Bonkers H&S rules

[Steve]

A few weeks ago I boxed up (in plastic green produce crates) a load of paperwork from the office and looked for a place to store it where it would be safe. There is a 14 inch gap between the warehouse ceiling and the top of the walk-in fridge and freezers. Ah-ha! Perfect. About 10 days ago some berk from our company's H&S dept came in to do a fire safety audit.

He wants us to remove them. Apparently its a company wide rule that we are not to have anything on top of walk-in coldrooms. Its a fire risk. Its to do with heat. I wasn't there at the time, but if I had been, I'd have put my case forward that there is NO HEAT up there WHATSOEVER. There are two pipes that go straight up into the ceiling, right at the back, and a few electrical conduits to the control panels. No heat.

I understand some coldrooms have the plant on top of them, I have seen this. BUT why make it a company wide rule? We are able to use a ladder to access them (in some shops we climb up and store things right at the back where the gap is big enough for access). Nobody takes any notice of the rule anyway. Its obvious, if it feels hot, dont obstruct it!

Whatever happened to common sense??? If I had been there I'd have told him here to stick his rule, and ask how many places he thinks take any notice of it.

 

[dextrous]

Use the box to prop open a fire door Then he can bang on about a trip hazard as well

 

[noseall]

Whatever happened to common sense???

H&S are completely bereft of sense, common or otherwise. They are also a bunch of meddlesome busy-bodies strangling what is left of the British industry.

So i hear...

 

[Norcon]

Actually their may likely be a solenoid velve up there with a coil attached and these have been know to burn out and even catch fire.
Must admit most supermarket cold rooms I worked on top off were used as storage areas by staff who would have all sorts of clutter up there and made life very difficult so this is one rule I very much support.

 

[Thermo]

the HSE are actually full of people with common sense. i used to work quite alot with them when i was doing my diving. Its the numpties that are H&S officers for companies that are frightened of to make decisions and use common sense.

I went into my local builders merchants teh other day and on teh door is a big sign, saying "ALL STAFF MUST WEAR FLOURESCENT VESTS PAST THIS POINT" ie going out into the yard. I asked if they were more likely to be knocked over than me as a customer walking the yard!

 

[Norcon]

Their not worried about you Thermo because if you read the small print, you are probably in there at your own risk.

 

[Thermo]

No signs up anywhere. Just makes a mockery of the throw on a high vis vest and hard hat brigade

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

My experience of H&S officers is me big man you a little shyt, I talk crap you listen.

 

[Stivino]

I'll give you a H&S cracker.
Picture a belt conveyor if you will. Running along the side of it was a wire/cable device. If you got too close and leant on the wire, it would trip a switch and stop the conveyor.
H&S man had a steel rail fitted along the side of the said conveyor to keep people back. However, it was now possible to use the steel rail as a grab handle to climb onto the belt and the wire/cable trip device had been rendered useless even though it was still in place.
That H&S man should never have been in the job he was in.

 

[kevplumb]

or

working on top of a 3 pass paint drying oven app 15m sq

h&s muppet i want those men in harnesses

exept apart from the lights there was nowhere to clip on

apparently he filed 20 reports about our squad

the project engineer filed them under misc

 

[nickso]

or

standing on a 3 foot high conveyor belt working on electrical cabling on the adjacent wall. H+S man objected to that saying the conveyor could be accidentally started and i could fall off into hell itself.

i agreed that normally this could be the case but seeing as the cabling i was working on was the power to the conveyor motor and i hadnt terminated it yet perhaps he ought to foxtrot oscar.

 

[tim west]

Whatever happened to common sense??? If I had been there I'd have told him here to stick his rule, and ask how many places he thinks take any notice of it.

Steve as a manager I daresay you are aware of your responsibilities under H&S, to just disregard a ruling without researching into why its there is a little blaise in my opinion and a company like the co-op i'm sure would look upon such an attitude to H&S by one of its managers as extremely negative, you could end up on a sticky wicket if not careful (dont take this as a lecture, just giving my opinion).

The way I look at H&S is that you cannot change whats happened after the event of a serious injury and if I ended up in a wheelchair for the rest of my life through my own carelessness in not adhering to company policy then I have to question whether the company will continue to look after me or just ditch me?
ie look after yourself cos no one else will, therefore i am a stout believer in H&S and the protection it affords me.

As already stated the cases that tend to be highlighted are usually wrongly risk assessed by a badly trained individual but nevertheless you are duty bound to work by them or have them re-assessed rather than just disregard them.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

About three/four years ago The HSE in our area had been given a directive to push a scheme to prevent injuries to backs.
The place where I was employed at the time had had no recent records of any injuries sustained to the back for over 4 years.
All the employes had been through manual handling training to boot.
So The HSE instead of saying looks like your working practices are in good order and your staff are well trained in the methods they use in their production, daily routines etc..
Decided to issue a change in the way things where being manufactured,
this was based on protecting the back and creating good posture.
A result of the new manufacturing process devised by The HSE, was that employees where reported to be suffering from tendentious and shoulder injuries. This had never been an issue before they decided to change procedures, it also created a down turn in production.
Well thought out HSE