Safety Reps - Thumbs up or down?

[Lancstree]

Is anyone here a safety rep in local authority? Do you find that you are respected by your employer and workmates or treated differently? Do you find that your position causes friction in your team or workplace and do you let this worry you?

 

Our place is lacking one and I'm considering it myself but the above questions concern me. I see the role as very important because I often hear complaints and valid points that are taken no further so nothing is done. It is easy to be one of those people that complain but do nothing but I think it might be a worthy challenge to act on these issues. Is the training and experience valuable for future career or would I be viewed as a jobs-worth and an inconvenience to employers?

[John Hancock]

Safety Rep? Don’t do it!

 

I was one here at Worcester.

 

I was voted in by my fellow work-force to take up the position and got no thanks for the time I put in. If and when you pull-up your comrades on safety issues (and it’ll happen one day) they will hate you for it! Unless of course your authority only employs level-headed, intelligent, well-rounded individuals.

[Lancstree]

Thought as much. I've just read also that employers have no legal duty to respond to safety reps which seems crap but it would blow up in their face in the event of an accident. It seems a shame that its a thankless role as its a volunteer role. Know anything about learning rep's john?

[John Hancock]

You have to make a decision, and it should be based on the following….

 

Do you like being ‘liked’ by your fellow work-mates? If you do, I wouldn’t bother.

If you don’t give a monkeys’ arse whether your liked or disliked then go for it!

 

We have a full-time H&S officer here now and he’s made life very ‘awkward’ shall we say.

[stoxs]

You have to make a decision, and it should be based on the following….

 

Do you like being ‘liked’ by your fellow work-mates? If you do, I wouldn’t bother.

If you don’t give a monkeys’ arse whether your liked or disliked then go for it!

 

We have a full-time H&S officer here now and he’s made life very ‘awkward’ shall we say.

 

 

Does his awkward views make sense from a safety point of view?

if so awkward could stop you or your work mates injuring themselfs or worse.

 

As for being disliked because your trying to reduce fellow workers from having an accident on injury then more fools them.

 

Strange reaction you get from people when you see a possible incedent and try to prevent it , after all your only trying to help someone from hurting themselfs. Wierd:confused1:

[Mesterh]

Does his awkward views make sense from a safety point of view?

if so awkward could stop you or your work mates injuring themselfs or worse.

 

As for being disliked because your trying to reduce fellow workers from having an accident on injury then more fools them.

 

Strange reaction you get from people when you see a possible incedent and try to prevent it , after all your only trying to help someone from hurting themselfs. Wierd:confused1:

 

I would say that the problem with being a safety rep (I'm not one but worked on plenty of sites that seem to employ them by the thousands!) is that it becomes less of making sure that works are safe and more of covering your arse.

 

Now we all know that something as simple as a visor is fairly good at stoping your eye getting poked out and that every now and then you forget to put it down, if a safety rep see's this he has to warn you because if he doesnt and you get a stick in the eye he will probably get a slap and not you. Same if you pick up an 020 on the ground, dont wear gloves(depending on company policy) have lose clothing while chipping etc etc and there only the small insignificant things that happen every day, never mind free climbing one handed saw operation etc.

 

So you can understand why they wont get on with the staff they have to shout at,discipline or sack etc.

 

The way I see things, is that you are solely responsible for the mistakes you make, and as long as you have received relevant professional training along with being provided with the necessary safety gear then no one else can be to blame if you decide to slash your arm while swinging about using an 020 one handed.

 

From what I gather the HSE is mainly there to protect employees from cowboy employers. BUT they then also sue the pants and point and wag fingers when mistakes are made, regardless of what has happened.

[stoxs]

Yea good points Mesterh

 

But any good safety officer would use a little common sense and understand that someone forgetting his visor once and realising his mistake is not really a problem, the problem would be if he didn`t realise it was a mistake and accept it.

 

Our job is dangerous!

Working at height, chainsaws, heavy manual work and unpredictable items I.E trees and the weather.

 

Good risk assesment is a big step towards making people think about what they are doing.

I mean good risk assesment not just write down what was written yesterday or not bother, we write riskies for every site we visit if this is 4 sites a day the 4 riskies are written.

 

I hate this stigma that to wear full PPE and tie up your boots to the top is uncool and lads deam it neccesary to use as little PPE as possible and leave the visor up just incase some bird walks by!!!

 

I don`t fancy the pressure of being a safety office because as you said YOUR arse is on the line if you miss a point and that point causes an accident.

 

The negitivity towards someone who points out a safety issue to a fellow worker and takes it as if it`s an insult is also wrong.

The attitude of i have been doing this for x years and havn`t hurt myself so i won`t hurt myself now is a bit narrow minded as well.

I can understand the older workers point but the fact is PPE, knowledge and standards are improving all the time so new ideas will come along and some will be better and some will be a pain and no gain, but thats for the experianced workers to provide constructive points to change the view.

[Mesterh]

But any good safety officer would use a little common sense and understand that someone forgetting his visor once and realising his mistake is not really a problem, the problem would be if he didn`t realise it was a mistake and accept it.

 

If that was how it is then there wouldnt be any problems. The thing is that as soon as some people get a bit of power it goes straight to there head and they go on one.

Just a couple of examples, while on a site I was told that I couldnt climb into the back of a transit van to pass tools out to a lad on the ground unless I was wearing a harness that was attached the vehicle!

 

I mate of mine was nearly sacked when he removed his safety glasses one step before going into the canteen!

 

A quick quote about common sense is something I read by Jeremy Clarkson. He was asking some copper in the USA about using his common sense over something or other, the copper replied with "You dont need common sense when we have laws" which just about sums it up for me

[John Hancock]

If you are a safety officer or hold ANY position which is senior to your work colleagues, i.e. manager or team leader and you witness something which might be dangerous, and you don’t act (e.g. pull someone up for using a 0200 on the ground) then you, yourself have sanctioned an un-safe working practice and could/would be liable should an incident occur after you have left that working site. Beware!

[Lancstree]

Ok all valid points but the way I understand it is that the role of health and safety rep is a voluntary one and the health and safety 'employees' such as safety officers, are responsible for overseeing all H&S issues. What if a man on the lowest scale became H&S rep? I'm not totally sure of the liability side of the role but I see it as being more of a voice for the concerns of all members of staff. It would be an abuse of power (if there is any power to this role) to see someone going round pointing out this and that about visors etc and then go and do something naughty yourself. Furthermore employers can choose (by law) not to respond to requests or concerns from safety reps which I found a good example in this paragraph from the 'Hazards' magazine:

 

• One of the most tragic cases is that Ian Dicker who fell to his death at the West London Mail Centre, Paddington in July 2003. At the time of the accident Ian Dicker was working on the main roof of the West London Mail Centre, installing a new lighting system and was supervising an apprentice. The two men were working next to fragile skylights which were not boarded or marked as being dangerous and there was no safety guard rails to prevent someone falling. After the work had commenced, the apprentice had fixed an infra-red light unit in position on the roof when Mr Dicker stepped forward to inspect his work and fell 30 feet to his death, through one of the fragile skylights and into a corridor below. He died of multiple injuries. CWU Safety Representative Stephen Howlett had on a number of occasions raised concerns and questions of the need to take action in regards to roof working safety, pointing out the dangers and need to undertake suitable risk assessments. His calls were ignored as there is no legal duty to respond to him or involve him in any risk assessments or reviews. All the correspondence, minutes and inspection reports he had were handed over to Westminster Council who prosecuted both the contractor Romec and Royal Mail.