Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 4]

[SpeckledJim]

Shakermaker said:

GIYess said:

I had heard it was to warn that the driver was in it so to stay clear sort of thing. But nearly the same thing so could see how it could be misunderstood one way or the other.

as i am regularly travelling through some roadworks at the moment, I've had more time than I'd like to sit and look at this stuff in more detail than I should. One of the main contractors doing the work has a symbol and sticker on their mini diggers and dumper trucks with a "thumbs up" icon and it says "Get the "Thumbs Up!" from the operator before approaching this vehicle"

Very sensible. Someone doing the slightly hypnotic repetitive movements on a digger or the like for hours and hours can't be expected to suddenly know some plonker is arriving over his shoulder asking whether he wants sugar in his brew.

Clonk. Dead. Oops.

Plant is scary.

[Shakermaker]

Yeah, it did seem sensible to me as well, though I'm sure someone on here will be bemoaning how this is "H&S gone mad" again and how because they didn't die in 1962 then surely everyone else is fine as well?

[Big-Bo-Beep]

what was the original thinking behind the communication cord on a train, in what circumstances would it be used correctly ?

we still have them and they are mis-used all the time, trains delayed coz some wazzock pulls the lever for a laff.

[Europa1]

SpeckledJim said:

Plant is scary.

Off topic, for which apologies, but I always inwardly chuckle when I see the signs "Heavy Plant Crossing" - I get visions of a line of triffids crossing the road.

[MartG]

Europa1 said:

SpeckledJim said:

Plant is scary.

Off topic, for which apologies, but I always inwardly chuckle when I see the signs "Heavy Plant Crossing" - I get visions of a line of triffids crossing the road.

Phew ! Glad to know I'm not the only one

[gazzarose]

MartG said:

Europa1 said:

SpeckledJim said:

Plant is scary.

Off topic, for which apologies, but I always inwardly chuckle when I see the signs "Heavy Plant Crossing" - I get visions of a line of triffids crossing the road.

Phew ! Glad to know I'm not the only one

I'm Welsh, so always imagine a giant walking Daffodil. Lol

[Zarco]

SpeckledJim said:

Shakermaker said:

GIYess said:

I had heard it was to warn that the driver was in it so to stay clear sort of thing. But nearly the same thing so could see how it could be misunderstood one way or the other.

as i am regularly travelling through some roadworks at the moment, I've had more time than I'd like to sit and look at this stuff in more detail than I should. One of the main contractors doing the work has a symbol and sticker on their mini diggers and dumper trucks with a "thumbs up" icon and it says "Get the "Thumbs Up!" from the operator before approaching this vehicle"

Very sensible. Someone doing the slightly hypnotic repetitive movements on a digger or the like for hours and hours can't be expected to suddenly know some plonker is arriving over his shoulder asking whether he wants sugar in his brew.

Clonk. Dead. Oops.

Plant is scary.

Thumbs up signs are pretty universal now.

I've worked with a demo company that uses proximity detectors on hard hats to alert machine driver in cab and person on the ground that they are too close to each other. Also logs the offending 'hard hat' that got too close to the machine. Keep doing it and they are in the trouble.

[jet_noise]

ChrisnChris said:

Blib said:

How do musical notes, arranged in a particular sequence, cause such a range of emotional response in humans?

This might go some way to explain the reasons

https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/musical-ke...

Does this depend on culture/nationality?
Other musical scales are available

[GIYess]

Zarco said:

SpeckledJim said:

Shakermaker said:

GIYess said:

I had heard it was to warn that the driver was in it so to stay clear sort of thing. But nearly the same thing so could see how it could be misunderstood one way or the other.

as i am regularly travelling through some roadworks at the moment, I've had more time than I'd like to sit and look at this stuff in more detail than I should. One of the main contractors doing the work has a symbol and sticker on their mini diggers and dumper trucks with a "thumbs up" icon and it says "Get the "Thumbs Up!" from the operator before approaching this vehicle"

Very sensible. Someone doing the slightly hypnotic repetitive movements on a digger or the like for hours and hours can't be expected to suddenly know some plonker is arriving over his shoulder asking whether he wants sugar in his brew.

Clonk. Dead. Oops.

Plant is scary.

Thumbs up signs are pretty universal now.

I've worked with a demo company that uses proximity detectors on hard hats to alert machine driver in cab and person on the ground that they are too close to each other. Also logs the offending 'hard hat' that got too close to the machine. Keep doing it and they are in the trouble.

Having grown up around farms, the thumbs up sounds a very good idea. You can be in your own world when doing a monotonous task all day.

[thainy77]

Zarco said:

Thumbs up signs are pretty universal now.

I've worked with a demo company that uses proximity detectors on hard hats to alert machine driver in cab and person on the ground that they are too close to each other. Also logs the offending 'hard hat' that got too close to the machine. Keep doing it and they are in the trouble.

We are starting to introduce similar on oil rigs, personnel wear detectors on the drill floor and if they get too close to any of the equipment being operated it will stop automatically. It's a little better than painting areas red and saying don't go there unless you are told you can.

[FiF]

ElectricSoup said:

FiF said:

Shakermaker said:

glazbagun said:

Are school busses still a thing? Have been reduced to public transport for a week and every bus at peak time seems rammed with squabbling children blocking every aisle.

Definitely still a thing around here as well - but they serve areas which are otherwise not served by regular public transport.

Definitely still a thing round here too. Fall into two categories, dedicated school bus services, only for kids, usually including pick ups where no regular service provided, or going to schools or colleges other than the obvious nearest institution, e.g. service to RC school, or City 6th form college. The second category are 'regular' services but with slightly modified routes which only operate in school term at start and finish of day and which are also open to regular passengers, though most avoid them for obvious reasons.

Slightly tangential off topic, one thing that pisses me off greatly, the local train station morning and afternoon has loads of kids travelling to the private grammar school, fees 4.5k per term, plus extras. Number of them who have no tickets is fuzzing ridiculous, it's one service I'd have revenue protection on every day in term time until the entitled wkers, both parents and kids, got the sodding message. Still no doubt then they'd just drive the brats and make the traffic even worse, any day that school is shut traffic into/out of the city just flows properly, despite the perennially pissing empty bus lanes./minirant

Whilst I agree that fares should be paid as things stand, I would like to see free public transport for all school children. It would reduce the school run. Also, in a system where children are often allocated to school miles away, it is hardly fair to the impose costs on families who otherwise would attend their local school and walk there. It's not just private school children on trains. I see loads of state uniforms shuttling between towns here.

Just checked on the system locally, kids get free passes if they are allocated to a school more than two miles away, 3 miles for older kids. There are other reasons why they may get passes, family receiving certain benefits, low income, denominational school more than 2/3 miles away, or the nearest walking route is unsafe. I guess that last bit is to deal with rural home kids who would have to walk on a busy road with no pavement.

As for the kids going to the private school in question, I accept your opinion, and maybe you wouldn't be irritated by kids being dropped off in a Panamera, say, who then fill up the train, when a month season ticket is 47 pounds, but it yanks my chain. They clearly have the money on them as when the RPOs are in the destination station the queue for being dealt with is ridiculous. Maybe the parents give them the money and the kids just chance it, they need a harsh lesson.

Incidentally just noticed even if they didn't qualify for travel passes they could buy an annual pass, covering all journeys term time , holidays and weekends for 9 monthly payments of 31 quid. Maybe it's just me being a grumpy old fart but seems like some are taking the piss by fare dodging.

[MartG]

I wonder how the sudden huge increase in anti-bacterial stuff going down the plughole will affect waste water treatment...

[vonuber]

Shakermaker said:

Yeah, it did seem sensible to me as well, though I'm sure someone on here will be bemoaning how this is "H&S gone mad" again and how because they didn't die in 1962 then surely everyone else is fine as well?

When around plant always make sure the operator acknowledges your presence and stops while you pass.

[Rostfritt]

MartG said:

I wonder how the sudden huge increase in anti-bacterial stuff going down the plughole will affect waste water treatment...

If we are using loads of anti-bacterial stuff, it will do sod all to a virus.

I wonder though, if more lives have been saved due to the quarantining of cities in China than lost to Coronavirus. It must have avoided hundreds of car accidents and improved general health by temporarily reducing air pollution.

[glazbagun]

Rostfritt said:

MartG said:

I wonder how the sudden huge increase in anti-bacterial stuff going down the plughole will affect waste water treatment...

If we are using loads of anti-bacterial stuff, it will do sod all to a virus.

I wonder though, if more lives have been saved due to the quarantining of cities in China than lost to Coronavirus. It must have avoided hundreds of car accidents and improved general health by temporarily reducing air pollution.

I too wonder if our sudden hand-washing obsession will result in lower mortality from other bacteria and viruses in the UK.

[DocJock]

glazbagun said:

Rostfritt said:

MartG said:

I wonder how the sudden huge increase in anti-bacterial stuff going down the plughole will affect waste water treatment...

If we are using loads of anti-bacterial stuff, it will do sod all to a virus.

I wonder though, if more lives have been saved due to the quarantining of cities in China than lost to Coronavirus. It must have avoided hundreds of car accidents and improved general health by temporarily reducing air pollution.

I too wonder if our sudden hand-washing obsession will result in lower mortality from other bacteria and viruses in the UK.

Hand sanitisers, although labelled anti-bacterial, are in fact anti-microbial and effective against viruses if they are >60% alcohol (most are)

Soap and water is better though because it physically removes most of the microbes.

[captain_cynic]

DocJock said:

glazbagun said:

Rostfritt said:

MartG said:

I wonder how the sudden huge increase in anti-bacterial stuff going down the plughole will affect waste water treatment...

If we are using loads of anti-bacterial stuff, it will do sod all to a virus.

I wonder though, if more lives have been saved due to the quarantining of cities in China than lost to Coronavirus. It must have avoided hundreds of car accidents and improved general health by temporarily reducing air pollution.

I too wonder if our sudden hand-washing obsession will result in lower mortality from other bacteria and viruses in the UK.

Hand sanitisers, although labelled anti-bacterial, are in fact anti-microbial and effective against viruses if they are >60% alcohol (most are)

Soap and water is better though because it physically removes most of the microbes.

This.

The problem is that a lot people don't know how to wash their hands properly. Look at how doctors and nurses scrub up for surgery... You don't need to wash for as long as they do but the way they do it is good to follow.

I see a lot of people just run their hands under some tepid water and maybe add some soap before sluicing it off.

People tend to do the same with hand sanitizer. I used to have a colleague that would use hand sanitizer hourly... But never actually bothered sanitising between his fingers making it utterly pointless.

The worst thing people do is touch a dirty surface and then touch theor face. We constantly hear in the news about how X surface has more germs than a toilet seat without the paper explaining that it's fine as long as you're not licking said surface (as one, hopefully, isn't licking their loo seat).

As DocJock said, soap and water is fine. Just make sure you're washing your hands properly.

To answer the OP in this thread. The biggest risk of excessive use of hand sanitisers is the very small possibility of creating resistant bacteria or viruses... But this is a miniscule risk given most are just alcohol based.

[The Mad Monk]

captain_cynic said:

never actually bothered sanitising between his fingers making it utterly pointless.

Not utterly pointless. But less efficacious than it could have been.

[Flibble]

I wonder why loo seats became the standard by which things are judged. Given it's a hard surface that gets periodically bleached it's going to be a lot more sanitary than many other things.

[captain_cynic]

Flibble said:

I wonder why loo seats became the standard by which things are judged. Given it's a hard surface that gets periodically bleached it's going to be a lot more sanitary than many other things.

I think it's just something we consider disgusting that was arbitrarily used as a unit of measuring germ or bacteria colony sizes.

It's largely bks but CFU (Colony Forming Unit) means nothing to most people, it's the same form of lazy journalism that has given us "size of Wales" as a unit of area.