Brits talkin about Brit stuff

[Ross Turner]

Well said Big A,But some companies still dont comply with HSE regs.

 

[Big A]

I dont think any comply 100%, I dont 100%. Most only comply when it suits them, (like when dishing out official warnings to staff) but if it costs too much then they suddenly go a bit deaf. Years ago when I worked in a warehouse it was a verbal warning for not reporting all accidents/near misses, but when space was short for stock it was ok to overstack pallets and block fire exits and extinguishers. if I made a fuss (which I did) it was classed as stirring trouble. Eventually they said "if you see it move it" which inevitably then pi$$ed off the chargehands who were trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot. I spoke to a H&S officer one day about enforcement and they are so under-staffed that most of the time they are chasing serious accidents, rather than enforcing rules.

 

[teressa green]

am fully aware of the hse ,breifings .risk assesments but some lads in this profession are ????e would be better off employed in mc donalds ,big a 10 yrs on the ground mate ,i do wear the latest gear but i unlike most am able to do my job and go home in the same condition i went in ,just watching a programme called ,all the gear no idea,in my experience most lads cant do the job and as for collage ,what experience of the real world do the trainers /examiners have ,,,,,,reckon they could make a living in the real world ,this industry is full of tossers who would ???? themselves up a 90 ft beech,just listen to the idiots down the pub ,i quote against these people all the time ,wonder why i get most of the work ????? the minority mess it up for the rest of us ,big time ,

 

[Big A]

Hear you loud and clear,TG. There's those that talk the talk, and those who walk the walk! Seen too many of the first type and not many of the second. Trouble is the bosses keep employing the crap ones because they're cheaper labour, then when the $hit hits the fan they cry!! might have got the wrong end of the stick with your last post, but unfortuately seems that things are only goingto get tighter and tighter on the regs front.

 

[teressa green]

i know mate ,wasnt having a pop ,bad day shopping with the missus and a six yr old in tow,i just find it infuriating sometimes,if im not happy doing something then i dont do it or price accordingly,ie ,cherry picker /crane ,i object to hse etc taking away my right to think for myself,the jobs hard enough without reams of paper work ,regulations ,etc ,i could happily put up with all the dross if it got rid of the cowboys .pikeys etc but it just creates oportunities for them ,we cannot compete price wise,most housholders dont care about ,nptc,bs3998 ,insurance etc ,etc ,how many times you been asked to produce said items ,to a house holder its all down to cost ,,,,,

 

[iain]

t g

you've hit the nail on the head , at least, with some of the customers the right price gets the job! , and that tends to be the crap end of the industry 'bodge it n scarper'
, you no what i mean, you've seen it a thousand times
we cannot change mrs smith at no 54 mind, cos, she needs to save a few quid as moneys tight, & who can blame them, we're all 'taxed to death in this country'
i even saw a school employing one 'thats public money going in someones back pocket'
no ppe other than rigger boots
i agree some of the training providers are churning out verbal diarhorea, but by no means all of them
yes some of the new gucci brigade are a joke, more kit than A&f have 'back to the Trainers influence', but anyone who has the balls too try this job 'Arborist' , deserves a chance imho
and the fanny's, will end up, bottling it, or failing somehow, eventually,
again your right a level playing field is ideal, where we all face the same B.S
its due to start the day after, hell freezes over,
i don't take bodgers as long term competition, in business, competition is a fact of life, its never easy, if it was easy everybody would be doing it,

the only way to get rid, is if the're dob'd in by there customers, for the terrible service they provide ( hse & Tstnds, aren't able do it on there own, mainly because they are well under staff'd, just proving that these people/traders even exist takes, a lot of time & money and resource, not very likely too happen is it, when they're already stretch'd
we have little choice but to rap ourselves in red tape, all decent teams care about they're work, and everybody wants to go home in one piece 'Teaching grandma to suck eggs' however no one man knows everything!

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

I know lets all do a mass suicide !!!!!!!!!!!!! that'll show ummm !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[teressa green]

up here am seriously thinking of packing in ,and doing ,block paving,turfing,fencing,decking ,little outlay ,little hazard ,big money ,take on a couple of lads who know the game ,get em a van and a good wage ,might be the way to go ,me thinks ,,,,,,dont need a chipper ,training etc ,,,,,sounds easy ,,,,

 

[jamie]

sounds easy TG, but is it as much fun?

jamie

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

up here am seriously thinking of packing in ,and doing ,block paving,turfing,fencing,decking ,little outlay ,little hazard ,big money ,take on a couple of lads who know the game ,get em a van and a good wage ,might be the way to go ,me thinks ,,,,,,dont need a chipper ,training etc ,,,,,sounds easy ,,,,

Iv'e been thinking the same thing for a few years now ,i just find it hard to breakaway from this poxy business..

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

sounds easy TG, but is it as much fun?

jamie

Jamie dealing with **** day in day out ,takes the fun out of this job ,but much worse than that, i hate the way we as an proffesion aren't taken seriously... but yes i know what you mean...

 

[jamie]

aye, speaking to folk in 'conventional' jobs, they ask you what you do, you reply with tree surgery, they come out with, "hmmm that sounds really interesting", when in reality they think you couldnt cut it in their super fancy super intellectual call centre, calling folk and trying to get them to buy life insurance. having said that i know what i'd rather be doing, all my mates who work in offices are busy putting on weight and getting steadily unfitter, i'm only getting better with time.

i can see the employers side, i'm just happy working just now.


jamie

 

[teressa green]

agree rola bullchit daily,the fun is rapidly disappearing ,,,,,,

 

[a_lopa]

add me to the list of over it

 

[iain]

have any of you used the new marlow 'gecko' rope ? the t16 was v, bad

 

[PRUNER 1]

i think a few of our lads use that at the mo. it seems ok, that other stuff is awful. i dont like marlow. yale xtc all the way

 

[Ross Turner]

New England Hi Vee or Yale XTC for me.The T16 needs milking to much & is IMHO only worth using for a tying down rope.

 

[Ross Turner]

i seen this dog licking it's arse and i thot to myself ' wow i bet that comes in handy', so i says to the owner 'i wish i could do that'. he told me if i gave it a biscuit it might let me.

Talking to tom(tam) today at work about this post above,He said it was no joke & its as he tells it.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

have any of you used the new marlow 'gecko' rope ? the t16 was v, bad

I have it, it milked badly at first 1.5 m of milk on a 45m length ,i still use it i'll get around to buying a new rope someday..

 

[nohope]

Well, that was a couple of pages of ..... feelings stirred up, should I just run away now?
A few points.
1 don't go leaving on my account please, the chances of you running into a real life inspector are very slim, Nationally there are fewer inspectors actually out in the field inspecting ALL BUSINESS'S in the uk than there are MP's
There are criteria for selecting which accidents actually get investigated that are handed down from our top management and they ensure that I think the figure is about 10% of all accidents actually get investigated. 90% of 'complaints' are supposed to be responded to, but of those around 70 - 80% are supposed to be dealt with by admin support staff not inspectors.
2. competence and the law, I know dodgy ground here. The law just says that you have to 'have received adequate training for the purposes of health and safety.' thats it, the devil is in what is adequate? and that is for you to convince an inspector or in the worst case a court. There is an approved code of practice which states that for chainsaw use on or in a tree a person should have obtained a relevant certificate of competence. The legal standing of this is that if you do not hold a relevant certificate of competence (ie CS38 for rescue) then you actually have to prove to a court that what you did acheives the same level of health and safety.
3. legislation nowadays is 'goal setting' not prescriptive this means that rather than setting a firm restrictive set of thou shalls and thou shall nots a goal is set (as in the training example above, it has to be adequate) then it is up to you to sort out how you fulfil that. I expect more common sense and experience from people I inspect than in the past when we just had a tick sheet. It is down to you to be able to convince someone that what you do is ok.
4. Paperwork. I hate the stuff, if companies have a lot of it I have to read it, and to be honest most of it is a waste of time. If places put the effort into managing their problems rather than producing paper then they would be a lot better off. I talk about risk assessment and paperwork whereever I go and certainly in arb firms normally end up discussing how they build risk assessment information and records into their existing quoting and billing paperwork.
Right I'll put my tin hat back on now and duck. Please do not confuse me or HSE with the scare mongers that want us all to live in cotton wool. Health and Safety Inspectors have been around since about 1850 or so in one form or another, we have a pretty good idea about real life, all we ask is that people think about what they do, actually use their common sense and control the risks as far as they can.
You can do what you want in your spare time, hey I juggle knives and fire, and stilt walk when I'm not at work.