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View Full Version : I will now perform the swan dive with a twist ......



WebRam
01-04-2001, 12:47 AM
Ah, I always wonder why I moved from the tools in to the office.

Well, while talking with the Health & Safety Manager last week, he reminded me that the goverment was doing a white paper .......... based on my antics at work :( (joke)

My best had to be the 20 ft backward flip from the working platform in a frozen food cold store in a major warehouse in Glasgow.

I had just reached over to free some ice on the fan guard and whooooops .......... backward flip followed by a full swan dive 20ft into the frozen concrete floor. Luckily for me, I landed on my head ...........

I was found, wandering about on the sales floor with a left arm dangling at serveral different angles and a gusher from somewhere on the back of my head.

Rushed to the hospital and spent the next year in plaster and pins before they gave in and removed two joints on my thumb and wrist.

The worring thing about this story was the fact that where I fell, was behind those big food carts and no one knew I was there. I must have got up and got myself out of the room.

Safety is always one of those things that most service engineers poo poo and forget.
In these days of "self assesment", is there too much responsibility placed on the employee to be aware of the dangers? I wonder if this is just a cop out on the goverment and employers part??

food for thought.

[Edited by Steve on 02-04-2001 at 10:25 PM]

Dan
01-04-2001, 10:37 PM
[i]
Safety is always one of those things that most service engineers poo poo and forget.
In these days of "self assesment", is there too much responsibility placed on the employee to be aware of the dangers? I wonder if this is just a cop out on the goverment and employers part??

food for thought.

[Edited by WebMaster on 01-04-2001 at 07:28 PM] [/B]

Interesting thought. In the US we have OSHA, and larger corporations have entire departments devoted to safety. But most of it is hogwash. It is documentation-oriented. Cover yourself sort of thinking. Little to do with safety. More to do with litigation and avoiding it. Safety ultimately rests with the individual and a corporation or government certainly must promote it as well as provide means for discussion of issues. Material Safety Data Sheets are a prime example in the US. The company provides them to each worker. They are posted on job-sites. An inspector can fine a company for not having them readily available. But they are just a wad of paper with technical gibberish that means nothing to the worker.

One of the fellows who works for me, a job foreman, got busted for not having MSDS sheets on the job-site. I paid a fine. He HAD them, but didn't KNOW he had them! Because they are worthless.

Installation people don't know nor care about parts per million. They want to know if something will cause their pants to catch fire.

Same thing with fall-restraints. The government and the corporations can provide ways to reduce such injuries, and do. As do rental companies. But it is ultimately the responsibility of the worker to insure that he has taken every practical safety precaution.

One final note. There are two who work for me who have made it a point to object to certain duties as dangerous, more often than others. Every consideration has been made to accommodate their concerns. One of them is out on Workmen's compensation with an unspecified back disorder. The other was the foreman who didn't remember that he had the MSDS sheets in his truck.

Brian_UK
01-04-2001, 11:52 PM
Yes, safety seems to affect people in different ways. Everyone, well nearly, enjoyed and learnt from a safety course but most thought the best part was not being at 'work' that day.

It surprised me when I made an entry into our firms accident report book just how empty it was. Some of our installers have fallen through skylights, ricked their back lifting or shoving; one guy has even been knocked unconcious by a falling condensing unit. But you try and find a report book entry for them.

My service manager is pretty safety aware and generally will not send a single man when it should be a two man job.

There is one site that I attend which uses 'man alone alarms'. These are like oversized radio pagers which have to be kept upright. If you fall over, press the alarm button, then a signal is sent to the security staff who will then come a find you. It is quite a comforting piece of kit when you are in a -20°C store!

Brian

WebRam
02-04-2001, 12:15 AM
Very interesting Brian

And can you let me have more details about thiis mane alone alarm please.

Brian_UK
02-04-2001, 12:18 AM
Originally posted by WebMaster
Very interesting Brian

And can you let me have more details about this man alone alarm please.

I will be going to the site concerned tomorrow so will try and get some details for you.

Brian

Dan
02-04-2001, 02:46 AM
I too am interested in the man alone alarm. It strikes me as a good thing. I just want things that address the issue of safety in a straightforward way. Not all the crap that makes noise about safety and effectively adds no value. Such as most of what I see both from corporate and government. Ladders happen to be a primary safety issue with me, as well as driving trucks, vans, etc. Lockout and tagout programs are nice but just don't hold sway during a rapid remodel. We are often the victims of a general contractor's inadequacies.

But if anybody checked the safety record within my department, they would find every concern I had about each and every situation. Openly and honestly. Regrettably, I have been taken advantage of by being so. If there exists a lack of faith, the lack of faith exists. It doesn't stop with safety concerns.

Dan

subzero*psia
02-04-2001, 01:04 PM
I have to agree with Dan. Safety is simply a buzzword and has no actual integrity. I feel quality is the same way in production environments at least. Oh sure, quality exists... but not the quality that everyone puts on. For instance ISO... it exists only prior to and during an audit by the DNV.... after that it is business as usual. And the sad part is management keeps it that way. Quality engineers have their decision overiden all the time and are seen as extremists, until something fails then they (the quality engineers) are replaced. That is how America deals with quality issues.

Safety only gets addressed when someone is hurt and then the person that got hurt is made to feel as if they did something wrong. Why... because they cost the company money in lost time and their insurance rates will not drop which is a goal every year because it is a cost reduction.

I think it may be a world wide symptom, I think these words describe it best... "curb appeal". That is all anybody cares about anymore. If it looks good when you drive by... then everything inside must be alright.

Brian_UK
03-04-2001, 12:02 AM
Originally posted by Brian_UK
I will be going to the site concerned tomorrow so will try and get some details for you.
Sorry folks, that's the fun of being on service calls, won't get to that site 'til Wed/Thurs.

It's not forgotten.

Brian

Brian_UK
09-04-2001, 11:25 PM
Originally posted by WebMaster
Very interesting Brian

And can you let me have more details about this man alone alarm please.

Sorry, chaps, a bit delayed but....
'Man Alone' alarm unit.

Sorry for the delay all but have finally got hold of some information on the man alone alarm unit.

The system on the site where I use it seems to be integrated with their internal paging system but looking at the web site there seems to be other possibilities.

The unit is called StaffCall and made(sold) by Multitone, visit
http://www.multitone.co.uk/onsite4a.html
for more info.

Brian