difflock

I could not agree more.:blushing::blushing: OUR particular LA cannot, nor will-not accept there IS a difference, easily observable to those of us with the nous.

I am aware of all of the above btw, but Govt H & S Officers tend to be obsessive about paperwork, crossing "i's" n dotting "t's", not "achieving output", and have NO pity for the poor trees felled to make ALL the necessary paper. I attempted to process paperwork on a guy who carried a newly filled with petrol 20litre Jerry can, across the yard, literally, and I MEAN literally with petrol splashing about his feet. He apparently had not noticed. And attempted to make several excuses. The lid was not "latched", nor was there a rubber seal in place, despite me having brought 10 or 20 back from the War and Peace show. I was ignored. I was "picking" on the poor man.

(i) Yes, but not for firewood, purely fer cuddling n hugging.(an there a woody joke in their somewhere!) (ii) Got unlimited windthrown conifer to cut up n burn anyway.

Psst Un-common sense Apparently. Would any of "youse" let a groundy climb a tree with a chain-saw. Why do some remain "groundies"? LA are convinced that any sows ear can, with appropriate training and supervision, of course, be made into a wonderous silk purse. Cos to do owt else ud infringe on their 'uman rights.

Kevin. Apologies, but since I have worked in Northern Ireland Local Government since 1984, I beg to differ. Senior officers prefer acolytes to good safe, productive (but challenging, cos hey dey got a functioning brain, like!) workers. Thust me, I know, unfortunately for my mental wellbeing. From a humble supervisory perspective. Where I get to answer for their sins, but cannot tell them how to do, cos hey, they know better. Everything, absolutly every apparently inconsequential instruction, needs to be issued in WRITING, OR "IT DID NOT HAPPEN" Seriously. No human being can run a multi-tasking do-it-all squad on such a basis. For instance, very recently, I instructed an employee to leave 2 heavy petrol engined pressure washers back, p'washers on wheels with handle-bars. said p washers were already on the back of a 3500kg beavertail. The hire depot was about 10 miles away. I issued the instruction at about 08:10. At 09:20 I observed a dropside pick-up leaving the depot with the 2 pressure washers on the back, along with a whole clatter o hoses and lances. The beavertail then sat parked up all day, being otherwise uneeded. This dropside pick up is used for pitch maint, the pitch they were going to first lay very near the hire depot. Why did a senior 20 year experienced man cross load these stores, with some difficulty as I was wrly and reliably informed. They should "obviously" have taken BOTH vehicles, one to backload the stores, one to commence pitch maint works. Yet "bad back" claims still abound, but/and ALL our staff have had had multiple approved Manual Handling training. Stupid CANNOT be fixed. m

With a TR70? branch chopper/lopper and working with sub 3" material, on fertile ground, not many years, at all, required. m

Well I have "broken things", and had "adverse" results from "risky" undertakings, but only when i knew I was pushing my luck, and had appropriate control measures in place to prevent injury. Other than repeatly, and badly, "going over" on my ankle, always unexpectedly. My control measure for that is to simply always wear Lowa high leg combat boots. Near fell below a bus once in Belfast as a result, before I larned i had flat feet/weak ankles. As they do say. "Ships will be lost whilst in Harbour, but that is not what ships are designed for."

I noted during a conversation with a J Deere rep yesterday evening, that JD now fit load moniters to their grass cutting equipment, probably "driven" by the higher current being drawn by the more heavily loaded cutting cylinders when entering a stretch of heavier lusher grass. The machine now slows the forward pace down. Because JD "larned" they could not trust the modern operator to "listen" to the machine and instinctively/intuitively back off the "go" pedal(hydrostatic drive) as the engine note changed. In days a gone by an employye who refused to "larn" ud ave bin sacked. Now they get sent for pointless training and also councilling because the Supervisor used "rude and intemperate" language. Due to such behavouir being endlessly repeated. But! It can apparently never be the employees fault (from hard and repeated personal experiences) Dumb and dumber ad infinitum. regards. Marcus

One simply CANNOT "fix stupid". But stupid MUST be employed. Simply because the comprise such a significent proportion of the population. Working Life has also become very very mechanised, due to H & S, but the employment of powerful machinery makes significent injury much "easier" to incur. In the old days there was much more room to safely employ the cognatively challenged. PS A disproportinate of the cognatively challenged prob are employed by L A's (not not work for, ho ho ho!) Simply because they are the ones who will stay(being virtually unsackable) while the better guys move on and upward.(Am i an example of this hypothis?, hmmm?) Anyway, in the best example of "reducing to the absurb" the hypothsis put forward by Jermey Clarkson is entirely logically infallible. If, instead of air bags and seat belts and ESP etc etc. Each car was fitted with a titanium spike mounted in the dead centre of the steering wheel. Everyone would drive a LOT more carefully and defensively. My particular "beef" with our current H & S culture is that it absolutly prohibits anyone THINKING, cos, jeeze thats a proper dangerous pastime. One MUST follow these proscribed steps/processes ONLY. Do NOT think. Bah, bah, bah!(thats meant to be sheep noises btw.)

But, erm, why did anyone ever imagine that any given car would achieve the manufacturers claimed (and patently rediclous/impossible) figures? Are some/most of the driving population stupid (or perhaps more kindly "lacking sufficient cognative function") The last time I looked about 2008/2009 I knocked 17.5 % of the diesel EU figs and 22.5% off the petrol ones.(being kind to the petrol figs too, I was) The manufacturers have since got even better at "fiddling the books". But unless doing astronomical milages once over 40mpg does not make a big difference to the cost of motoring. i.e. More £ saved by increasing fuel consumption from 30mpg to 40mpg Than by incresing from 40mpg to 50 mpg. And once on the right side of 50mpg, no bloody odds/insignificent furthur savings to be made. AND a lot harder to realistically achieve such additional mpg improvments. Marcus

Not v many large tree surgery firms in NI, are there? Merely taking a wild guess.

If this thread will stand another "outsider" (who btw is NOT happy once his feet leave the ground) comment. Simply because I am afraid of heights, IF I ever work at height I am particularly careful, I get less done mind. I still AM absolutly in awe of the young guy (Honnold?) "free solo" climbing btw, BUT he makes it look easy, wherein lies the key, he is on top of his job/cannot understand why others see it as remarkable. Quite genuinely. Again, We are ALL different. With different abilities and skill sets. I do fear "the glamour" of swinging Tarzan like, from trees probably attracts those who do NOT actually possess the natural innate ability (WHICH CANNOT BE TAUGHT) into this particular trade. regards Marcus PS That honey climber video was excellent, when needs must innate ability comes to the fore.

Steve, I am 55. Despite driving some 20k per year since I was eighteen, sometimes stuipdly tired, prob not infrequently still "drunk" the morning after (we are talking 20 plus year ago) And routinely, multiple times per annum driving in Europe, incl to Torrymolinas. NO high speed, or serious injury causing accidents. Only a couple of "fender benders" Despite cough cough "probably" running very overloaded bytimes, but driving slower, and ALWAYS giving the other party the benefit of the doubt. i.e Driving defensively, quite intuitively. I use my fornicating god given brain. Like, from 50 years of observation, the majority of the population do not. I really really enjoyed playing with explosives in the RE, TA. Prob somewhere on the now fashionable Autistic Spectrum (but before it was fashionable) and observing the workings of LA manual employees (& virtually unsackable) for the past 30 years. Dumb and dumber aka Dunning and Kruger. We are ALL different. Some are not aware they are different. That can be a problem. This point was proved to me (twice) this morning by (I) Amid ranking officer collegue who expressed bemusment that area was length times bredth (PS he is a LA "education Officer), who strangly has had multiple car "accidents". Plus another collegue who was convinced that E3(a) No. 3, was actually E3 No3, despite several verbal explanations, and hence dug a hole in the wrong grave plot. One simply cannot "fix stupid". Our current "world" is fixated on preventing stupid hurting himself and others, with NO consideration given to those who are not stupid. I.E. Being able to risk access, a simple everyday dynamic mental excerise. Best illustrated by the decisions everyone makes in respect of driving home from the Pub. Some do, some of us dont. Simples Marcus

Steve, your job is gold plated for life If in any doubt Dont. No thinking required. PS Our recent COSHH statements state that barrier cream is flammable and recommend wearing gloves while applying. I do understand, you understand, a H&S Officer had a hand in the prep of this document. Pun intended.

cough cough, as a final year failed Civil Engineer, I might just be aware of ALL of that list above. NDT=non destructive testing SWL = safe weight laden (with absolutly STUIPDLY high FOS built in, to be sure, to be very very very sure) PLUS Factors 0f Safety, for each component, generally multiple of integers, to allow for the stupid and inept. The Stuipd(or more correctly cognatively challenged) and Inept are frequently employed driving/operating Bin Lorries and on Construction sites (just watch youtube, it is RARELY the equipment that fails?) Despite undertaking some apparently "stuipd" and potentially hazardous operations, by myself, no one else in the slightest danger, I still got both eyes ears arms legs AND all digits are complete and undamaged. So:001_tt2::001_tt2:

Nicely done

No but I, me, mesel once observed a Gorilla crapping at Belfast Zoo. While sitting on a perch about 12 feet of the ground, just in front of the glass. Quite spectular that was. I was glad it was glass and not mesh cage:lol:

I will assure you that he never "shock" loaded anything, Ah bin about enough machinery long enough to know, for sure. Seriously, seriously! I did, btw, state owner operator:thumbup: regards, marcus PS In my job I am fully au-fait with H&S, and the implications for me as a Supervisor, IF any of my staff get injured. I also fully understand the hieracy of how to access if a job can be done mechanically in the first instance, rather than manually. Bin there, done that.

Man Sur, I bes the ripe ould age o 55, an loving it. Never been fatter (about 14 stone), but never bin happier(or perhaps more accurately, more content) Cause I no longer have any fornications to spare. I have also got better at expressing my reasonable reasons for being frustrated with work collegues performances, as opposed to bottling it up. I also praise where appropriate, and take due(and undue bytimes) critisism without rancour. Life is good.

However our current elf-n-safety nanny state culture now allows the less competent to hide behind legislation. Like for instance I reasonably recently observed an owner operator with a wee 2 axle Kato crane, lift a 26 tonne bin lorry off a soft verge. Using simple dynamics, in that he hoisted until the rear end of the crane left the ground, by a couple of feet, then "bounced" the truck out, a fraction of an inch at a time, but inexorably. Way way outside any operating protocals BUT perfectly safely. He grinned happily the whole time he was engaged on the task, simply because it was a challange. A by-the-hour paid driver ud prob have said, get a bigger crane. cheers m

Currently disposing of various LandCruiser bits on their latest tender. In case anyone is interested. Course LandCruisers never break down:lol:, so spares are prob redundant! m

:thumbup: Not based on ANY knowledge of professionally climbing trees, rather based on 30 years LA exp, where the Barrack room Lawyers always know best, as to why jobs should not be undertaken, strangely these guys are generally the least successful in their whole-life experiences. Our latest "wheeze" is "lone Working", JHC!, what a charter for the work averse. I had a guy refusing to drive his lightly loaded FWD van on rural roads, because they were icy? Buses, and HGV's were still using them, etc etc. This guy also drives 70 odd miles to his work and the same home again, an entirely more "risky" drive. Cheers M

And Greece is teetering on the verge of leaving the Euro/its economy imploding? Euro Central Bank "Quantitive easing" = print money? Hmmm Well Greek holidays and euro imports might be a bit cheaper at least.

thanks, I will m

60p/l for gas, an yer a farmer! "Disgusted of Dervock" PS Wor local very God fearing Church going farmer runs his bought-for-a-song hi-spec petrol Accord, on LPG, sourced from his own bulk LPG tank(for the grain dryer) Plus a new-bought dual-fuel Vectra as a rough runabout. And he then claims all the VAT back. No doubt he puts the monies saved in the collection plate of a Sunday!