kemaro:
How many of us , I’m guessing it will probably be pretty much all, work in a heavily regulated industry with all the rules , regulations, health & safety & training of a space mission only for it to be left at the depot gate on departure ,
I deliver heating oil & gas oil to homes , farms & other commercial premises, everything is checked , signed off , checked again & again before leaving the yard or refinery , yet you can go to some places where you could probably take in a bucket & chuck it at the tank & that’s the tanks you can get easy access to , some you need to be an acrobat climbing & jumping over all sorts of obstacles , how do some of these places get away with being so unregulated & dangerous places. I’m aiming this at the farming industry mainly, although some home heating oil tanks are in some ridiculous places.
Anybody else have similar things in their line of work?
Think ‘armour plated umbrella’ because I dare say your boss is.
In many ways, the whole H&S ‘thing’ is about blame. Or more accurately, not being to blame!
It sounds like everything is in place at your depot so the chances are you will have been told about “your safety and the safety of others around you”. If you do something that is unsafe (such as climbing and jumping …) most likely your company/boss will be in the clear because he has told you about operating safely; the fact that you ignored that at a clients premises puts the blame (mostly) on you and off him! If you were to highlight (in writing I’d suggest) the ‘dangers’ of carrying out your job, then to a certain extent you have put the ‘blame’ back to him & he is now the one that is taking the risk if he fails to act on your concerns. He might then issue you with a new set of Safe Systems of Work that will probably make your job more difficult but safer. He has now taken action to reduce the risk and consequently the ‘blame’. If you chose to ignore this new Safe System of Work because it is a PITA, the ‘blame’ (in the event of an accident/incident) has now just moved back in your direction!
At some point, the responsible person (manager/boss/company) has to decide what is ‘reasonably practicable’ because that is what H&S expects. There isn’t a law for every situation, in fact H&S legislation is one of the shortest/simplest pieces of legislation, in-so-much-as it just states that employers and employees are responsible for the safety of themselves, their workforce and those around them, and are to operate as safely as reasonably practicable. What is actually ‘reasonable practicable’ is a matter for HSE and/or a ‘judge & jury’ once the ■■■■ has hit the fan! It’s also why some H&S manager types go ridiculously OTT because there is no actual rules per job/site/role/industry, the responsible person who makes the call just has to be able to justify their decisions. Rather than find themselves in that position, they just go OTT with their safe systems of work, site rules, etc, etc.
If you think the above sounds like a load of tosh, you want to try looking into Corporate Manslaughter!! 
. Bless him, for he knows not what reality really is.
