ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion How do you feel about Safety?

Bill,
subpart S has this sneaky little clause that all the safety guru's don't like to talk about.

you can't refuse , you can be fired, and you'd have NO say whatsoever legally.

this is why, when the safety community touts thier 'team effort' i get upset

they are beyond contempt in doing so.

sparky,

Why don't you address that issue specifically and see what comes of it? You can't just send every safety discussion into the dumpster because you feel that one facet of the system doesn't work the way you think it should. That's my opinion.

Bill

as you wish Bill.....

Steve,

I just think that everyone should get to tell their side of things without getting jumped on. And, I don't mean to jump on you either, I'm a bit sensitive about some things too..

peace
Bill

Bill,
I think I may have said this before, but,
Safety is a personal thing, in that How much you value having your life and other things like having limbs and fingers.
PPE(and it's use) is one thing that I am very hot on, if I see a worker at a site doing something that may injure them and they are not wearing appropriate PPE, I normally have a word with them.
I'm not being silly about this, you wouldn't pull everyone up for just little things, but hand in hand with Safety goes Common-Sense.
When I start a job,that could be hazardous to my personal safety, I do an assessment of the risk, it goes like this:

• Stand back and take a look at what you are about to undertake, for 5 minutes.
• Think about how this task can be performed as safely as possible.
• There are ways around ALL situations, I've "hooked-over" 33kV lines at night, while these were carrying quite a heavy load, it was all done safely and with the minimum of fuss.
• Think what could happen if you slip with a tool while you are doing this task.(will you need cover-up gear?)
• Is there a chance that the actual CONNECTION can be done at a different time when the power CAN be shut down.
• What sort of PPE will you need for the job?.

It's just things like this that have kept me alive over the past few years, in some pretty dangerous situations, but you just have to learn to take it all in your stride.
Sure, I have the right to refuse to do work that I think is too dangerous, but, if you sit down and have good look at the task ahead of you,things don't seem so bad!.

Most safety on the job seems to point to using a little common sense,as Trumpy points out.

Watch where you step/climb. Being more deliberate can save you sometimes.

When working on a scaffold or tall ladder,the biggest enemy imho is fear of heights. If you let fear get the upper hand,you're much more prone to fall.

Russell

Russell,
You're quite right there, mate!.
I had an apprentice Liney working with me recently.
He assured me, he was cool with hieghts, and that was OK until I asked him to hop up on the top cross-arm (carrying 11kV 3phase), he got up there OK, but, I had to get him down, after he looked down and saw that he was a long way up in the air.
I hate doing Ladder Carry-Downs, without a line, and I normally ONLY do these for the Fire Service!.

My experience with this situation

If you were to take a look at the age group of workers who are seriously injured, you would see mostly younger and older people. My belief is the younger are not trained yet or are not being properly trained, and the older ones have had 'good' luck and their luck has run out. How many times does one hear '120 can't hurt ya!'. Also look at some of the accident reports and you will see more than one person is injured! [bold]The consequences of being injured on a job go well beyond just the individual who gets hurt[/bold]. The NO. ONE KILLER VOLTAGE in this country is 120 volts.
Not too long ago I saw 2 presentations on safety that will make any person think twice, one was by Bussmann, the other was presented by the Power Authority.
The work you do today could affect somebody tomorrow.
I am not picking on anyone, just adding my 2 cents!

Pierre

Trumpy,

I agree that good common sense and personal interest in safety is very important in keeping yourself and others around you safe. I think that's a given.

I can't really agree that safety is/or should be a personal thing though. There's too many people that don't have common sense, or the same self-values. There has to be some guidelines to keep these people safe and keep them from hurting others. Even the most well-intended will need some training or updated information at some point in their careers.

I know that nobody likes to be told what to wear, or how to do things, but I don't see any alternative to a structured safety program of some sort. What are your thoughts on this?

Bill

Bill,
I certainly agree with your comments,
but, I think personally, the $64,000 question is, how do you structure a Safety programme in a way that is palatable, to everyone?.