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has anyone worked on really strict sites

im currently testing on the largest site ive ever worked on in Runcorn, where 'whistleblowers' are rewarded with offers of flat screen tellies, meal vouchers etc. There's been 2 strikes so far...
 
has anyone worked on really strict sites

im currently testing on the largest site ive ever worked on in Runcorn, where 'whistleblowers' are rewarded with offers of flat screen tellies, meal vouchers etc. There's been 2 strikes so far...
depends on what you mean by really strict sites.

im guessing the usual, gloves,glasses,hardhat etc.

no steps,ladders etc and permits for everything inc going for a $hit
 
I worked on the Channel tunnel and that was strict in the H&S manner that shanky above reflects on. You could/would be faced with instant dismissal for not wearing glasses ect. There was also £1000+ rewards on offer for information leading to the sacking of personell who were found to be indulging in sabotage.....which was quite rife for a time down there due to the wages being good and nobody wanting it to end lol. Personally I just kept my nose clean glasses on and head down and got on with my job...let the managers manage.
 
thats it, hard hat gloves and glasses. permits for everything, rams, 4 hour induction, spot checks every day, no stanley knives, no steps-podiums only, no radios, no food or drink, long-sleeved clothing at all times, no jewellery.
the job itself is brilliant, i love it. the rules are a bit crazy though!
 
thats it, hard hat gloves and glasses. permits for everything, rams, 4 hour induction, spot checks every day, no stanley knives, no steps-podiums only, no radios, no food or drink, long-sleeved clothing at all times, no jewellery.
the job itself is brilliant, i love it. the rules are a bit crazy though!
no problem for me, i dont use any stanley tools XD

surely an electricians knife is more dangerous?

it has only taken me 5-10mins to sharpen a folding knife through

dmt,1k,4k then 8k 8k= razor sharp e.g. i would shave with it
 
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thats it, hard hat gloves and glasses. permits for everything, rams, 4 hour induction, spot checks every day, no stanley knives, no steps-podiums only, no radios, no food or drink, long-sleeved clothing at all times, no jewellery.
the job itself is brilliant, i love it. the rules are a bit crazy though!

no way would i tolerate miserable & inflexible working conditions such as these for 5 seconds , the moneys irrelevent.

Thats what happens when the bigger contractors of the UK embrace the over zealous H&S mantra.

in fact i've quit jobs with a more relaxed atmosphere than that.
 
also no phones on site. no exceptions
and as of next week when im live testing, its rubber mat, permist to test live, insulated gauntlets, safe isolation supervised by H&S, barriers, no lone working. im a bag of nerves! then there's the red card system: yellow card = warning, another yellow card= 3 month site ban, red card= permanent ban. and a few have been banned already!
 
also no phones on site. no exceptions
and as of next week when im live testing, its rubber mat, permist to test live, insulated gauntlets, safe isolation supervised by H&S, barriers, no lone working. im a bag of nerves! then there's the red card system: yellow card = warning, another yellow card= 3 month site ban, red card= permanent ban. and a few have been banned already!

in other words , 2 hours of prep for a 10 second earth loop test........

the worlds gone f******* mad lol
 
also no phones on site. no exceptions
and as of next week when im live testing, its rubber mat, permist to test live, insulated gauntlets, safe isolation supervised by H&S, barriers, no lone working. im a bag of nerves! then there's the red card system: yellow card = warning, another yellow card= 3 month site ban, red card= permanent ban. and a few have been banned already!
i wouldnt work there.

why do you need insulated gauntlets to test?

we had that but because of where it was fed from we enjoyed telling them we would have to isolate the whole site XD.

one of the jobs we are working on will be a right laugh soon.

ok old system ripped out and new installed off new bms panel, patients transfered to the finished isolation rooms, phase 2 rip out old and then install into running bms panel with patients in isolation ward fed from panel.


how do you test and commision the system?

we are not allowed in the wards till patients have been removed and the rooms have been sterilised with hydrogen peroxcide etc
 
And the REAL cost of all these draconian rules?? (and in many cases unofficial ones at that) ...Probably 3 times that of a standard H&S ruled project. Someone, somewhere, somehow is making a wedge, ...of that i am certain!! lol!!
 
PPE is supposed to be a last resort to be taken when hazards cannot be removed. Instead, it's used stupidly. Baileys a few years back had a policy that gloves were to be worn at all times but because it's tricky to terminate cables with gloves on we could cut the fingers out of them.
So what the hell was the point of the gloves?
 
old school sparks didn't need this sort of shyte. you knew the hazards and dealt with them accordingly, not blindly following the rules laid down by some suit/jobsworth who knew less about electrical installations than my dog.
 
H & S has its place in big building sites. We are all so anti-rules and sit back and mutter the worlds gone mad ect BUT why are we (construction) still the biggest killer from accidents at work ? Because H & S is not being implemented properly. It's put there to try to ensure you go home at night. Too many "in the good old days" types forget that deaths on construction sites were much higher than before H & S became involved. I have walked off site where I felt H & S is not up to scratch and too my liking.
Yes there are little Hitler's about....but they are not all H & S inspectors lol some are managers and owners/clients. We/you are there to do a job. If a 10 min job takes you 2 hours due to extra safety measures required by the site then do it....It's not your cash. The job will have been priced accordingly.
I am no company hero lol. It wont say on my headstone "Ol dave went that extra mile...." Balls to that.
As an aside the Glasses at the Channel Tunnel were like Michael Kane specs...to stop the sand getting in your eyes due to sudden gusts from the coast blowing sand into people on sites eyes. Apparently quite a few people had gotten eye problems due to this and the H & S response was permanent wearing of these plastic specs.....You know what ? It bloody worked too. They also had the safety record board at main entrance to boast about how many days since last death ect.....As annoying as it was I think overall it was pretty effective down there for its time.
 
Diddy, I don't think anyone really objects to sensible, properly applied H&S rules but it has become an industry in it's own right. Populated usually, by people who have never done any construction work but who get the right to dictate working practices to people who have often got decades of experience.
I've been on many sites where the wearing of a hi viz vest has been mandatory, it is on most now as I understand things, but what is the point of wearing one indoors?
Similarly with hard hats, what is the point of wearing one indoors? If the building collapses then those few millimetres of plastic balanced on your head is not going to save your life.
 
was on a site a few tears ago. red hot august. roofers were ordered to put their hard hats on. perhaps a jumbo jet was going to drop frozen turds on them. they all walked off site. main contractor got them back only after binning the h&s hitler.
 
Late afternoon we were asked to stack light fittings upstairs in a building we were second fixing so we daisy chained a few lads and were passing them between us. I was on a half landing about a metre above floor level.
H&S ---- ordered me to put a harness on, gave me the choice between getting one on or being kicked off site.
How I laughed a few days later when I saw him wandering about the site with his hard hat on back to front.
 
Trev - I agree with you but I also disagree lol. For a start H & S has to look after the lowest common denominator (People). There are plenty of unskilled people working on building sites. Some of them are bloody dangerous to be around. Then the flip side is when an accident happens it follows on that the injured is poss going to need treatment/cash they may have a case that they were "forced" to work in less than ideal conditions...some people need saving from themselves.
True story - I was subbying on a site for Romec in dover. Easy job easy cash good hours ect. Anyway about 3 weeks before handover 1 of my fellow sparks falls off a pair of steps...prat was working from top rung. This accident turned into big deal because the bloke landed freakishly on his arm.....which had to be amputated.
When I heard him scream I rushed into the room and straight to his aid....an old hand beside me said ffs Dave where's his hat.....we quickly threw one beside him..job done he got his compo and whatever else he was entitled to. The moral here is if he was found not to have been wearing ppe he would not have got anything and may even have been fined.....Arse covering all round im afraid.
 
if e was standing on the top of steps, he should not have go any compo. hard hat, my arse. any fool knows that balancing on the top step of ladders is stupid. i've walked off 2 sites where i was asked to do this and received pay for the dead time.
 
if e was standing on the top of steps, he should not have go any compo. hard hat, my arse. any fool knows that balancing on the top step of ladders is stupid. i've walked off 2 sites where i was asked to do this and received pay for the dead time.
He blamed the steps but one of the other lads had noticed what he had been doing.....hard hat ect all true honest. The lads closed together and all backed the bloke up. The HH was put in place before site agent ect turned up at scene....it was one of the 1st things he/they asked. Poor condition steps supplied by the client were to blame in the end.....
 
i worked at a site for a household kitchen appliance manufacturer near me where a worker was crushed by a scissor lift, the guy had a broken arm. the company gave him a load of money and told him to come to work every day but do no work....just so they could keep their 'accident free record' intact!!
 
Like the electrical police scams ,the h&s scam has been thrust upon us over the years.
its another industry piggybacked on the top of ours that has to somehow justify its existence.
ive never fallen off a pair of steps in 27 years ....I'm not going to start now am I?
the no step rule is a great example.
no steps at all until the doors go on and you can't get a podium through.
can I levitate? Not unless I'm david Blaine.
ill get a pair of steps then.
ok.
every big site I've been on some donut has fallen down the lift shaft from varying heights regardless of the barriers/permits to work put in place.
as tel says old school sparks did not need this ****e in place for you to work safely.
its too risky , beat it gaffer / do it yourself would be the answer.
common sense is where it should be at.
 
Don't get me wrong, I've refused to carry out work because proper access equipment hasn't been provided. I've also walked off sites if I've been asked to work in an unsafe manner BUT we all carry out our own risk assessments whether we're aware of it or not. Just the majority of times they don't get recorded.
 

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