I'm doing some research and was wondering what you guys thought about Occupational Health and Safety going too far, for example, I've seen an electrician pull out a 3-step step ladder with the top two rungs painted red, I asked him why they were painted accordingly and he said, under the new O.H.S requirements the top rungs of EVERY ladder must be painted red/ yellow and must not be stood on. So all he can do is get an extra 30cm in the air.
Personally i think this is stupid. Does anyone else have any stories similar to this where O.H.S has gone too far or 'failed' as it were?
The Occupational Health and Safety act is laws and regulations in Australia guiding what is and isn't safe in the work place. If there is something similar to this in America or other country's please let me know.
But post what you think or experiences.
They are quite common in most civilized countries, they're called "Safety Regulations."
[editline]11:16[/editline]
If the electrician wants all three steps he can use a 5-step step-ladder.
In America stupid stuff happens that is clearly user error and then we have to spend time creating warning labels and disclaimers so people can't sue...
Kid climbed a vending machine, it tipped over and killed him, family sued and won.
How the court missed the kids complete lack of common sense, the world may never know.
I understand that, but what are some similar examples of silly safety regulations?
Also, Thank you for you civilized post.
[QUOTE=u_got_own3d;16731093]I understand that, but what are some similar examples of silly safety regulations?
Also, Thank you for you civilized post.[/QUOTE]
I usually find that the safety regulations themselves aren't stupid, it is the fact that people need to be told not to do something. Like how to put on a seatbelt, and that it doesn't go around your neck.
He just needs a bigger ladder.
I understand, But what I am looking for are examples where safety regulations have done something so silly, like only allowing the user of a 3 step-ladder to use only one step.
Silly safety regulation? Let us try this one: You are required by law to use your seat belt in a vehicle, but where I live you don't have to wear a helmet while driving a motorcycle... Baffles me.
If you step on the top two rungs there's a greater chance you'll fall off. Hell, if you're working with both hands and you're standing on the absolute top rung it's quite difficult NOT to fall off. The paint isn't silly in the slightest, it's just a reminder to use common sense.
[QUOTE=laval;16731226]If you step on the top two rungs there's a greater chance you'll fall off. Hell, if you're working with both hands and you're standing on the absolute top rung it's quite difficult NOT to fall off. The paint isn't silly in the slightest, it's just a reminder to use common sense.[/QUOTE]
On a 3 step step-ladder where it is mandatory to have three parts of your body touching the ladder at all times?
you will be plagued by occupational health and safety everywhere in your working life
you should probably get used to it, you may think it's dumb, but you really cant change it
This I understand, but all I want are some examples similar to mine of where it has gotten a little silly as I writing about if OHS has or hasn't gone too far.
Isn't Australia known for it's ridiculously unnecessary regulations?
[QUOTE=Biotoxsin;16731741]Isn't Australia known for it's ridiculously unnecessary regulations?[/QUOTE]
I'd say so, though I don't know if it's "known" for it.
[QUOTE=Axup;16731791]I'd say so, though I don't know if it's "known" for it.[/QUOTE]
Didn't really word that right, but is it not commonly agreed so?
I'm pretty sure Austrialia is known for having a savage and ancient population.
[QUOTE=thisispain;16731837]I'm pretty sure Austrialia is known for having a savage and ancient population.[/QUOTE]
Not really. More like an incredibly outdated and draconian videogame's rating system.
Anyway, common sense is surprisingly uncommon in the US, or at least in my little corner of it.
[QUOTE=lil_n00blett;16731112] Like how to put on a seatbelt, and that it doesn't go around your neck.[/QUOTE]
reminds me of this so much
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiuOQHTsNg[/media]
use media tags bro
right just found it out from different forum post
You know safety regulations have gone to far when kids in the UK can't just play conkers anymore. They need to wear goggles and have an adult present all the time. Silly ain't it
This reminds me of a visit to Hampton Court in England. We went to see the Tudor kitchens, where they had some displays set up, showing various items from the kitchen. One display featured a brick, encased in about a centimetre of perspex, with a bright yellow sign declaring "Brick: Do Not Eat". Good times.
Um it's an understandable one but teachers aren't allowed to give students medication or such, in case they screw up and the parents sue the school, it gets stupid when it gets extended to things like plasters, I mean how you can screw up putting a plaster on is beyond me.
Some poor electrician hda to go around all the rooms of my building and test EVERY power lead and EVERY outlet. I asked him why and he laughed and said "OH&S...it's seems stupid but there is a lot of dangerous shit around. In another building I found a fray power cord that turned the metal frame of a guys cubicle live."
In Australia, we don't have an R rating for video games, unlike everything else. Also the Civil Aviation Safety Authority is known for being wrapped up in heaps of bureaucracy and silly regulations. For instance, any maneuver over 60 degrees is considered an aerobatic maneuver, and thus illegal unless you have your aerobatic rating, even if you're in the middle of nowhere with no kind of hazard on the ground for miles.
I always have had to stand on the top rung of my ladder to get up to the roof of my house
They have those regulations there for a reason, to warn you of doing anything stupid
[QUOTE=Squad;16731195]Silly safety regulation? Let us try this one: You are required by law to use your seat belt in a vehicle, but where I live you don't have to wear a helmet while driving a motorcycle... Baffles me.[/QUOTE]
This is also true of the state I grew up in and there's a huge parade once a year called the Pappy's Day Parade with at least several hundred motorcyclists celebrating the fact that they don't have to wear a helmet. The reasoning behind it that I've heard is that if you're in an accident and you're wearing a helmet, there's still a good chance that you'll become a vegetable, and they'd rather be killed outright than be a vegetable for the next 20 years. I have no idea if that's true or if it was the case used to argue as to why they don't have to wear helmets, but that's what I've heard from a number of people around town.
Simple soloution to the ladder problem? get two of them and put a plank between them on the very top rungs and stand on that, there, you're complying with them by not standing on the top rung and it's much easier to keep your balance on a wide plank than it is on a ladder step, though it's not smart to use two wonky ladders to do this.
I'm a painter and even I have to wear steel toed boots/a hard hat.
[QUOTE=icemaz;16732568]You know safety regulations have gone to far when kids in the UK can't just play conkers anymore. They need to wear goggles and have an adult present all the time. Silly ain't it[/QUOTE]
Is that actually true
The tabloids make loads of these up in their "political correctness gone mad!!" campaigns
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