I worked for this firm years ago I think !!
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Sharpend
"It Just Is"
I’d be more impressed if you’d have said it was you at the top of the A frame, but I don’t think picture quality was that good back then?
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First picture, I will bet that top step is one of those plastic ones that says "do not step on here"
(why therefore do they even make the plastic step even look like a real step)?
(why therefore do they even make the plastic step even look like a real step)?
phil d
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I remember jacking a job with a firm after they asked me to go and replace about 30, 8 foot twin fittings in a school gym over the holidays. I had a row with the boss over access, I wanted to use a tower scaffold that was on site, he wanted me to use a set of those 3 way extending ladders! It must have been a good 25 feet up and there was only me in the building, he said lads had replaced lamps using the ladders so what was my problem? There's a big difference between 2 of you replacing a couple of tubes, and one of you replacing all the fittings.
Typical of some of the bosses I worked for , they seemed to think they had an expendable workforce .
Those wobbly stepladders that kept on turning up , job after job . No one looked after them and they became more & more dangerous.
The other annoying thing was they'd send a power drill out but there would NEVER be a chuck key because the first guy who had that drill would keep the key . The chuck would be chewed up & battered by the various criminal means applied to tightening it .
All long before Health & Safety began to focus the mind and stories of the court cases began to filter through of course .
These days , if you're employed , you get out of the van , strap on a harness and hook yourself to the van in case you fall over .
Those wobbly stepladders that kept on turning up , job after job . No one looked after them and they became more & more dangerous.
The other annoying thing was they'd send a power drill out but there would NEVER be a chuck key because the first guy who had that drill would keep the key . The chuck would be chewed up & battered by the various criminal means applied to tightening it .
All long before Health & Safety began to focus the mind and stories of the court cases began to filter through of course .
These days , if you're employed , you get out of the van , strap on a harness and hook yourself to the van in case you fall over .
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change plenty lamps off ladders like that, but i be wanting scaffold too for replacing the entire fitting
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The best one I remember but didn't have a camera (pre dates me having a smart phone)
The builders were sheeting the internal wall of a house, living room high vaulted ceiling up to the ridge. They were working from a scaffold tower that was too short, already had the planks right on the top so no hand rail. But that was still too low.
So to get the last piece in, on top of the tower was a 3 way stepladder, one guy standing on each side of it, and one sat astride the top, manhandling the last board into place.
The builders were sheeting the internal wall of a house, living room high vaulted ceiling up to the ridge. They were working from a scaffold tower that was too short, already had the planks right on the top so no hand rail. But that was still too low.
So to get the last piece in, on top of the tower was a 3 way stepladder, one guy standing on each side of it, and one sat astride the top, manhandling the last board into place.
I was asked to replace a 1000W MBFU unit on nights about a week after we had all had been on a “working at heights” course. The only way to do it was from an EOT crane by either building a scaffold on the crane or standing on the hoist drum. I wanted scaffolding and so refused to do the job. Two of the day lads did it by standing on the greasy hoist drum, I went wappy at them!
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Years back we installed a monorail for hanging a bosuns chair type rig off of to clean the inside of a stairwell. Got there expecting a scaffold to fix the brackets supporting the rail. Nada, so we refused. Site agent called us a couple of poofs. He got two scaffold boards and wedged them on the stair landing. Then walked the plank about 5 floors up with OUR bracket and bolted it to the wall!
Going back with the suspension trolley and bosuns chair we found he hadn't wanted to wait. He'd made his own bosuns chair from ply, carpet and blue nylon rope and was happily down the stairwell painting in mid air...
Going back with the suspension trolley and bosuns chair we found he hadn't wanted to wait. He'd made his own bosuns chair from ply, carpet and blue nylon rope and was happily down the stairwell painting in mid air...
Sharpend
"It Just Is"
I love the fact that the front right orange bin says 'lets do this' on the side of it. Positive attitude even with bin choice!!
as for the rest of you, pfft! you've all become sheep to the H&S nerds, if you were in india you'd see that there is nothing unsafe about these working practices you describe, can't be it happens daily over there, don't you think if it were unsafe their H&S people would have something to say???
as for the rest of you, pfft! you've all become sheep to the H&S nerds, if you were in india you'd see that there is nothing unsafe about these working practices you describe, can't be it happens daily over there, don't you think if it were unsafe their H&S people would have something to say???
Life may not be great but I’d like to hang on for a while, preferably not hanging from a crane!
Sharpend
"It Just Is"
Come on Tony, you're old school, I'm sure you've had many an 'unsafe' safe moment?
Doc Hudson
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Well the man in the first photo looks OK to me, as he appears to have some type of Hi-Viz top on. But the next two photos, Not a Hi-Viz anywhere to be seen, So obviously very dangerous!
Doc H.
There’s been plenty, I could write a book about them. Knocked out twice, battered and bruised numerous times. Several gas explosions, the last one set fire to my hair.
Trying to explain how I’d clipped a cable across a beam 300ft in the air or why my AVO was in a 1000ton stone train, I was shinning along a girder again. Both took some imaginative thinking.
Heights never bothered me until I was in my 50’s.
I wish I could find an insurance claim form, I know I’ve got it somewhere. Written across it is “NOT TO BE USED FOR FUTURE REFERENCE”. I’d crashed the same van in to the same concrete post and sliced the near side wing off each time. (The van went for scrap and I got my arse well and truly kicked.)
Our gang had such a bad reputation for destroying vehicles we were only allowed to have 2nd hand wrecks.
I wouldn’t do any of it now, not because of H&S, self preservation.
Sharpend
"It Just Is"
its funny how age makes us either wise or unwise depending at what end of it you are.
I think as you get older , a self preservation gene kicks in .
I worked on overhead cranes for a while , converting them to remote control . If the cab was to remain the first thing was to take out all the manual , tram - like controllers , this meant accessing some big bolts below the cab floor . I was startled to see the fitter tie a rope around himself in the style of a Bosun's Chair and launch himself over the side of the cab and claw his way underneath with a spanner .
He also had a special lead to enable us to use a drill on the crane , it consisted of a rubber socket one end and the other just stripped off ...he clamped the neutral to the handrail or a convenient bolt and just dropped the stripped live end onto the top, live, downshop rail .
I worked on overhead cranes for a while , converting them to remote control . If the cab was to remain the first thing was to take out all the manual , tram - like controllers , this meant accessing some big bolts below the cab floor . I was startled to see the fitter tie a rope around himself in the style of a Bosun's Chair and launch himself over the side of the cab and claw his way underneath with a spanner .
He also had a special lead to enable us to use a drill on the crane , it consisted of a rubber socket one end and the other just stripped off ...he clamped the neutral to the handrail or a convenient bolt and just dropped the stripped live end onto the top, live, downshop rail .
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To an ancient like me , thats how it looks sometimes . I don't decry H&S , it was one of my duties when I was supervising . But sometimes I just wonder when I see a Sparks ,( sometimes in photos , occasionally in real life ) fitting a domestic socket , say, wearing Toetectors , kneepads , gloves , mask, goggles , ear defenders & hard hat .
Some guys were telling me they couldn't use stepladders on their site ( New student residences) . They had to use a small platform thing with handrail , to reach the ceilings at 8ft , two steps & a platform I think , then hook their harness onto the handrail , and wear gloves , helmet , goggles etc .
Just of interest ... the bathrooms & kitchens for this project were craned into place as ready built pods.
Some guys were telling me they couldn't use stepladders on their site ( New student residences) . They had to use a small platform thing with handrail , to reach the ceilings at 8ft , two steps & a platform I think , then hook their harness onto the handrail , and wear gloves , helmet , goggles etc .
Just of interest ... the bathrooms & kitchens for this project were craned into place as ready built pods.
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The concept of not being allowed to use 240V tools is still alien to me.
It's not really the legislation at fault, but I think there are problems with the way risk assessment is typically applied. Judgement of risk severity and likelihood is required, and supervisors who are also assessors are frightened of simply getting it wrong and subsequently being blamed for an accident.
But has this ever happened? Has anyone been prosecuted and punished for getting an assessment wrong, (as opposed to failing to do an assessment)?
The second scenario I think, is where a "professional" H&S person is employed and doing coal face risk assessments. In their first year they will pick up genuine hazards which need changes in work methods; excellent, that's what they should be doing.
Unfortunately, after a year or so, their motive becomes at least partly to justify their continued employment. To do this they have to find some new risk, and change something. This, I believe, results in some of the OTT safety restrictions we so often see.
But has this ever happened? Has anyone been prosecuted and punished for getting an assessment wrong, (as opposed to failing to do an assessment)?
The second scenario I think, is where a "professional" H&S person is employed and doing coal face risk assessments. In their first year they will pick up genuine hazards which need changes in work methods; excellent, that's what they should be doing.
Unfortunately, after a year or so, their motive becomes at least partly to justify their continued employment. To do this they have to find some new risk, and change something. This, I believe, results in some of the OTT safety restrictions we so often see.
