Protection of the stupid. (Workplace Health And Safety)

[HannesPascal]

Chemistry can be pretty overkill for H&S.

For things like explosives and the sort of stuff that would, on skin contact, do some pretty serious damage to you before you noticed it, and anything thats toxic and produces vapors, its entirely justified.

But for things involving less hazardous material, the H&S is the same. I dont mind the lab coats, i find them stylish. However the one-size-doesnt-quite-fit-all disposable gloves continue to be a source of irritation.

You use gloves? I've been taught and it's practiced by everyone at my university that if there's not a safety statement that says the substance is extremely toxic and gloves should be used that gloves do more harm than good. Because if you have gloves your hands will get sweaty and chemicals will eventually penetrate your gloves and if your hands are wet its easier to attach to the skin. So when working with moderately dangerous substances like HCl it's better to just wash your hands than using gloves.

Speaking of chemistry, we had to read a manual about general safety like not eating the chemicals or titrate by sucking up chemicals with your mouth. Funny enough the last one was actually standard years ago and one of my lab supervisors told me that she was taught to titrate with her mouth.

 

[Nielas]

Oh, and also, McDonald's coffee is still served at the same temperature (or hotter) than when Ms. Firecrotch burned herself, so her suit didn't do anything except make her and her lawyers rich.

Wasn't that lawsuit was mostly about the staff laughing at her and not calling an ambulance for the third-degree burns?

You might be thinking about some other case. In this case McDonald's got hit with the big punitive damages because their executives and expert witnesses came off as complete douches on the stand. One of them testified that they were fully aware that their coffee could cripple people but because it was a rare occurrence, they were not going to do anything about it since they were making so much money from selling it.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

You must remember, we live in a world where a woman can put a cup of very hot coffee between her legs, spill it on herself, and then sue the place that gave her the coffee...and WIN.

Bad example to cite, as the coffee was so hot that it literally gave the woman third degree burns. The reason being was because they heated the coffee to scalding levels, which once again literally burned a lot of people's throats for even taking a tiny sip, at the time. And the reason they did that was because they were skimping out on the amount of coffee they put in each cup, so the temperature was raised to hide that lack of coffee. It also did not help that before that case those cups were about as sturdy as one piece cardboard looped together with scotch tape.

edit: the place that sold the coffee was McDonalds.

But surely it mustve said "caution: contents may be hot" on the cup. As we all know warning labels are like a shield against any danger

I honestly don't remember at the time if they used caution labels, but regardless it was no excuse to make those cups that flimsy, or for that matter heat the coffee to that temperature just to cut some costs.

edit: "McDonald?s admitted at trial that consumers were unaware of the extent of the risk of serious burns from spilled coffee served at McDonald?s then-required temperature."

source: https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts

It's also not an excuse, whether the coffee would give you 3rd degree burns, 2nd degree burns, or simply ruin your day, to stick a cup of HOT coffee between your legs.

This is like someone licking a knife, cutting their tongue, and then trying to sue the knife company because they had no idea the knife would be that sharp because it didn't have a warning label on it.

And consumers were unaware that they would be badly burned if they spilled very hot liquid on themselves? Sorry but no. By that logic, anyone can argue that they are 'unaware of the risk of driving' and sue the car company when they get in a wreck by saying they thought the airbag or seatbelt would save them.

Oh, and also, McDonald's coffee is still served at the same temperature (or hotter) than when Ms. Firecrotch burned herself, so her suit didn't do anything except make her and her lawyers rich.

Your post reminded me of this little chestnut I saw eating a snack

https://twitter.com/Arehexes/status/283315017330348032/photo/1/large

They had to say a bag of cashews contained cashews as a warning...and the line under it said made in a place where nuts are processed.

 

[michael87cn]

Firstly, some background...

I'm an electrician. I have been in construction for just on 10 years now. Everything from domestic housing to townhouse estates to industrial warehouses. I've been around and seen a lot of different ways of doing things. Recently, as in the past 3 to 4 years, it seems that workplace health and safety is getting outrageous. Don't get me wrong, I am all for completing a job safely and going home with all limbs attached, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

The most recent example in the job I am going to tomorrow. It's a nice simple extraction booth. 2 fans, a few lights and a control panel. 3 hours, max. I have already spent 6 hours on site without picking up a tool, with another 8 tomorrow to actually do the job. The safety induction for this site was 4 hours long. For the most part, that was fine. Due to the overall size of this project, I can understand needed a through and in depth induction covering everything from general safety to the environmental procedures. However, I can not appreciate being treating like a child with no common sense.

One of the example "incidents" that this site has had was a guy who finished work for the day, went to run across a highway to meet his ride and got cleaned up by a car. Tragic, sure. But I've known how to cross a road since I was about 6 years old. I don't need to sit in a classroom full on working age adults and be told to look left and right. It's even more annoying when these safety measures are clearly designed by someone who has never picked up a tool in their life. Ladders is another big one. As in, WE CANNOT USE THEM. This made me absolutely laugh with the introduction of platform ladders. (A ladder where the top step is a solid platform with a guard rail) I was told I had to use 6 foot platform ladders when doing townhouses. That all well and good, until you realise that the guard rail on a 6 footer would have been through the ceiling.

TLR - Workplace Health And Safety is getting out of control and its because of stupid people who should never have been given a screwdriver in the first place.

So, what industry are you in and what I sane regulations are you forced to put up with?

Didn't read your post, don't need to.

Accidents happen. USUALLY not on purpose. That doesn't make someone stupid.

Last week a very old man died at my work, he'd been there for like 50 years, he SLIPPED on a ladder and hit his head. Died in the hospital bleeding from the brain.

I would be in favor of lifting protection of the don't appreciate it. Y'know, people like the OP.

 

[TechNoFear]

So, what industry are you in and what I sane regulations are you forced to put up with?

I used to design asset protection systems for mining and heavy haul rail, so I have spent a considerable amount of time on heavy industrial sites.

I was at an induction for a coal shipping terminal's 3km long jetty in the tropics.
We were told that if you saw someone fall off the jetty into the ocean you should throw them one of the life preservers located every 10m along the end of the jetty. This would cause an alarm to sound and a rescue to be initiated.

To demonstrate they had a dummy on a rope, which they threw into the ocean, but before they could throw the life preserver to the dummy a 3-4m shark grabbed it....

On the stupid side I have filled out a 'Take 5' (list hazards in a job and then list and implement controls) for updating software on a server via a USB stick.

I have also been told off for not wearing gloves while 'working' within 3m of a active heavy haul railway line, I was typing on my laptop...

None the less I have seen people very badly injured on site because they or someone else took a short cut on safety. I always instructed my crew not to do anything they did not think was 100% safe, no matter who told them to do it (even me).

 

[oliver.begg]

best i ever saw was working in a welding shop.

we had MIG and TIG units that would throw you across the room after putting 3 phase power through your ass, and grinders that would go through you gloves, skin muscle and bone like butter. now all that really dangerous gear had SOP's that made sense (like don't leave the fucking chuck key in the lathe set to 4000RPM), but the induction was 3 hours, and if your not sure don't fucking touch.

i then went into the office and the induction their was 8 hours on the dangers of papercuts, and triping. thats shit that the supposed blue collar thickos didn't even think about because its common sense, or a case of drink a cup of concrete and harden the fuck up

Yeah dude, you gotta check them welder cables! Lots of juice running through them.
One thing I noticed with welding safety is that welding fumes are largely ignored, the amount of places I've seen with no extraction or masks to avoid breathing in metal is outrageous!

That's when health and safety laws are good because some employers, too tight to buy the safety equipment, will all to readily brush the risks off and say 'oh just open a window or something'

i jumped my then bosses ass for trying to make me do a lot of galved steel welding without a ventilated helmet.

he didn't like it when i said i would if he breather in the galv cotton for me.