Imperfection Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 H&S can be a good thing and i think one of my friends would have liked it a decade or so ago. He started work at an engineering company on a monday at 8.00am and was duly showed how to operate his machine.He asked why there wasnt a safety guard and was told he wouldnt need one.At 8.30am he was rushed to hospital after having 3 fingers cut off. I know some of you out there probably think he was just being clumsy and yes he might have been,but the accident wouldnt have happened if there had been a safety guard in place.The HSE came down on the company like a ton of bricks and were prosecuted.He did successfully sue them for almost £100,000 which is a nice bonus,but nothing can give him them fingers back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegleg31 Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 H&S can be a good thing and i think one of my friends would have liked it a decade or so ago. He started work at an engineering company on a monday at 8.00am and was duly showed how to operate his machine.He asked why there wasnt a safety guard and was told he wouldnt need one.At 8.30am he was rushed to hospital after having 3 fingers cut off. I know some of you out there probably think he was just being clumsy and yes he might have been,but the accident wouldnt have happened if there had been a safety guard in place.The HSE came down on the company like a ton of bricks and were prosecuted.He did successfully sue them for almost £100,000 which is a nice bonus,but nothing can give him them fingers back. that's where health and safety has it's place,not bullie's,which most contractor's H&S seem's to be,or under qaulified jumped up foreman trying to point score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight32 Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 health and safety is great when it's used with a little common sense.the problem is most site agent's/manager's nowaday's have come straight out of college without any proper experience and lack alot of common sense. can you tell me how it's safe to wear a pair of gloves while using moving machinary? the site i'm on at the minute uses a yellow and red card system.2 yellows and your off site for 6 month's,1 red and your off for 6 month's(if it's serious your banned from all the contractors site's).their messing around with people's lively hood's,when i say this i mean that if your walking to the canteen from site if you have'nt got your glove's on that's a yellow card as soon as something start's to cost the main contractor money or they start to fall behind their schedule thne they start to turn a blind eye,anyone who has worked on a big site know's i'm telling the truth You have hit the proverbial nail on the head-It goes hand in hand with 'when it suits' and all that. I see it all the time, and it is the biggest lie in UK industry. Soon as a job lags or big money at stake all that can slow it down further goes out the window. I have had guys booted off sites for minor infractions of the rules, and yes if they had been employed direct they would be out of a job, all I do is send them somewhere else. Good blokes are hard to come by and hell if I am going to send a guy down the road just because some anal safety officer spotted him take his hard hat off for a nano second just so he could scratch his head. Like I have said before, dont see too many construction site safety officers worry about the masses of foreign labour on their plot who can't speak a word of English. Just one big game as always with the UK. I only have two years to go and I am out of it so all I can say is god help the UK construction industry. What I want to know is how this country intends A major utilities rebuilding programme with all this H &S pomp, I have a distinct feeling it will all go out the window when it comes to the crunch............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentbarrel Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 If anyone is organising any helath and safety lectures then i couldnt reccomend Ken Woodward enough. He is an inspiration!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegleg31 Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 The site i'm working on has foul water from the canteen waste pipe spilling onto the carpark.on 2 occassion's i've mentioned it to management only to be ignored(they think health and safety is one way).the first yelllow card i get i'll be ringing EA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonySmith Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 I have noticed a lot of Health and Safety is seen to be done, but never done to be seen.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnut Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 health and safety is great when it's used with a little common sense.the problem is most site agent's/manager's nowaday's have come straight out of college without any proper experience and lack alot of common sense. can you tell me how it's safe to wear a pair of gloves while using moving machinary? the site i'm on at the minute uses a yellow and red card system.2 yellows and your off site for 6 month's,1 red and your off for 6 month's(if it's serious your banned from all the contractors site's).their messing around with people's lively hood's,when i say this i mean that if your walking to the canteen from site if you have'nt got your glove's on that's a yellow card as soon as something start's to cost the main contractor money or they start to fall behind their schedule thne they start to turn a blind eye,anyone who has worked on a big site know's i'm telling the truth There are some bits of machinery i would definately not advise people to wear certain types of gloves with, especially bench saws, pedestal grinders etc, the last thing you want is your hand becoming entangled, or drawn in because your gloved hand comes into contact with it. Yet some safety advisers/officers insist that people wear these items of PPE, when in fact it may be a contributing factor if an accident occurs. And i totally agree with the comment about lack of experience, common sense, and turning a blind eye when they are falling behind, same as most dangerous jobs are done at night / weekend when there are no safety officers about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegleg31 Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 wingnut,you sound like a H&S bloke i'd like to meet on site it's a shame the rest need a good kicking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Bear Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 One major building cotractor, having just B*****ed us for delayed completion of the commissioning of an office block walked out of the meeting on to site and threw my BMS man off site, as he had removed i glove to work the touch pad on his lap top, to set up the system. Needless to say they were the ones that were late and needed a method to slow us down so they could shift the blame for late completion. On this occasion a call at director level p*****d him off but he continued to try to use H&S as a wepon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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