"Health and safety gone mad" - truth or tabloid guff?

[carmadgaz]

RizzoTheRat said:

Whenever I've had to wear a hard hat I always keep smacking my head on things because the hat's 3" higher than my head so I never duck enough

I thought I was the only one daft enough to do that!

[handpaper]

italianjob1275 said:

This is the magic box that a major builders merchant insist that lorry drivers stand in whilst unloading. As you can see it's more than capable of fending off an errant forklift...

I've also been told more than once that I can't use the toilets because of health and safety, and I wouldn't be insured

A major newsagent/bookstore/stationer has the same policy. I've told them that I don't feel safe in their painted box and tend to go to the canteen for a cuppa while they tip me. Most of their sites don't have a problem with this; the ones that do think I have a bad case of IBS.

As an LGV driver, I see an annoying variety of work practices and H&S policies; some are lax, some reasonable, some annoying and a few I would call counterproductive (i.e. in some ways they degrade safety).

Supermarket distribution centres exhibit the widest variety; the discounters have a driver put his vehicle on a bay, enter the warehouse, open the bay door, operate the dock leveller, and, using an electric pallet truck, unload his trailer. Those for whom every little helps require that the driver, having backed onto a bay, lock his cab, hand his keys in to Goods In, and sit in a waiting room until tipped.

The most ridiculous and offensive isn't a supermarket but a Prime online retailer. Here's their procedure :
Back onto bay,
Apply chock to two trailer wheels on opposite sides of the trailer,
Disconnect red (emergency) airline (this applies the trailer brakes),
Apply airline lock to trailer (prevents airline being connected),
Lock cab,
Hand into Goods In airline lock key and vehicle keys,
Wait (in 12'x6' room with 2 chairs between up to 8 drivers) until tipped. This can take several hours.
Nobody likes going there.

[Willy Nilly]

My mate has to wear hard hats on site. He builds sports pitches.

[MercuryRises]

carmadgaz said:

RizzoTheRat said:

Whenever I've had to wear a hard hat I always keep smacking my head on things because the hat's 3" higher than my head so I never duck enough

I thought I was the only one daft enough to do that!

I do it too, I find it's easier to take the bking for not wearing one that it is to deal with the whiplash from constantly knock your head off things

[5-Oh]

MercuryRises said:

I do it too, I find it's easier to take the bking for not wearing one that it is to deal with the whiplash from constantly knock your head off things

They recently introduced bump caps where I worked as an alternative to wearing hard hats, much lighter and more comfortable. We only have to wear hard hats when the task dictates it now, so that's a step in the right direction.

[Hackney]

"due to health and safety reasons"

OK, so what reasons?
Another one of those phrases that people seem to fill with additional, unnecessary words. The same type of person who uses, "myself" instead of "me"

[coppice]

Or starts sentences with 'OK' or 'So' . Lot of them on PH ....