Originally Posted by kingkenny

best one was when a sparky was working from a step ladder and was asked why he wasn't wearing his safety harness DOH.

I've had that loads of times there are some stupid rules been made up imo. one that winds me up is having to where a harness when in an aerial platform. So if the thing falls over I can't jump for it towards the bottom! Also how many times have I been asked to put a harness on when working at 3m? answer: to many. what good will it be when there fitted with a 3m safety lanyard?????

Originally Posted by Premier Tiling

I've had that loads of times there are some stupid rules been made up imo. one that winds me up is having to where a harness when in an aerial platform. So if the thing falls over I can't jump for it towards the bottom! Also how many times have I been asked to put a harness on when working at 3m? answer: to many. what good will it be when there fitted with a 3m safety lanyard?????

Vote Conservative and if they get through, you'll find H&S more relaxed, apparently.

At the site i'm on,we were never shown how to use drills but only a nail gun by a hilti rep.They must assume that everyone has used drills in the past,but that's a good point if it goes to court thou.All the sparks on the site i'm on now had a toolbox talk about drugs and alcohol yesterday.Both the foreman and chargehand both turned up hanging this morning after their works do.Hypocrites or what.I bet if i turned up for work this morning hanging and stinking of booze i would have been kicked off site

The company I'm contracted to at the moment, dont have any kind of health and safety policy whatsoever!

mac,that is par for the course im afraid,got told today one of my plumbers decked the safety officer last night on their works do,then tried to get him kicked off the job this morning,but when it was pointed out that he was out of order with a racist remark towards the plumber,he left the office with his tail between his legs and his P45.just wish i was there to see it.

reading the posts here and adding what I am experiencing at the mo is telling me that 80% of construction work is health and safety now.
I am being invited to price some larger sized contracts at the mo but I must admit as a working and only director of my ltd company and having subbies in tow I am finding myself researching H&S almost every night on the net as we are constantly being asked for our CDM literature prior to commencing works. We have good risk and method docs that cover what I see fit for what we do but now cdm is in and we struggle with knowing where to even begin

Don't matter what size the company is, if an accident occurs fault lies somewhere, if people are trained to do the job they are doing and trained on using tools etc and all this is documented the chance of employer blame is minimal. main thing guys is we watch our own backs and don't have any accidents. If YOU believe its not safe to do it simple DON'T do it. if your a sole trader it makes sense for your own protection, if you work for a larger company then report it to the health and safety dude and have the area made safe

Now Lets be careful out there

Exactly, if something looks or feels dodgy, it usually is! The guys on the ground need to know that, and at the very least they need to highlight it to their foreman / superior. It's their experience that will make a better decision on how to proceed. There's no defence if you can't prove that this hierarchy is in place, and the best way of doing it is to make sure it is detailed in the method statement and signed off by all of the site guys before work starts. It's a pain but can save a lot of hassle if something does go wrong.

Also, from experience, we have won work on the strength of our health and safety information! Only has sway with respectable main contractors though...