Sooooo... How's everyone's quarantine going?

[Ronsii]

You can actually get a "degree" in safety. I was actually talking to our safety guy about it a few weeks ago. Been debating a career change and was curious what was needed to become a health and safety officer.

I hear it's not too hard.... how much of a 'dick' can you be?

 

[92U 3406]

I hear it's not too hard.... how much of a 'dick' can you be?

I think it should be a prerequisite to have at least 5 years experience in a related industry before being allowed to be a safety officer. Far too many couldn't do what we do.

 

[cuttin edge]

I think it should be a prerequisite to have at least 5 years experience in a related industry before being allowed to be a safety officer. Far too many couldn't do what we do.

I don't know how to do your job, but my book says you're doing it wrong

 

[Nige]

I don't know how to do your job, but my book says you're doing it wrong

you mean like this guy..?

 

[Nige]

I think it should be a prerequisite to have at least 5 years experience in a related industry before being allowed to be a safety officer. Far too many couldn't do what we do.

Would that it were so, but unfortunately most people who end up in Safety (or Personnel for that matter) are usually there because there were totally useless everywhere else and were hived off into their current job because nobody had the balls to fire them - IMHO.

 

[Tinkerer]

It always burnt my a## when I had to wear a hard hat under a ROPS canopy or cab when I was on dozer !
I got bi##hed at a few times when I was caught without it on.
I was very diligent about wearing a seat belt. Except on a slope that was so steep I would sit on the armrest of the seat.

 

[cuttin edge]

The job is designed to turn you into a dick. Some pen pusher in an office comes up with these rules and guidelines for us to follow. There are those in our industry that will not comply with even the basic safety rules. A vest for me is just as automatic as putting a shirt on. If I am going onto a big job, so is the hard hat. 90% of the time, if you try to meet these guys with what they want, it's all good. WE had a foreman that would wear his hard hat, and take it off if he saw Roland coming, just to fight with him. It all comes down to liability. Safety, at least here in NB is one of those times when ..it runs up hill. If I am non compliant, why didn't my foreman make sure I was working safe? Why didn't the super make sure the foreman made me work safe? Why didn't Les Flett make sure the super he hired was enforcing the rules. Why did the government officer, that was here yesterday, not write an order to have us comply or shut down? The way it is here, if we don't pass our safety audit every 3 years, we can't bid the work. They audit our paper work, full time sites, the shop, the asphalt plant, the office, the quarry, leased and company owned pits. We lost a great shop foreman because he wasn't prepared to take liability for the men under him. His nerves got the best of him, and now he works in the stockroom.

 

[DMiller]

Worked a Power Station, unless been inside one most do not realize stays around 100-105 INDOORS all year, ventilation gets swapped to keep from cooling high stress heated steel components or water systems. Came NFPA 2007, upped at 2010, then 12 and finally as I left in 17. Clothing had to be Fire 'Retarded'(actually Retardant but OK) had to have labeling to prove such. Used to wear ALL cotton and was good until 07, then had to be proved 100% cotton with Fire Retarding, so comes Fire Retarded Clothes, special treatment smells as were soaked in a Dead Bears a$$ for a month, cannot Excessively wash, cannot use fabric softeners, HAD to wear Long Sleeves for Arc Flash Protection, was fine for close to 15 years for me and 20 for others NOT doing so. One in 10,000 gets a Arc Flash event, usually due to inept or fails to follow strict use and established instructions in operating, So everyone gets Punished. Final stages of 12 and 17 FULL Coveralls and hoods to be worn, gear weighed close to 40 lbs, thick as Military Wool Blankets, and OVER all the other clothes we were REQUIRED to wear in 100-105 degree heat. Like to have killed some of our electricians, almost gave ME heat stress ONE TIME.
Safety would not hear the opposite side of Danger with this stuff, so we all grouped and when HAD to rack breakers or work around 'Live(Presumed)' conductors we would change into scrubs then don the gear, was a little better at least bearable.

Worst building I worked in was the "Round Building"(Reactor Containment) at power, best could cool the Ground floor was 105, at the entry hatch 47' up was 118, anywhere around the Alpha Steam Generator access opening was 125, Contamination levels were suspect high so wore Protective Clothing for that, THEN they tried to get us to wear that crap INSIDE there at power! Radiation Protection threw a fit as calculated stay times were short to begin with, this gear cut that by half again where would be subjecting two to three times the personnel numbers to save a POTENTIAL 1/10000. They got it blocked.

 

[Welder Dave]

Was watching a show on Discovery about building P&H mining shovels. They said hard hats were not required because if anything fell it was so heavy a hard hat wouldn't make any difference. I guess there's such a thing as being a good/respected safety officer but most of the time they have no idea about the job or have people fight them every step. I worked in a vessel shop and the safety officer wanted us to take our welding helmets off and put on hard hats to walk to the rod oven to get more rods. It was revised that the welders didn't need to wear hard hats while getting supplies in the middle of welding. I worked in a shop where they alternated who the safety person was on night shift. What a pain that was. Had one older guy that refused to wear his safety glasses. What do you do? Report him to the boss and he'll do everything he can to make you miserable. OHSA is kind of a joke sometimes too. Supposed to do surprise inspections but notify the shop the day before they're coming. Boss hands out safety glasses to everyone and says to wear them between 10am to 12am or until the inspector leaves. That said it's good that stricter worker safety protocols are put in place. Guy I went to school with damaged his lunges working in a shop without adequate ventilation or exhaust fans.

 

[RollOver Pete]

Working for the U.P.
What an experience! It was like watching paint dry.
Their safety meetings were......different. I mean full ppe.. all of it. I was pointed out one morning for not wearing my hearing protection. Really? How in the hell was I supposed to hear what was being said at these meetings? These guys tried to be so safe they were dangerous. And lazy! yeah. Hippocrates too. Notice the little skinny guy standing right in front of my loader.. Thats their safety compliance expert. The one that I had a run in about me not wearing hearing protection at their 5:00 am safety meeting. I like his hard hat. The last pic... it was about 115* that day. I bet I sat there for over 10 hrs that day. If their share holders only knew how much money was wasted on a daily basis, there would be no more
U. P.

 

[Welder Dave]

Safety officer wanted everyone to wear ear plugs all the time. Foreman agreed with me that you can tell a lot by the sound how well your root pass is going in. Some people lose their sense of balance with ear plugs.

 

[Spud_Monkey]

Safety officer wanted everyone to wear ear plugs all the time. Foreman agreed with me that you can tell a lot by the sound how well your root pass is going in. Some people lose their sense of balance with ear plugs.

I love welding with ear plugs in, I can tell when the weld is really cooking great and I can hear people actually better, plus I'm not being startled by unsettling noises so much that normally wouldn't startle someone, damn PTSD and tinnitus. I know why I can hear better with them is cause it blocks out background noises.

Working for the U.P.
What an experience! It was like watching paint dry.
Their safety meetings were......different. I mean full ppe.. all of it. I was pointed out one morning for not wearing my hearing protection. Really? How in the hell was I supposed to hear what was being said at these meetings? These guys tried to be so safe they were dangerous. And lazy! yeah. Hippocrates too. Notice the little skinny guy standing right in front of my loader.. Thats their safety compliance expert. The one that I had a run in about me not wearing hearing protection at their 5:00 am safety meeting. I like his hard hat. The last pic... it was about 115* that day. I bet I sat there for over 10 hrs that day. If their share holders only knew how much money was wasted on a daily basis, there would be no more
U. P.

View attachment 215364 View attachment 215365 View attachment 215367

Wimp is what he is, should seen the full chemical suits we wore in Iraq with K-pots on in 115 plus degree temperatures along with occasional gas mask on while rucking with 100 plus pounds loads across Iraq deserts, think that contributed to frying my brain

 

[Spud_Monkey]

you mean like this guy..?

View attachment 215343

Just toss him a whaaburger and french cries in the corner and proceed on with your jobs as you wish

 

[DMiller]

Asked a Safety rep what the Fall Protection distance was for our Rip cord attachment leads response distance, stated "Did Not Know" so asked him to look it up, 13.6 feet, we were working ~five feet off the floor. So he put us on YoYos, again asked response distance, 4.6 feet,. Stared at him for a moment, got that Deer in Headlights look, then asked him to be the Guinea pig demonstrator for testing our work position, he left the room and we continued as if nothing had occurred!!

 

[John Canfield]

I was a first line manager supervising a couple of outside crews for SW Bell and I had to have a one on one safety meeting and tool inspection with each person once a month. I wasn't some jerk off desk jockey and could have done any job that anyone in my crew performed. One of my crews had to climb poles so inspecting their climbers was extremely important. If they are dull or sharpened at the wrong angle they might cut out. I learned how to climb poles in the Air Force and learned how to burn a pole - that really hurt. They were picking splinters out of my chest and legs for an hour in the base dispensary.

 

[DMiller]

Wore a set of hooks awhile, still have scars from a SHORT Pole Burn Down, not been on one since those days.

 

[cuttin edge]

Wore a set of hooks awhile, still have scars from a SHORT Pole Burn Down, not been on one since those days.

My neighbor is retired from the power company. Said when he was training to be a lines man, once they had all their gear on, the instructor would say everyone pick a pole, 30 seconds, all I want to see are boots and asses.

 

[Spud_Monkey]

My neighbor is retired from the power company. Said when he was training to be a lines man, once they had all their gear on, the instructor would say everyone pick a pole, 30 seconds, all I want to see are boots and asses.

Guess that's the point I strip down to nothing but boots and my bare as, you asked for it Drill Sgt.

 

[John Canfield]

Before I started the classroom part of tech school in the USAF they made everyone in the class climb a 30 or 40 foot tower to be sure we weren't afraid of heights (I wasn't .) Then we learned how to climb - up and down, up and down, belt in, circle the pole at the top, back down, back up, pound in a J Hook, etc. The instructor gave us kotex pads to wear between top pad of the climber and our inside leg otherwise we would rub a sore. What memories.

 

[Welder Dave]

Before I started the classroom part of tech school in the USAF they made everyone in the class climb a 30 or 40 foot tower to be sure we weren't afraid of heights (I wasn't .) Then we learned how to climb - up and down, up and down, belt in, circle the pole at the top, back down, back up, pound in a J Hook, etc. The instructor gave us kotex pads to wear between top pad of the climber and our inside leg otherwise we would rub a sore. What memories.

Where I was working had a woman call and say she was very embarrassed asking but asked if we sold -ussy pads. I said I wasn't familiar with the term and asked what they were used for. She didn't know, one of the guys in the shop just asked her to order some and didn't know the proper name. I suggested maybe a pad for kneeling on. I didn't want to be the one to tell her some guys use them for sweatbands.