perspective

[Ducatiboy stu]

You never know when a CDROM drive will open and cause a fatal injury.....and heaven help you if you get your fingers stuck in the keyboard.

 

[Bribie G]

There are frequent news reports about African migrants sinking off the coast of Lybia on their way to Italy, sometimes drowning by the dozen. What do you think happens to those migrants when they eventually reach Italy?

Very many of them end up living packed into filthy sheds on farms earning a few dollars a day, quite illegally, in Southern Italy. Of course this is Southern Italy so the local police and officials get corruptly bribed to turn a blind eye as they do in that part of the world.

But, I hear you ask, what do those migrants and their kids and wives do for those few dollars that should even remotely concern us?

 

[mckenry]

You never know when a CDROM drive will open and cause a fatal injury.....and heaven help you if you get your fingers stuck in the keyboard.

I actually listed practical joke as extreme / unacceptable risk (likelihood V impact). When quizzed I explained its likely that when I go to sit down, someone will pull my chair away, I'll hit the floor and become paralysed. They said "This is not a joke". I said "I thought my boss was joking when he told me I had to do a HIDRA for office work, when the most dangerous thing I do all day is drive to and from the office".

 

[TheWiggman]

I think the main issue is how society has become so litigation-heavy that anyone who has a fair case for a compensation claim falls into the basket of rolled ankles, tennis elbow and stress. Someone really gets stress in the workplace and some idiot hears about his compo and thinks he can play the stress card as well. Years ago, people changed jobs or occupations. Nowadays employers all tread in fear for a rogue assault or harassment claim because someone wants to get back at someone else, with the only evidence being opposing opinions of two parties. Then it becomes the employer at fault. To counteract this, paperwork and processes are the employers' biggest shield to avoid getting the companies in strife. I don't think anyone wins. Now young employees are introduced to this culture and just accept it, so the issue compounds itself and people genuinely believe this is the best way to be.

At the end of the day I liken it to teenagers on the road (I was one of them once). You can scare them, fine them and educate them as much as you like, there are still going to be invincible and many will willingly break the rules. Why would the workplace be any different?

 

[real_beer]

Unfortunatly it has become a necessary evil to stop office boys from getting hurt and running to mummy. More Darwinism and less litigation would go a long way.

This happened a couple of weeks ago at a mine site I visit.
Me: 'Geez these f#####g flies are giving me the ***** today mate!'
Mine worker: 'They're a real PITA alright, and we're not allowed to wear a head net out here on site!'
Me: 'Why not?!'
MW: 'OH&S in their infinite wisdom decreed them as a dangerous visibility hazard'. 'Apparently it's okay though for us to swot flies trying to enter our ears, eyes, mouth, & nose while operating heavy duty power tools.'
Me: '*********!'
MW: 'You got it!'

When I first started visiting mine sites I soon realised the reason they have 12 hour shifts is to allow 4-5 hours each day for filling in paperwork for OH&S, & 7-8 for work unless a drug & alcohol is required, & don't get me started on f*****g inductions! I feel like Elaine on Seinfeld with all my exclamation marks!

If you had a sign like that in most factories in WA, OH&S would have you sacked on the spot for causing a laughing hazard around heavy machinery.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Lota blokes making a lota money charging for site inductions.

I have done the online company specific ones..coles,woolies,bunnings..etc... Its a joke. The office girl used to do them for us. No one checked or cared. As long as you had the bit of paper from the printer.

The whole system is a mess. As a sparky a roof space or underfloor space is classified as a normall workplace. To others its a confined space.

 

[thedragon]

Unfortunatly it has become a necessary evil to stop office boys from getting hurt and running to mummy. More Darwinism and less litigation would go a long way.

Great sticker. For those of you that like it, $5 on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/121240739166

I'll be ordering a couple.

 

[pk.sax]

Worked in a high risk industry - as in, if you do something stupid you might very well kill a a couple dozen people. Sad thing is that due to the load of BS imposed actual safety skills seem to be dropping. There are basic workshop safety and accountability skills we learnt some 10-ish years back, like yellow lines and tool tokens etc. those sort of things really stop **** from going bad by lifting standards. Those sort of things also seem like the ones that go missing first and all the other ridiculous crap comes in.

Try hard as you may, workmen never ever like paperwork, not gonna change. It's the way these OHS laws are actually practiced that is disgraceful. It is a fort for making things expensive. If a paperwork process is going to take 30% of the time on the roster then common sense tells you to invest in technology and skills training. Be more selective about people you hire and do something unobtrusive, like sticking RFID tags on tools to control them. That takes less time than filling in 5 boxes on a sheet at issue and a couple more at return. But will some ******* safety manager put his neck out there and tell the boss to cough up a little cash? Oh no, they were told safety is a burden and must cost minimum, doesn't matter if everything else ends up costing more.

Summary: most businesses seem to employ a massive number of fuckwits.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

When I started my apperticeship almost 25 yrs ago, we all ( 750 of us ) learnt some basic things in the training workshop.

Only walk around within the yellow lines.
Dont leave **** laying around.
Dont **** with other peoples work.
Dont be a ********.
If you are unsure...ask someone.
Clean up your mess and keep the work area clean.

Pretty simple really.

 

[jlm]

Worked in a high risk industry - as in, if you do something stupid you might very well kill a a couple dozen people. Sad thing is that due to the load of BS imposed actual safety skills seem to be dropping. There are basic workshop safety and accountability skills we learnt some 10-ish years back, like yellow lines and tool tokens etc. those sort of things really stop **** from going bad by lifting standards. Those sort of things also seem like the ones that go missing first and all the other ridiculous crap comes in.

Try hard as you may, workmen never ever like paperwork, not gonna change. It's the way these OHS laws are actually practiced that is disgraceful. It is a fort for making things expensive. If a paperwork process is going to take 30% of the time on the roster then common sense tells you to invest in technology and skills training. Be more selective about people you hire and do something unobtrusive, like sticking RFID tags on tools to control them. That takes less time than filling in 5 boxes on a sheet at issue and a couple more at return. But will some ******* safety manager put his neck out there and tell the boss to cough up a little cash? Oh no, they were told safety is a burden and must cost minimum, doesn't matter if everything else ends up costing more.

Summary: most businesses seem to employ a massive number of fuckwits.

Very good points. Especially regarding being more selective about who you employ....but a lot of the time you can't be selective and have to hire monkeys. In my game there's a certain ebb and flow with amount of work available and as such people come and go. It seems though the ones who come and stay get pegged as being responsible and able to see the big picture and what that ends up meaning is that they end up for the most part keeping all the paper work in order, not actually doing what they started off doing.....working safely and efficiently.

Wanted: Competent electricians who can read a plan and fit off lights without ******* up a ceiling. Must be willing to dive for crayfish and abalone, or fish after work. Tolerance of Boags Draught recommended. Not doing stupid **** that could kill yourself or others would probably help too.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Cant dive, preferr Coopers, have yet to **** up a ceiling, pretty good at doing stupid **** when pissed.

 

[Not For Horses]

My favourite is the white card. As far as I can tell, useful for **** all.
Can't get on most sites without one but it still seems to cover less than a site specific induction. Which you still bloody need anyway.

 

[manticle]

My favourite is the white card. As far as I can tell, useful for **** all.
Can't get on most sites without one but it still seems to cover less than a site specific induction. Which you still bloody need anyway.

I did my white card recently and my understanding from what the trainer told us is that it is 'site pacific'.

Site pacific PPE etc.

I also know that if I run over a guy when I'm driving a forklift, then I should just keep driving.

 

[pk.sax]

Heh, I manged to wire up the trailer plug for my tow hitch. So proud of myself, can do electrical (with a lot of swearing and backtracking because somebody keeps forgetting the heat shrink and cable glands -one by one- before screwing in the terminals).

One thing I noticed about people that design paperwork, especially in small-medium airlines and somewhat in big ones too, they are old mechanics who really don't know how to design systems with a view at usability and interfacing the paperwork with computer systems. Ends up with having 3 forms to do one job. Part of the problem is that the regulators keep 'grandfathering' people into new roles because of the skills shortage rather than requiring managers to learn management skills. A lot of decision makers are supervising work that they've never done (this includes uni grads that haven't bothered getting their hands dirty too but a lot more old people are guilty of this too) and end up creating problems that need paperwork to solve!!!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I did my white card on-line,payed for by my NSW job provider service. On-line company was all QLD content. White card was issued from WA...

 

[Not For Horses]

I also know that if I run over a guy when I'm driving a forklift, then I should just keep driving.

But it's ok, it will be your bosses fault anyway. Somehow. For some reason.

 

[breakbeer]

I have to do inductions at 80% of my jobs (installing signs for shop fitters) & they're the biggest waste of time

Last major one (David Jones) went for 2.5 hours & 2.25 of those hours he crapped on about the construction boom in the 80's, the other .25 were smoko breaks. Not a single bit of site specific info AT ALL

After the 2.5 hour induction the farken scumbags from the CFMEU told me rather politely that I wasn't allowed on site coz I wasn't a member

Lucky for me I'm paid by the hour

 

[manticle]

Site pacific

 

[real_beer]

I have to do inductions at 80% of my jobs (installing signs for shop fitters) & they're the biggest waste of time Last major one (David Jones) went for 2.5 hours & 2.25 of those hours he crapped on about the construction boom in the 80's, the other .25 were smoko breaks. Not a single bit of site specific info AT ALL After the 2.5 hour induction the farken scumbags from the CFMEU told me rather politely that I wasn't allowed on site coz I wasn't a member Lucky for me I'm paid by the hour

I've got so many induction cards for Coles sites alone I've been thinking of asking my boss for an offsider to manage the filing & sorting. I must say I really feel for some employers as they have to spend 2 days putting new recruits through all the compulsory inductions and on the third day the ********* turn up for an hour or two, then quit because the job doesn't suit them. Add to this all the people waiting for mining positions to become available who just take anything on offer & then quit without notice, maybe employers should be allowed to withhold the induction days pay if people don't work at least a month. I don't blame the people who are waiting for another position to become available, but I don't think it's fair employers should have to keep footing the induction bill when no work has been done by a person to offset the cost. It might be cheaper to have some of a companies fully experienced workers who are allowed to strictly supervise a handful of new employees for an hour or two, even a day to access if both parties think their suitable for doing the job. If their all happy after this let the inductions begin.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Dont worry...a few employers are now requiring you to attend the site induction at your own cost. IE you dont get paid for the day

I can understand why.

Sorts a few out.