Thread: OH&S gone stupid

Originally Posted by disco gazza

Just remembered that we never had in cabin camera's spying on us,but it came in the year after I left so I missed that as well.

cheers
DG

If they do that I will hang a towel over the camera. They can then sack me as I would refuse to drive whilst being spied on.

Dave,
Our union( which I quit about 1/2 way through my time there-organizer was a complete dickhead) put a stop to inside cameras many times.
I heard that he got the sack not long after I left and then when they got the contract renewed later that year, they got new trucks with inside cameras.

DG

Originally Posted by sharmy

Wow the Carindale shopping center. When I was a kid that whole area was our playground, we used to fish and swim in Bulimba Creek, shoot hares and just about anything else that moved and camped near the creek most weekends. We never imagined that it would end up like it is today. My mate and I had some great times in the area only hampered by having to drag my little sister along with us.

Geez! I see you're at Coonarr, ay. That's another playground you've got. I've camped there a few times, over the years.

Re: The white card thing. At another, outer-Brissie shopping centre, new escalators were needed.
For me to attend to my duties, aforementiond chainy and I had to be 'Inducted'. For those who are not familiar with the term, it is basically a going through of all safety and operational requirements of the organisation that you are utilising your services, at the time.
Some of these 'Inductions take several hours.

With this particular job, we were required to be 'Inducted' by the construction company, the escalator company and the shopping centre, centre management. All at a different time!
To top it off, at the commencement of each night (work undertaken after trading hours) on site, we ere required to show our respective, 'White Card' to each of the three 'Inductors'.

One funny thing about the whole thing was that my electronic, Surveying equipment interfered with the pricing machine that one of the centre managers would use in the evening, to check shelf prices. Didn't she get snooty. She wanted me to wait until she had finished her rounds of the store.
This was with a fair sized construction crew on site, too.

Originally Posted by AK83

fame seeking grubby law types pounce on the opportunity and sued everyone, including the manufacturer of the ladder to high

Highly likely. In some States in the USA, litigants can sue gun manufacturers when one of their guns is used in a felony.

In general, both in Australia and the US, you can sue anyone for anything - but that doesn't mean you have the slightest chance of winning.

And if there is not much chance of winning, best of luck finding a lawyer that will act for you, unless you pay cash in advance.

Where the US is worse than here (but we are heading that way), is that awards can be ridiculously high, with a large proportion going to the lawyers, so that some legal firms will take on cases that have only a slight chance of winning. Of course, it is not worth their while to sue unless it is a wealthy target - or is insured. Guess what this does to both your insurance premiums and the red tape your insurer wraps you in.

As a driver I had to have indoctrination cards ( Yeah, I know, but it sounds better ) for every bloody site I went into. DCs are the worst. And every one of them were the same. Almost word for word. AND, many you did online. So, I might be going to a Coles DC. There were two quite close near Truganina. Both had different cards. No card, no entry. If I didn't have the right card for the site the boss or his wife would jump online to get it for me. CYA. Mostly it was "stay on walkways, don't enter the warehouse, and keep out of the way of forklifts". PPE essential. I think I had four different cards for taking bridge beams down to Peninsula Link, but that was probably fair enough.

I also did some delivery work with steel. Big stuff, some of it. Poky little factories where nobody gave a stuff. But loading at OneSteel? Watched all the time. Took stuff from them to the Shell refinery at Corio, where the bloke on the gate would ask "know where you're going" and demand that you gave him your cigarettes and matches or lighter. Never checked you out if you said you didn't have any.

Took a load of pipe down there once. Brown coated stuff. This was loaded on a pipe trailer, which had "arms" like a log truck. Raining, so told to tarp it. Tricky, due to the arms. Not allowed to climb on the load, nobody to help, took a long time. Took it to Shell where I had to untarp. Still raining. Bloke picked it all up, and put it on the ground outside, in the rain....

Bridge beams, fair enough.
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Somewhat a different type of OH&S story. About 10 years ago I was involved in road maintenance. Then the company got contracts for various airports around Australia,
including Military airports.
I remember arriving at one in Katherine NT. where there were F18 aircraft. After the usual induction, you know, watch out for aircraft etc. We were told the job must be done at night
due to operations during the day. we were repainting the runways and taxiways. doing lines, we called it. he.he.
Then we were all taken by vehicles to the 'kennels', and shown the dogs. The handler gave us a briefing that would make any so called 'safety officer' cringe.

"We patrol the airport at random times at night, dogs are contained in vehicles, BUT, once a night, they are let out for exercise with the handler. we will do this in an area well away from the works in progress. However, although unlikely, there is a possibility that one of the dogs could run off. These are Belgium German Shepherds, the fastest one of it's breed, AND, they are trained to attack intruders without command from any handler, ( possible scenario, handler shot by intruders ) If they see you alone away from the vehicles at night, they WILL take you down.
Please, if this happens, do not attempt to run, it would be pointless unless you are very close to your vehicle, Lie down, try to cover your face and head by any means to minimise injury to your self.
Do Not struggle, the dog will not stop until handler arrives. Any Questions"

One guy said, "I'm confused, is this a 'safety' meeting?"
Another said, "never mind this Hi Vis crap, where can I get the camouflage uniform your wearing?"
I said, " how fast can the handler run?"

After a while, an American guy with us told a story of working at airport in Honolulu in Hawaii, shared civil and Airforce. basically US Pacific Defence base.
He was shown various red lines on the aprons to military side etc. Then they pointed out 'towers' surrounding the hangers.
" if you cross these lines without escort, you will be shot, snipers in the towers, end of story"

There, not so bad here after all.

Originally Posted by Tins

As a driver I had to have indoctrination cards ( Yeah, I know, but it sounds better ) for every bloody site I went into.
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We have the same,every Govt site has a different induction,we must go to over 40 of those,Qld health sites depending on the area are different,schools,Work Access Permits,working with children inductions,sign in with all your details,Blue card,and on it goes.All an absolute PITA,and time consuming.I mean wasting time.

It is easier to get into any Qld Maximum security Prison,i have the clearence card,do the fingerprint,wander in,fingerprint out a set of keys,off we go.
Need tools,just fill in the tool register.Big job,book an escort officer,easy as.Vehicle needed on site,book it inwith the officer,easy as.