OH&S in Australia

[Tones]

What you are going to read is true......
I have been asked to do a small job for a company who has a contract upgrading the Pacific Highway in New South Wales. The job is to mow 50 acres of old sugarcane and other vegetation using my wheel tractor and flail mower. Pretty simple hey. WRONG
Before I arrive on site I must have a VERIFICATION OF COMPETENCY (VOC) which has to be issued by a Nationally Accredited Training Organization. Simple. Nope
To get a VOC I first must get an operators ticket. NO instructors have any training on this tractor mower setup.
So if I realy want this job this is what I must do. I have to train the instructor who can then train me in order for me to get the operators ticket. Then I do a further test to get the VOC.
Someone must have read Joe Hellers book Catch 22.

 

[funwithfuel]

Why don't you become the trainer and make more bank for yourself

 

[kshansen]

Tones, Just be careful don't make the questions on the test too hard. Would be embarrassing if you failed the test!

This reminded me of a good friend of my first wife. She got a local government job to set up a drug counseling center in the city. After running this center for a couple years the city counsel decided they needed job description for all kinds of city jobs and she was tasked with writing up the qualifications for the job she had created and successfully run for years,

I bet you can see where this is headed. She had included the requirement for a college degree she did not have as there was none at the time she started the center. All went fine until after it was approved and someone noticed she was "Not Qualified". They said sorry, the rules say you need this degree for that position good bye!

 

[Labparamour]

At least this assures you’ll be safe while doing the work.

Better still, perhaps you can be the sole instructor for the entire territory!
(And they wonder why people aren’t working!)

Darryl

 

[Kiwi-truckwit]

"Safety" is a strange thing. Around here, for most sites we need to hold a "Sitesafe" card. To obtain this is a day long course in a classroom, including hazard identification, risk assessments, yadda yadda. Now, they've adopted another qualification from Australia known as "Constructsafe" This is now required on government roading jobs. I didn't hold the card, so was barred from entering a state highway job with my crane, although there were already trucks sitting there to be unloaded. Not my problem, I get paid regardless. So I did the course.
It takes 20 mins on an iPad, consists of 50 multichoice questions, some of which aren't relevant to NZ (for example, Australian warning signs/labels that we don't even use here) or vague questions with dubious answers. I'm very pro safety, but this is simply a money making scam. It's going to contribute absolutely nothing to workplace safety whatsoever.

 

[Queenslander]

Yeah, that’s our white card, used to be blue... I’ve always considered it to be the most useless qualification you can have but it is always the first you are asked to produce on any construction job.
At least the job site inductions usually contain information that may actually enhance safety.

 

[farmerlund]

I had a buddy with an old airplane. So he had to train flight instructor so he could legally get signed off by that instructor. So stupidity happens here too. lol

 

[Tones]

Normally all my gear comes under what is known as" Specialised Equipment" for which there is none of this BS. So a CTl/MTL with a forestry mulcher on it comes under this category but if the mulcher is replaced with a bucket then the BS starts.

 

[Tones]

I had a buddy with an old airplane. So he had to train flight instructor so he could legally get signed off by that instructor. So stupidity happens here too. lol

40 odd year's ago a bloke in a Gliding Club is was in had to go through the same process when he brought a new aircraft into the country. I would have thought some would have seen the era of their ways by now.

 

[Birken Vogt]

A forestry mulcher seems like a lot more dangerous attachment than a bucket also, but let's not give them any more ideas.

 

[kshansen]

Yea "Training" can be a strange thing many places. As the only mechanic for the quarry for years I often was tasked with "Training" new hires. Problem is I never was an "operator". Oh I did attend a one day class by Cat at one of our plants and given a "Operators Certificate".

Then on the other side of the deal was how many times a guy who was a new hire a couple months before and had never operated a large machine before was tasked with training the next new guy!

The one thing I tried without much success, despite the agreement that it was an excellent idea, was to have a small group of designated trainers.

Say one for front end loaders, one for haul trucks and maybe one for what I would call assisting equipment, like road sweepers, skid-steers and back-hoe. My thoughts were that it would at least have everyone start off with the same basic knowledge and if a weak point is found it would be easy to get that corrected.

One addition to this was to have myself, as the mechanic, do the training part on "walk-around" inspection, kicking tires checking oils.

 

[Tones]

Well I'm bailing out of this job. I got a price to get the "training" $1000 plus I have to cart my tractor there and back on my dollar, an hour each way plus loading time.
Another thing that has come to my attention over this saga is Workers Comp. Every state has their own scheme and if you're self employed you don't quality to join so in past years I have had my own insurance. So heres the thing, they won't insure you if you're over 65 years old, I'm 68 so i'm screwed.

 

[Labparamour]

"Hello sir, I'm from the government, I'm here to help,"

Yeah, right....

Sorry the job didn't work out.
Darryl

 

[Jumbo]

Ah, just thinking about the "good old days." I was just 14, logging (setting chokers) for my uncle the hooktender under a wooden tree. His only words of safety which came about every hour or so depending on the rigging crew's speed was "run or die you SOBs" all done from on top of a stump at about 250 decibiles. You could be a mile away and you would pick up your pace...
And I survived to retire in one piece, excepting my hearing. In reality it was about the best safety advice I ever received.

 

[Tones]

Yeah Jumbo, know what you're saying. My first time on an excavator was get up there and dig that out. The site was as steep as a hens face but I did it and like you survived. I find it very hard to live in todays world full of soft cocks.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Heh, my first time truck driving was, looking around and nobody to drive it, you can get that back to the barn right? Get in then, let's go.

 

[rodcap]

In the refinery I used to work in(retired now) a worked had to be Certified in whatever Craft he was to perform. It was a safety regulation.
I have so many certification cards, they won't all fit in my wallet.