Dipper_Dave:
I understand that health and safety is designed to protect everyone especially the lowest lifeform who would struggle to empty water from a wellington boot even if the instructions where written on the sole but I feel that its getting to the point of being ridiculous.
The problem is of course that it’s specifically designed to be thus. In other words, idiot-proof. We, as relatively intelligent workers, chafe at things like having to wear a hard hat on a green field site because we know ■■■■ well that the only hazard coming down from above will be bird ■■■; management logic has it that if everybody wears said PPE at all times there can be no risk of anything happening where the worker is unprotected; the so-called “belt and braces” approach.
However; as I pointed out to our manager, the problem with that, taken literally, is that if your braces snap your trousers will not fall down because they’re held up by the belt; but it don’t stop you tripping over the braces!
I note that recent studies have shown that the UK’s productivity is about the lowest in the Western world; one has to ask how much of that is down to this country’s overly rigid risk avoidance culture which often seems to hinder employees working effectively. I do not, of course, condone dangerous practices in the workplace but I agree with you; in some cases it’s taken to ridiculous extremes.
I cant help but feel the bulk of the H & S extreme is brought on by todays blame culture and companies are trying to cover their arse at all times against law suits and getting a bad rep.
For example,if someone walks into a low beam,splits their head open and decides to sue, the get out clause would be “well you should have had your hard hat on”. Common sense would say “well you should have been watching where you were bloody well going” but todays blame culture says its never the idiots fault,its the companies fault for not protecting the idiot. By forcing everyone to wear a HH then they are protecting themselves
damoq:
Some places do have some weird rules. Keyline Builders Merchants, part of the Travis Perkins group, require you to wear a hard hat while in their yard delivering. Nothing unusual about that I hear you say. But their own yard staff don’t need to wear them!!! Not sure what makes drivers so special. Obviously they take our welfare more seriously than that of their own staff.
Also done a few deliveries to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome when it was being built. The contractor I delivered to had no forklift trucks so everything was a tail lift delivery. But site rules dictated that no driver should be up on the load bed of their vehicle. I did try asking the pallets nicely if they could possibly make their way onto the tail lift for me one time, but strangely it didn’t work. So it was one of those ones where you had to quickly jump onto the back of your truck while nobody was looking to get the pallets off.[emoji3]
Totally agree with you on Keyline/TP etc. we take cement there and they jump on your back about hi-vis/hard hats etc while there customers jump around with ■■■■ all PPE on
Radar19:
I’ve done plenty of paper drops and not once have I been made to wear a hairnet.
Not had to wear hairnets but when picking up some paper from the mill at Ellesmere Port I had to wear safety glasses in case I got a 2.5 tonne reel in my eye…
Well you must have heard Billy Connolly saying “don’t that toast about, you’ll have someone’s eye out.”
