Hi-viz H&S gone mad(der)?

[Accy cyclist]

Call me Dave's got himself a job on a building sight, now he's not the PM.

I say chaps, when's it our fecking tea break?!!

 

[Tim Hall]

Call me Dave's got himself a job on a building sight, now he's not the PM.

I say chaps, when's it our fecking tea break?!!

No gloves? No glasses?

 

[EnPassant]

Shudder.
Not that Hi-viz, steel toecaps or a hard hat would help much here I guess.

I suppose the trouble with allowing people not to wear it where it isn't really necessary is that it simply gets far too complicated to define which area it's required and which it isn't, so simply say on-site.
The 'don't need to if wearing a turban' thing always gets my blood boiling mind.

 

[I like Skol]

The 'don't need to if wearing a turban' thing always gets my blood boiling mind.

Why? Should we all be forced to wear helmets?

 

[Accy cyclist]

STFU Cameron! If it wasn't for your government's get the lazy sods to do a day's work policy, i would be sat on my arse now or shooting pheasants on mummy's vast estate!

 

[EnPassant]

Why? Should we all be forced to wear helmets?

Why should some, but not others?

 

[Drago]

One tends to stand when one is discharging a shotgun, in order that one can properly absorb the recoil.

 

[Roadhump]

I am not an automatic defender of the blanket use of hi viz either in this case or in general.

However, a quite legitimate H&S approach is about creating cultures and about zero tolerance as a tool within that. Requiring hi viz, or hard hats, or whatever, can often not be so much about the specific or immediate safety benefit as about establishing the wider safety culture.

That seems a reasonable approach, but it is a difficult balance to achieve. If people automatically wear protective gear and automatically apply safety measures across the board, the process of risk assessment can become diluted and loose, and just a tick box exercise, which seems to undermine the quality of H&S and reduces its credibility. But there is a perception of a litigious, blame culture society in which many people are so afraid of the consequences of an H&S failure they apply control measures that are out of proportion to the real risk.

 

[Drago]

Surely asking staff to wear hi vis or safety gear when it is obviously not required creates a culture of ridicule, and therefore rejection, not one of willing acceptance?

 

[Drago]

Is a turban an effective alternative to a motorcycle helmet?

 

[bruce1530]

I have an acquaintance who had to visit a construction site, so full PPE was required - boots, hiviz, hard hats and all the rest.

The “Elven Safety” (I’ve always wondered why these elf characters need so much protection) pulled him aside, saying that he couldn’t go onsite because he was wearing trainers.

He points out that he had 2 artificial legs. This should have been obvious, as he was wearing shorts.

“Can’t you put safety boots on the artificial legs rather than trainers?”

He did point out that, apart from being stupid and pointless, this wasn’t possible, as the trainers were actually attached to the legs.

 

[Profpointy]

One invidious problem is to specify health and safety which makes the job nigh on impossible, then turn a blind eye to the workers doing without which they need to to get the actual job done.

Even as a mundane office worker I had the H&S arse try and confiscate my chair because it wasn't complaint - fair enough so far, but the compliant chair gave me pain in about 30 seconds. He contemptuously then said "well you must have some kind of medical problem" as if I was somehow to blame. I had to walk away before I did something career limiting. It was in truth the closest I've come to thumping someone in (then) 25 years working.

 

[EnPassant]

Because the 'others' have an effective alternative?

Ok, I'm bound to regret this, because it will involve some change to the rules since I last looked. You will correct me because it's what you do, but I will learn like the naughty schoolboy I am.....
'Effective'? A turban is made from cloth isn't it? I can't see that as a substitute for a hard hat that I assume (yeah I'm assuming....) is covered by some standard? Or in my memory the other place they were allowed to 'not abide by a law that others must' Motorcycle helmets, which are definitely covered by a standard. If you are now saying that they are wearing turbans that meet these standards....

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

I have to wear safety footwear in an office where others wear sandals flipflops trainers and high heels etc

The same office throughout summer dresses down to shorts and skirts, I can't

 

[Drago]

I have to say I don't know. If the figure is low, is that because turbans make superb helmets (in which case all motorcyclists should bun their Arai's and buy a turban), or because few Sikhs ride motorcycles? It's the physics of head injury prevention that are important when assessing the efficacy of safety equipment, not the demographics of the users.