne pack with only shorts and trainers on.Ken.
Therin lies the rub!!! They cant impose their H&S nonsense on the general public.
Happy Keith:
scanny77:
‘… i delivered … with a forklift driver who admitted to not being a safe driver but he was a fast tipper so i was advised to stay out of the way … i kept out of the way as my own safety is ultimately my responsibility…’The Devil does his evil work within distorted detail.
Thus, it really should be appreciated that your safety is his responsibility too, which is why it’s illegal to ‘not bother’ although it’s true that you (me or he) could pay the ‘…ultimate…’ price with our health and/or lives
surely warning me that he is a nutter on a forklift qualifies as taking my safety into account? he could have started running around like a madman with no warning whatsoever. my point is that individuals have to take responsibility for their own actions and no amount of red tape can or should remove accountability