The Tories attack Health and Safety Again

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neville said:
Fair Enough after what you have just said I apologise

However its just how your post came across I have seen and dealt with so many scenarios where people do stupid things break health and safety rules and then are the first to put a claim in
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All the safety equipment is there, so if I don't use it and end up on my arse I would accept the fact that I was an eejit. However, if I used the safety equipment and they were faulty , that's a different matter
 
best little spaniard said:
Some aspects of health and safety=good

Other aspects=bloody stupid.
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Agreed. I wouldn't knock the principals of health & safety, but idiots who take thing too far (usually not the H&S rep/manager) deserve all the abuse they get.

I worked in a building that required me to wear a hard hat & hi vis to protect me from falling objects and fork lift drivers. Sounds fine and reasonable. In the area I worked the only thing above me was the roof, and for a fork lift to have got anywhere near me it would have had to be driven up two flights of stairs! No objection to wearing the hat & hi vis to and from work area but an overzealous idiot in charge couldn't see there was no risk where I worked. I expect most problems like this are not down to H&S but to weak management afraid to apply common sense for fear of litigation.

Rant over ............ and breathe.
 
When I worked for TNT a few years ago I worked out of News International in Knowsley. The loading hall was indoors and we had to drive our trucks in there to be loaded or unloaded. One day I jumped out the cab to open the curtains when some guy came running towards me shouting something about a hi viz. I looked down and realized I didnt have it on. He gets up to me and screams " wheres your hi viz " ? I looked at him and screamed back " hangin up with yours". He didnt have his on neither and he was the rep. He walked away all sheepish and had to leave the loading hall. What a whopper. Mine was in the cab so I climbed up and grabbed it. Had to smile about that one.
 
Hmmm. Seen both sides of this debate.

I worked at Shell in Aberdeen a few years ago at the their offices. The culture of H&S is so core to that company that everyone (and I mean everyone) keeps an eye out for everyone else. Because the company drills for oil in the N Sea, =a truly high rsik environment, they have to take H & S seriously. So everybody is pretty full on about it. If you walk up a flight of stairs in an office building without using the bannister rail, somebody will stop you and politely request that you use it. Gently and quietly, no fuss. Somehow, the culture has become one of caring for the safety of others rather than over-zealous application of rules. With that, I have no problem. Well done, Shell.

On the other hand, a friend of my sons (13 yrs old) collapsed at school last week and had a fit. Blue lights, sirens, the full nine yards. Turns out he was quite dehydrated, which might have contributed to the incident. Nothing to drink from lunch until about 8.00 pm.

When the headmaster was asked if water fountains could be fitted at various points around the school (funded by the PTA, not the school or Local Authority), the request was turned down because "a child might slip and bang his/her head on the fountain..." Bonkers...

So I agree that we need to be protected in law - that can work to everybody's advantage. But the no-risk culture that is spawned by the legislation can drive people to have a common sense by-pass....
 

There are some aspects of Health and Safety that are obviously necessary but I believe this is not an attempt to undermine the sensible parts. The article clearly attacks the "compensation culture" of people who sue councils for thousands after tripping over a paving stone.

When I was in high school I was turning some metal on a lathe and I wasn't wearing my goggles. I got a fleck of metal in my eye and washed it out, my fault completely. But I was technically entitled to compensation because the teacher should have made sure I was wearing my goggles, rather than the common sense thing of assuming a 16 year old lad was sensible enough to not turn metal without em (guess not eh!).

This country could fast turn in to America, where we call our solicitor before we call a doctor. I for one welcome any attempt to stop that happening.
 
Mvflusk said:
There are some aspects of Health and Safety that are obviously necessary but I believe this is not an attempt to undermine the sensible parts. The article clearly attacks the "compensation culture" of people who sue councils for thousands after tripping over a paving stone.

When I was in high school I was turning some metal on a lathe and I wasn't wearing my goggles. I got a fleck of metal in my eye and washed it out, my fault completely. But I was technically entitled to compensation because the teacher should have made sure I was wearing my goggles, rather than the common sense thing of assuming a 16 year old lad was sensible enough to not turn metal without em (guess not eh!).

This country could fast turn in to America, where we call our solicitor before we call a doctor. I for one welcome any attempt to stop that happening.
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Well yes

You may have had a different view if you had lost you eye mate
 
Its all a laugh and a joke untill somebody loses an eye.

Happened to a lad in our School that, somebody threw 10p and it hit him in the eye, sad tale.
 

In our office the ridiculous health and safety rules dictate that we're supposed to request an engineer to open the windows for us.

They are floor to ceiling and my office is on the second floor but I like nothing more than to open them in the summer, sit back and YYYYYyyyyyyeyeaararrrggggghhh...................................... ...... ................
 
Blue_in_london said:
In our office the ridiculous health and safety rules dictate that we're supposed to request an engineer to open the windows for us.

They are floor to ceiling and my office is on the second floor but I like nothing more than to open them in the summer, sit back and YYYYYyyyyyyeyeaararrrggggghhh...................................... ...... ................
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I have to get climbing experts to ensure my shoe laces are correctly knotted.
 
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