Are you risk averse ?

[flymo]

I was working with some guys in a BP office the other week. No joke, the host had to walk us around the office pointing out the various risks and how to deal with them. It culminated with a short 'course' on how to properly use the stairs!

There were instruction posters at the top and bottom describing exactly how to use the handrails and staircases safely. I jest not.

For god sake.We are all crawling around on the surface of a dirty great rock,that is flying round space at a zillion mph.We are held there by "MAGIC",and bombarded by millions of rocks everyday.
Tomorrow the sun may explode,gravity may fail and the sky may fall in




But dont worry because some one will put up a sign

Originally Posted by Dangerous Dave

I couldn't work if I stuck to all the H&S laws/guidelines.

I think it is going a bit OTT now, or is Britain really getting stupider?

Yes it's getting dumber by the minute. I suggest watching a film called 'Idiocracy'. It's a gigantic **** take, but much truth said in jest.

As for doing your job, how long before you're not permitted to take firearms into battle because they're dangerous I wonder - only harsh language. But only after 9pm.

Originally Posted by gid

For god sake.We are all crawling around on the surface of a dirty great rock,that is flying round space at a zillion mph.We are held there by "MAGIC",and bombarded by millions of rocks everyday.
Tomorrow the sun may explode,gravity may fail and the sky may fall in




But dont worry because some one will put up a sign

So true!

[northwind]

"See Lisa, because of daddy they now have a warning". Thing is, almost all of these things come about because somebody, somewhere really has maimed themselves while, y'know, balancing 3 footstools on top of each other so they can pull the iron off the high cupboards by its wire, or whatever... So I think we all get what some people deserve.

I do the health and safety assessments for my office Only way I could avoid being banned from using a stapler in case I blinded myself, or something. it's funny just how much of this stuff just comes from individual idiots. For instance, "You can't have lights on that christmas tree, because of health and safety", we were told last year (never "because it's a hazard" or "it might cause a fire", just "because of health and safety" as if that means anything).

Of course it's total nonsense, the company has some restrictions on christmas tree placing because they can obscure CCTV and security lines of sight, and because cables can be a trip hazard etc, but the rules are actually totally common sense and easily followed and dealt with. But still the building's full of idiots trying to ban the things, not because of the actual health and safety rules but just because some people like to ban things. That's what's really at the bottom of it I think, it's a way for people right at the bottom to take a bit of power.

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

Basically Dumb woman gets coffee from McDonalds drive-thru

CeriJC is spot on- she didn't win because she spilled hot coffee on herself, she won because it was served ridiculously and dangerously hot. MacDonalds even proved their own negligence adn perjured themselves in multiple ways during their attempt to defend themselves. She would have suffered a severe injury if she'd drunk it too. Soulkiss actually believes the urban myth it seems, rather than the facts of the case. Check it out: http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

Fizz, I understand. Working in a chem lab there is alot of risk - we do what we can to reduce it, but we have to keep on working regardless. I would be really pi55ed if there where signs apearing telling us such and such solvent is flammable, when we already know.

Its almost as if some people people assume other people don't have common sense (although I know some people appear they dont!). Its patronising.

[Viney]

My fav of a recent 'Audit' was 'You have too much flamable material you need to reduce it' I questioned it, they said, I have too much paper. Its a fecking print room, ffs

[Gazza77]

Originally Posted by northwind

I do the health and safety assessments for my office Only way I could avoid being banned from using a stapler in case I blinded myself, or something. it's funny just how much of this stuff just comes from individual idiots. For instance, "You can't have lights on that christmas tree, because of health and safety", we were told last year (never "because it's a hazard" or "it might cause a fire", just "because of health and safety" as if that means anything).

I do them in our offices too, and they're due now. I just lurve all that paperwork and inspecting, just to make sure no-one falls over their own feet.

Funniest example of intrusive H&S was where I worked as a gardener/labourer. There was a valve to do with the water line which was in a field that needed to be checked/adjusted once a month to keep the fountains etc. working at the correct rate. The field was used to keep sheep in and had only one entrance/exit which was on the opposite side to where we approached from. To access this entrance/exit by road would involve driving about 1.5 miles. It was far quicker to hop over the fence, walk to the valve and lift the heavy metal cover (ironically, put there for safety reasons, to stop kids/sheep falling into the hole and hurting themselves). Check it and put the cover back. We were all strong, healthy blokes who knew how to move/carry things correctly (we did after all work as labourers and picking up/moving things were part of our job). You could just about move the cover on your own, but it was pushing your luck, so we'd always do it in a pair. The whole thing took about 15 minutes, including the walk to and from the shed. There was never any history injury relating to this particular job.

Annual health and safety audit, some woman in a suit who looks like she'd never been near a spade in her life, never mind moved a tonne of soil by hand in a morning, turns up, trys to move the cover single-handedly and decrees that henceforth, we can't move the cover by hand. She insists we buy a ridiculous contraption (at the taxpayer's expense) like an engine chain lift you'd use in a garage on massive engines. There is no vehicle on site that you could safely load this thing into, so driving it to the site is a no-no. It can't be left in the field and has to be stored in the shed. This thing is on castors, but surprise surprise, castors don't work very well on mud/grass. We end up having to literally drag this thing (which incidentally weighs about 2/3rds as much as the cover) the half kilometer over the mud to use it, we trip over the "legs", we fall on the pointy bits, when we get it to the wall, we have to lift it over the wall. When we do finally use it, it sinks into the soft mud and is in danger of falling over. Second time out with it, someone put their back out trying to lift it over the wall. Solution? Chain lift lives in a corner of the tool shed and the official story when H&S man/woman comes is that it's used to lift the cover to the valve. What actually happens in practice is what we'd always done, prior to the meddling ****-wit's visit.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

I dont think its this. I think alot of it is the "if theres blame theres a claim" culture. Also I think as a nation in general we've stopped taking reponsibility for our own actions. So when stuff goes wrong you blame somebody else rather than thining "that was my fault / that was an accident"

Very true, with have Americanised.

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

As for doing your job, how long before you're not permitted to take firearms into battle because they're dangerous I wonder - only harsh language. But only after 9pm.

Would make it easier and more fun too.