Thread: OHS GONE MAD

Am I allowed to name names ? Ok, not yet... But it's a Logistics mob with a 4-letters in the name, the last one looks like a red mountain or pyramid.

I also work as a contractor on one of their sites that has a 'BROAD- brimmed hats & long sleeves and pants policy. It is seriously enforced.

Like 6 weeks ago I got Severely Spoken To by the OH&S Manager.

Why?- 'Cos I got out of the car without a hat on... and was reaching into the back doors to get....
my hat. Fortunately I still had my sunnies on.... One violation avoided.

She also 'reminded' me that sleeves were to be all the way down AND buttoned, not rolled up clear of my wrists. Obviously had noticed me before... - The machine I drive has a spinner on the steering wheel and this is to prevent any catches. Nope, NOT interested.. Rules are Rules...

Those who know me often allege that I can talk the legs off a wooden horse.. so I did. Gave her a full-on serve regarding skin cancer and the UV-A /UV-B link, melanin production, Naturally generated Vitmin D vs 'chemical' and the resulting sulpher deficiency... programmed stupidity, expectations, individual responsibility and the benefits of empowering staff to make decisions.. etc. etc etc. - Even gave her a load of info on the Cochrane Collaboration, and the consequences of junk science.
Another 10 minutes and we could have covered polyvalent vaccines....


Then 2 weeks ago, I forgot the hat... Lucky I had an ordinary cap and shemagh in the bag. Only needed an AK-47 to complete the picture.

Last week.... drove in and spied a manager wandering around without his company hat. Turns out the policy was suddenly dumped, no explanation given. Entirely voluntary. Wise Men from the East had uttered an edict.

Somehow, looking like Lawrence of Arabia with rolled up (Hi-Vis) sleeves was'nt as satisfying as it was before...

This is what ****s me, we all see stoopid **** like this every single day. Its utterly dumb! Why the hellvdont we all do something about it!?!?!? I'd be the first inline for an organized protest. But we all just sit here like dumb ****s. This wouldn't happen in Europe! C'mon people!

Another classic from when I was paid a wage...

A certain machine has a heavy perspex -like window on a steel frame. About 20% bigger all round than a broadsheet newspaper page. - Or opened up tabloid(little paper)

First job of the night is to clean it, done by causing it to semi-automatically mount itself on a pair of pins, which suspend it above it's carriage tray.

Done wrong, and worst-case is it can fall onto the ground. Great Fear is that your toes may be impacted... if your feet are around a metre long. Otherwise not.

That night, lets call him Van Gogh, an operator of artistic talent but zero mechanical apptitude. Can sketch a zip...but has difficulty operating one...

You guessed it, - he dropped it. Apart from ego, no damage done to human or machine.

As the Responsible I/C, I had to front up at the next Safety Meeting to go through all the ....paperwork.... After much twaddle and ... you've all been through it... I said..'Why don't we just get anyone else to do it for him? - Only takes a whole TWENTY seconds to do the deed... Heck, I said, I'll do it for him-he's always on my shift. !!!'

Stunned silence and impersonations of stunned mullets.

- I did it every time he was rostered on that machine and did'nt feel confident.. Problem solved. And I never went higher up the Food Chain....

Originally Posted by discovery39

This is what ****s me, we all see stoopid **** like this every single day. Its utterly dumb! Why the hellvdont we all do something about it!?!?!? I'd be the first inline for an organized protest. But we all just sit here like dumb ****s. This wouldn't happen in Europe! C'mon people!

It's hard to get people motivated when they're scared. I work at for 2 companies who in the last 2 years brought in mandatory long clothing. As a contractor you say boo or get out. I tried my best to explain to the company people that there was no way in hell that the company could operate their business without them so just say no. They all have mortgages etc etc so the company has them.


They just couldn't see that the company could not overnight find 1000 employees to take over their jobs without hiccup. They had the power and let it go.


I have among other things a Diploma in Marketing and am looking at lobby type web site. Hell minority groups seem to get their way in this country, I am looking at a majority group.


I am also looking at getting a legal group involved. A lot of safety these days is about companies attempting to protect themselves from litigation. With the amount of people against being forced into uncomfortable longs clothes, there has to be an "equal and opposite" position.


The big problem is time and money, most of us have no time and are too busy trying t o make money to live.

great story - especially dedicated roo crossings! Is your mate trying to create a new role as a consultant training kangaroos?

Originally Posted by DeeJay

We have inane tasks like filling out a form for minor incidents or near misses which I think I have never completed one, much to my managers frustration. I just don't see the sense or time worthiness of doing them, but as a company, I think they expect over 2,000 of them P.A & actually benchmark them into our pay review each year - with the result that staff will submit one for a stubbed toe or anything, just anything, I know one was done for cigarette ash in the eye, & "stand up wind of the smoker" as a remedy ( as long as you are not also a smoker- which is likely as there is a dedicated area away from the building for smoking) so I can just imagine them all trying to stand up wind of each other. I'm really glad I'm nearing the end of my working life & not beginning it, but maybe the youngsters are truly being conditioned for this sanitised work environment.

Yep cant agree any more spent 19 years with holden with their dumb arse OHS rules with the same forms and some and not to mention their Diversity rules glad i bailed with all your tax payer,s bail out $. At the end of the day it has created a job for frustrated nazi parking officer rejects

A worker was oxy cutting a frame apart so it could be removed from site, he had supports that he thought would be ok, reached under the frame to cut a flange, frame was now unstable and shifted off supports and landed on his head (5 tonnes), DEAD 2 kids with no dad and a wife left to carry on.


A worker was wearing headphones listening to music, didn't hear machinery reversing, driver didn't see him, drove over him, DEAD another family without a father, husband etc.


These tragedies occurred in Brisbane on one the largest infrastructure projects Brisbane has had in recent years, had the people working around them followed OHS procedures there kids would still have a dad, there wives still would have a husband but they don't, because a number of people bypassed these stupid OHS rules you all talk about.


While ever we keep killing people who are just going about there daily work you will never win the argument.


I also hear people laughing and being scarcastic about morning exercises, on that same project they introduced morning exercises, over the ensuing months soft tissue damage injuries dropped by roughly 80%.


yes there are some ridiculous procedures and rules but overall common sense has been lost along the way. Just because some of us (me included) have not had an injury and use common sense doesn't mean we can exempt ourselves from anything occurring in the future, perhaps the worker near you doesn't have common sense, assumes that there is no one on the other side of the wall, starts to core fill the wall that is 6 meters high, doesn't see the slurry spilling down the other side landing on the fridgy connecting the pipework to a unit covering his tools and himself in concrete slurry............ they knew all about it when I got around to the other side of the wall and shut there pump down though.


Again they were in a hurry and didn't follow the stupid procedures. If you have not been unfortunate enough to be injured or involved in a serious incident perhaps it is because of all these stupid procedures, I bet your wives and families wouldn't think they were stupid if you were DEAD

Originally Posted by Kev the Fridgy

.......yes there are some ridiculous procedures and rules but overall common sense has been lost along the way.....

I agree that common sense is a dying commodity, but it is dying out everywhere, and the rules and processes have to become tighter and tighter as a result.

One example, from a company I used to work for. On a construction site, one particular worker had been told specifically that he was not authorised to drive a piece of equipment. However, he "borrowed" the keys from the pegboard where they all hung in the site office, took it on a joyride across the site, and turned it over in a ditch with himself underneath.
Company was prosecuted for not locking the keys away. They hadn't done "everything in their power" to avoid the accident.

These days, with the rise and rise of the ambulance chaser solicitor firms, too many people are considering even the smallest of injuries a chance to get a new TV. They get to tribunal and the company is told "well Mr Company Director, I see you don't have an SOP on how to walk successfully along the marked walkway, when there is a Y in the month, and the wind is blowing from the west, so I am awarding $5000 to the plaintiff".