I woud post pictures of my work but all the comments about saftey are un called for.
I don't know that I can agree with that. If something provides a jumping off point for a good discussion, I think we all benefit. Of course, we all have to work at being non-judgemental, and keeping our criticism constructive.
I think safety is on everyone's mind on this site.
I agree. I think our "corporate culture" if you will, here at HEF is one of safety.
That having been said, it's easy for us cause this site exists to spread information around, and we don't need to worry about how many feet of pipe we have in the ground at the end of the day. Real world pressures are a horse of a different color, and what we discuss here as ideal....well honestly, in the field any of us might find it expedient to make some compromises.
Is there a compenant trained trench person on the job ? that is his call and the companies call, and most important nobody made them guys go in the hole.
Now there's something that's recently been touched upon in
Stock's thread about OSHA. Is there pressure on any given job to work in violation of the lawful standard? It would probably make a good topic of its own.
For what it's worth, when I took the competent person class, my take on it was that, rather than being a class on how to
be safe, it was pretty much a class in all the ways your site is out of compliance now, and never really will be fully in compliance. My take is that certainly, if your site is fully in compliance, it
will be a safe site, but that's not due to the fact that
any violation makes a site
unsafe.
This is the same here, but if your read OSHA regulations, if the trench has any water in it, it becomes a class C ditch, even if it is in solid rock. Class C ditch requires a trench box.
Good example, no?
In an ideal world, we wouldn't even need an OSHA, because every employer would do the maximum possible to prevent workplace injuries. In a world where the workers are more expendable than the shovels they carry, we'd have lots of funerals. (And if you think about it, that world existed in our not so distant past.) Somewhere between those two worlds there exists a compromise where the risks are managed, and everybody goes home safe at the end of the day, while the company still turns a profit.
Where that compromise lies is the place that engenders discussions like this one.
There's the old expression about, "you talk the talk, but do you walk the walk?", meaning do you actually practice something, or just pay it lipservice? Certainly, to practice safe working habits is best, but if you discount their necessity even in casual internet conversation, you're not very likely to put them into practice out in the field. If our promotion of safety here makes a difference in the attitude that somebody takes to work with them, and perhaps prevents an injury or fatality, it'll have been well worth it.
.... as I don't think this is the track John1066 wanted the thread he started to go.
Yeah, probably not.
