Darwinsm At Work!!

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Milzy

Guru
We just had a guy cut through a mains live cable with a grinder. That's Darwinism at work.
Will the HSE ever find out? Doubt it.
 

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
We just had a guy cut through a mains live cable with a grinder. That's Darwinism at work.
Will the HSE ever find out? Doubt it.
They should. Couple of weeks ago, this happened close to where I work:
Bristol cable strike

This is 'flashback':
WARNING: SHOCKING CONTENT:ohmy:
cable strike

Basically, the jackhammer steel tip vapourises on contact with 11,000 volts and you get white hot steel as a gas sprayed up your body.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Or somebody made a simple error:whistle:
That is the point though - simple errors simply should not happen... It should take breathtaking recklessness (or a deathwish)!

"Right, listen everybody... Before you start work on replacing those cables, go to the junction box and turn off the power. Lock the box so nobody can open it to turn the power back on. Hang a service tag on the box to show what is going on. Before cutting any cable, use a power detector to double-check that it isn't live." And keep an eye on the workers to make sure that they are obeying the instructions.

I saw somebody at work make a 'simple' error. He was cutting a strip off a roll of carpet with a Stanley knife. Unfortunately, he was too thick to realise that holding the carpet down with his other hand in front of the blade was not a great idea... Apparently, that technique was standard practice up until then; nobody had thought about it before he sliced the back of his hand open!
 
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Location
Kent Coast
I have recently been watching some motorcycle restoration videos on YouTube, on a channel called something like "metal restoration". It is filmed in the tropics, in a backstreet workshop, where the guy pulls a ropey old motorbike to bits, then renovates the pieces and reassembles it. All in his yard, with spraying and lacquering being done with no facemasks, some angle grinding of stuck components being done with no gloves on and with open toed sandals on his feet, and welding being done with just a bit of dark glass for protection....
They turn out some nice bikes though! Not full accurate restorations, but nice tidy bikes with a new lease of life. Worth a watch, if you like that sort of thing.
 
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ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Other examples of poor H&S at work...

"Uncle Eddie" was an Irish labourer who my dad knew from working in the building trade. Every time he came to visit he brought a bag of toffees for me to share with my sisters, so we liked him a lot! :laugh:

We hadn't seen him for a while, and when he finally turned up he was wearing an eye-patch. We asked why and he told us that he had been chiselling out some brickwork to fit a power socket. He hadn't been wearing eye protection and a chunk of brick had shot up into the eye and destroyed it.

Years later I nearly ended up the same way. I was using a claw hammer to pull a large rusty nail out of a damaged pallet. It took a lot of strength to get it loose and it flicked up into my face. It put a scratch right across the front of one eyeball, but (very luckily!) didn't penetrate it.
 
D

Deleted member 26715

Guest
That is the point though - simple errors simply should not happen... It should take breathtaking recklessness (or a deathwish)!
The problem is that some things are taken to a stupid level, hi-vis in a warehouse where there is no mechanical handling, why? because the H&S guru hasn't a clue.
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
The ladders one reminds me of when I was decorating the top landing - one side of the stepladder on the stairs, t'other balancing on a bookcase. Must confess I was relieved when I got the second coat on without breaking my neck...
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
The ladders one reminds me of when I was decorating the top landing - one side of the stepladder on the stairs, t'other balancing on a bookcase. Must confess I was relieved when I got the second coat on without breaking my neck...
My (then) girlfriend once asked me to change the fluorescent tube in her kitchen light. The room has a very high ceiling and she only had a short step ladder. She didn't see the potential problem with her proposed solution which was to plonk the steps on top of a narrow table, and stretch up on tiptoes from the top of the steps while trying to get the tube into position. :whistle:

I refused to do it... :thumbsdown:
 
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