Health and safety thread.

[oil barron]

Pretty poor statistics for Agriculture considering how few people work in the industry.
View attachment 751072
The Ag, forestry and fishing rate of injury is over double the rate the overall industry average.
View attachment 751070

While there is no doubt that the fatality rate in farming is bad and should be reduced, you have to be careful comparing statistics across industries. In farming you have a burst water pipe you go get the digger, dig around the wet spot find the pipe and fix it yourself. In construction you have the digger driver, the banks man, a guy in the whole with a shovel and then at least one plumber. So you can see how the injury rate per unit of work achieved is scewed.

In general thoug

Think about wht you are doing
Do it once and do it right.
Keep a tidy workplace.

Follow that and you will save time, money and lives.

 

[grainboy]

Yep, but it was also laziness - rather than actually read the guidance and implement a basic policy it was easier just to say "you can't do that".


Yes, but by simply banning ladders & steps in their risk assessments and not specifying the methods of access that were acceptable they left themselves open as there was nothing to say that a chair wasn't fit for purpose & let's face it - it's what many people use at home!

No chairs are not ladders or steps,
They would have probably requested the use of Podium steps or tower, not practical but SAFE

 

[dazza b]

When we work on certain sites we are not allowed to use step ladders or ladders you have to use platforms, tower scaffolding or cherry pickers you have to be signed off to work at heights as well if you are caught using anything other than the recommendations you will be thrown off sit immediately

 

[kiwi pom]

Its the same thing - something is described as dangerous because there is a high risk of harm to the operative.

Climbing a 3 step ladder is not as risky as climbing a tree with a chainsaw, even if you have had training and a safety harness. Its not 100% necessary to cut trees down by climbing them, its just cheaper than using other methods, such as large cherry pickers, and is allowed in all circumstances, even when using a cherry picker would be perfectly feasible. So H&S law accepts that an employee can be exposed to the risk of considerable danger in one job, but not another. Its not consistent.

I'm not sure why you're struggling here, H&S law isn't saying you can or cant do anything, just that you access the risk properly.
Your fuel company has either, had incidents of drivers slipping/falling off steps/ladders, identified it as a potential risk or just been told by its drivers they're sick of balancing on steps/ladders with fuel hoses etc so they've said they wont do it anymore and perhaps blamed H&S for it.
I'm sure you're free to buy fuel off someone else, hopefully (for you) they don't have that rule for their drivers. If every company refuses to deliver you'll have to change your tank set up.

 

[betweenthelines]

If you or your staff are involved in a accident, you should carry out an accident investigation, i.e. ask yourself what could have been done to avoid the accident or reduce it's consequences-did the task need to be done, was there a better way of doing it,did the person doing it know how to do it,did he have the right PPE, did something unusual happen to cause the accident. Hopefully you will learn from this and put actions in place to reduce the chances of another similar accident.

The accident could be as simple as someone slipping over on their arse on an icy yard and the lesson learned would be "if it's frosty make sure to spread some sand over the yard before walking over it"

Sadly, I've come across too many people in farming who just say "it was an accident" and carry on to make the same or similar mistakes again.

But next time, the guy bangs his head, gets stunned or knocked out and is trampled by the herd of cows he's moving.

 

[Bloders]

I'm not sure why you're struggling here, H&S law isn't saying you can or cant do anything, just that you access the risk properly.
Your fuel company has either, had incidents of drivers slipping/falling off steps/ladders, identified it as a potential risk or just been told by its drivers they're sick of balancing on steps/ladders with fuel hoses etc so they've said they wont do it anymore and perhaps blamed H&S for it.
I'm sure you're free to buy fuel off someone else, hopefully (for you) they don't have that rule for their drivers. If every company refuses to deliver you'll have to change your tank set up.

I do think lots of people and companies "blame" H&S instead of assessing a situation properly

 

[kiwi pom]

When we work on certain sites we are not allowed to use step ladders or ladders you have to use platforms, tower scaffolding or cherry pickers you have to be signed off to work at heights as well if you are caught using anything other than the recommendations you will be thrown off sit immediately

Exactly there is no law that says you can or cant use stepladders, you can assess whether or not its appropriate or you should be using something else, you do need to follow working at heights regulations though.
Some sites just adopt a policy of no stepladders whether this is a good or bad thing is up for debate but their site their rules, if you question it they blame H&S laws even though the decision is nothing to do with that.

 

[kiwi pom]

I do think lots of people and companies "blame" H&S instead of assessing a situation properly

Yep if I was delivering fuel I'd be very glad of a steps/ladders ban. Of course if questioned by the customer I'd blame H&S and claim I was more than happy to climb a ladder with a fuel hose 'guv' I'm just not allowed

 

[Andrew]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/priced/hsg270.pdf

Page 4 (page nos at bottom) Is he checking the tyre pressures??

 

[dazza b]

Exactly there is no law that says you can or cant use stepladders, you can assess whether or not its appropriate or you should be using something else, you do need to follow working at heights regulations though.
Some sites just adopt a policy of no stepladders whether this is a good or bad thing is up for debate but their site their rules, if you question it they blame H&S laws even though the decision is nothing to do with that.

Yeah it’s just site specific some sites don’t care at all lol

 

[7610 super q]

I'm not sure why you're struggling here, H&S law isn't saying you can or cant do anything, just that you access the risk properly.
Your fuel company has either, had incidents of drivers slipping/falling off steps/ladders, identified it as a potential risk or just been told by its drivers they're sick of balancing on steps/ladders with fuel hoses etc so they've said they wont do it anymore and perhaps blamed H&S for it.
I'm sure you're free to buy fuel off someone else, hopefully (for you) they don't have that rule for their drivers. If every company refuses to deliver you'll have to change your tank set up.

Yes, we had a shirty letter from an oil company whining about having to use steps to fill the tank. It's only 4' tall on a 6" concrete plinth. Even Kylie Minogue could have filled it without using steps.
We just took our business elsewhere.

 

[Still Farming]

Yes, we had a shirty letter from an oil company whining about having to use steps to fill the tank. It's only 4' tall on a 6" concrete plinth. Even Kylie Minogue could have filled it without using steps.
We just took our business elsewhere.

A tanker driver fell on farm around these parts once and did his back in.
There after if wanted it filled they had to get their act together or put in tank themselves oil firm told them!

 

[Still Farming]

Contractors and or Council verge spraying etc. and "Wond" waving with knapsack and micro applicators of pesticide , shoes, trousers , sometimes no gloves , or signs up etc alledgedly?
Then public walking through it ???

 

[Highland Mule]

Contractors and or Council verge spraying etc. and "Wond" waving with knapsack and micro applicators of pesticide , shoes, trousers , sometimes no gloves , or signs up etc alledgedly?
Then public walking through it ???

So what? Let's farming get our own house in order, rather than criticising others. Or is it lead by example to the bottom now?

 

[mf298]

I do think lots of people and companies "blame" H&S instead of assessing a situation properly

This is often seen as an easy way out by inexperienced health and safety professionals! I was once challenged by one of these for climbing onto a trailer which was all of 600mm off ground and told I had to wear a harness and clip on to machine that was lifting it.
The two words that H&S legislation ask us to look at are "reasonably practicable ". As in , would these precautions be reasonably practicable?

 

[Davy_g]

Insurance companies, government regulators assurance schemes will keep nipping away requiring farm
Specific safety cases, risk assessments, control of work including working at height, confined space entry etc etc, procedures etc. This will hit farms with employees hardest first then trickle down.
Risk will have to be demonstrated to be As low as reasonably practicable or claims will not be paid.

 

[Still Farming]

So what? Let's farming get our own house in order, rather than criticising others. Or is it lead by example to the bottom now?

If you have all your correct paperwork and carry things all out correctly then all good.
Good and bad everywhere.
They be first to claim if there health deteriorates or certain chemicals are banned.

 

[Henarar]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/priced/hsg270.pdf

Page 4 (page nos at bottom) Is he checking the tyre pressures??

well those tyres do look a little flat