26th January 2011, 02:02 PM
Don't joke BAJR! That is exactly the mentality on large construction projects. I have heard of archaeologist being made to wear waders in ankle-deep water, goggles in the rain, spark-proof overalls in the height of summer (and made to keep them zipped up). Of course what followed in that case was some of them had to be rushed to hospital with heat exhaustion. There seemed to be no reason for wearing them except 'they are mandatory PPE, everyone has to.
I have heard so-called safety officers claiming that you can't wear shorts and must have sleeves or you'll get skin cancer. Also being made to fence off any feature deeper than 30cms on a job where a 37km long pipeline was unfenced without warning signs or any protection for the public from the 2m high running spoil-heap. Another tried to lock up our saline eye-washes in the coshh cupboard (several miles from where we were working), made digger drivers wear hard hats and goggles inside their cabins...etc etc the list of idiocy is endless.
This kind of thinking is clearly idiotic and actually contrary to HSE guidelines. Its the way everyone involved accepts this (due to a fear of losing their job) that breaks everyones duties according to the Health and Safety Law.
Interestingly enough (Dinosaur) given the paper trail that exists within these companies proving that they are enforcing inappropriate PPE (often as site rules without a risk-assessment) they are making themselves wide open for a lawsuit if the PPE causes an accident.
Hence in the above case all the paperwork mysteriously vanished after the heat-exhaustion, and on a recent job, the client claimed that a crop-spraying incident wasn't an accident, just a near miss; the near-miss paperwork being entirely under their control, whereas the accident book was our document. I may be being paranoid.....but funnily enough, the near-miss card didn't show up in the monthly near-miss competition.
Luckily we had already filled-in and sent away the accident book.
I have heard so-called safety officers claiming that you can't wear shorts and must have sleeves or you'll get skin cancer. Also being made to fence off any feature deeper than 30cms on a job where a 37km long pipeline was unfenced without warning signs or any protection for the public from the 2m high running spoil-heap. Another tried to lock up our saline eye-washes in the coshh cupboard (several miles from where we were working), made digger drivers wear hard hats and goggles inside their cabins...etc etc the list of idiocy is endless.
This kind of thinking is clearly idiotic and actually contrary to HSE guidelines. Its the way everyone involved accepts this (due to a fear of losing their job) that breaks everyones duties according to the Health and Safety Law.
Interestingly enough (Dinosaur) given the paper trail that exists within these companies proving that they are enforcing inappropriate PPE (often as site rules without a risk-assessment) they are making themselves wide open for a lawsuit if the PPE causes an accident.
Hence in the above case all the paperwork mysteriously vanished after the heat-exhaustion, and on a recent job, the client claimed that a crop-spraying incident wasn't an accident, just a near miss; the near-miss paperwork being entirely under their control, whereas the accident book was our document. I may be being paranoid.....but funnily enough, the near-miss card didn't show up in the monthly near-miss competition.
Luckily we had already filled-in and sent away the accident book.