Has the world gone crazy?!

[cornish wood burner]

Very much so, there is a move on the continent to do exactly this, remove all direction and force people to drive/walk more cautiously. It sounds like a bad idea, but it works!

 

Often in this country, you're not watching the road because you're to busy reading the signs!

 

This was exactly my point in the brake press operator story. If he had been thinking rather than blindly following instructions he would still have a full set of knuckles on his fingers. Guards and PPE etc are no substitute for thought.

[magwick]

Spotted a sign at the top a flight of stairs, it said no electric old peoples carts.

I would have taken a photo but a coach load of French tourists were pissing them selves and taking picks.

[easy-lift guy]

I got a new post driver the other day. Bought it off t'internet, and when it came I nearly cried laughing.

 

If the picture of the Two lifting the box are any indication of their relative height looks like it might take up to four of them fellows to lift that post driver up and around:thumbup1:

easy-lift guy

[ArthurBottlesworth]

Visited council office in Ruthin

Guy showed me the fire exit as we went upstairs ( first floor) which I considered a little odd

Offered cup of tea which I accepted but I wasn't allowed to put it on his desk as there were " health and safety issues"

I assume he was frightened of hot tea

 

This is genuine not a wind up .........

 

Fencer had exactly same exerience, so he went from using MF tractor on steep wet ground with post knocker, on his own to not being trusted with cup of tea ......

[gensetsteve]

It came in a box, again with team lift stickers, but that didn't make a very good photo, then it was cling wrapped. I do wonder who would use a post knocker, who would be worried about a a scratch or two, but they wrapped it all the same!

 

I bought a 20 litre bucket of paint off ebay and noticed the seller had a negative because the courier scratched the can. Damned if you do damned if you dont.

[Billhook]

Does anybody know the actual cost to the council of erecting each road sign?

The approval process, committees, labour, concrete apart from the sign itself.

 

Our main road crossroads has over fifty signs, forty are unnecessary.

 

We have signs for "Bicycles", "Ducks", "Old people" none of which I have ever seen on the road. These are subjects that may appear on any road at any time and particularly on country lanes people should approach corners expecting to see a woman wheeling a pram on the other side. (I have not seen a sign for that yet!)

 

Drachten is the town in Holland where they have successfully removed all signs

 

Controlled Chaos: European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs - SPIEGEL ONLINE

 

My own brush with H&S was when we had an inspection on the farm and the inspector saw a ladder leaning up against one of the 50 ton corn bins. The bin has a semi horizontal ladder on top to reach the centre but I had tied the top of the ladder to this top ladder so that it did not slide from side to side.

 

" Oh no, we can't have that. It is now a fixed ladder and the steps must be of a certain width and angle and there must be handrails."

 

So I went up and untied the rope and came down (with the ladder slipping from side to side) and that was all right with him.

[Mat]

Hiya Matt!

 

There is a really valid counter to the point (I think) you're making....

 

Poundbury in Dorset, from my memory only, and happy to be corrected, no (or at least minimal) white lines, junction markings, road side signs, crossings etc. It struck me that there were no guidelines / instructions / directions, people were left (and expected) to make sensible decisions and take the actions based upon their individual judgement. Surprisingly, it wasn't chaotic, quite the contrary, my opinion from observation was that people were courteous in their parking, yielding rather than bullish at road intersections, patient at pedestrian crossing points. I've only been there once, I don't live there, it might be different on a different day but the lasting impression I took away from visiting that town was that with all the orders, directions, instructions taken away (or at least minimised), people behaved in an altogether responsible and courteous manner.

 

Makes me wonder if we're over signed, directed, ordered etc??

 

Yo Kevin, I think the point I was making was that the unnamed factory had done what every town does, and that is they have taken steps to separate traffic from pedestrians.

 

This is not always a very expensive step, It does require good planning for it to be effective.

 

I think the fact that the factory had instilled such a good safety culture in their business that the staff used the walkways provided should be applauded, but in the arb world - we mock it and call the workers zombies.

 

(And we wonder why the arb world in not taken seriously).

 

The UK is apparently at the tail end of a double dip recession - and yet this factory is able to effectively instill safe working practices to its staff, and still function.

 

Maybe the factory is a well run tight ship.

 

Maybe, just maybe, the people who run it, and the workers who staff it have their fingers on the pulse, so that they can make good financial decisions, good health and safety decisions, good human resource decisions and good planning decisions

 

Do you think there was a "DANGER OF SUFFOCATION - KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN" on the cling wrap.....

[Mat]

Great wrapping.Probably worried about the dust in the lorry.

 

Some of the replies reminded me when I used to work for a high tech company that used to have a lot of government contracts, was big on heath and safety,accountability etc etc.

A brake press operator managed to bypass the guard and cut the ends of his figures off. He was off work for about 6 weeks and when he returned there was a big enquiry as to how he did it. Present at the investigation were, his foreman, the safety officer, the engineering director and the managing director.He was asked how he managed to do it, so he showed all present. However this time he trimmed his figures down to the second knuckle.

 

Be carefull out there!

 

This was exactly my point in the brake press operator story. If he had been thinking rather than blindly following instructions he would still have a full set of knuckles on his fingers. Guards and PPE etc are no substitute for thought.

 

Sorry, but in the style of Buford 'mad dog' Tannen, I am calling you out on this one

 

I feel this story is either:

 

> a total 'urban myth'

> has a truck load of facts missed out

> is highly embellished.

 

It is a great tale, but it does not 'add up' in so many ways.

 

Pleeeease let me know if it is true, you must have a web link to a press article or something.

 

cheers

[peatff]

I used to work in a boiler factory and there was a Promecam press/folder with infra red guards and you couldn't go within a foot of the operating area without it stopping

[cornish wood burner]

I used to work in a boiler factory and there was a Promecam press/folder with infra red guards and you couldn't go within a foot of the operating area without it stopping

 

Obviously learnt from my guy