Safety! Am I really that old???

vxwestie · Feb 2, 2016

This is a little tongue and cheek, but at 42 I'm beginning to feel like a bit of a dinosaur in the trade when it comes to safety.
Whilst I appreciate the need to obey the rules and lunacy of the big sites, but is there any of use originals still left that use common sense over rules?

is there anyone still like me that goes to work wearing trainers and not steelies? Uses aluminium steps and ladders without fall arrest and fixings for the bottom? Is there anyone else who has never worn a hard hat for a day in their life, works on live equipment daily, walks on the bare rafters in the loft space, doesn't own ear defenders or goggles? Climbs on a chair, pallet, bucket or anything practical when being too lazy to walk to the van? Has never seen a 'risk assessment' let alone completed one! Has had the same 'hi viz' waistcoat in its wrappings for the last 5yrs?
Does anyone else still have the skill to use a shape Stanley knife? Does anyone else still trust their instincts of only do what is permitted by laws and regulations?
Does anyone else never wear gloves and use bits of cardboard and insulation tape to stop the flow of the red stuff?

Is there anyone else out there that were taught to use their common sense and still managing to be alive after 20+ years in the trade? Or am I the only survivor?

NDG Elecs · Feb 2, 2016

Completely does my head in when you see a reporter on the news wearing a hard hat, and they are quite often in an empty field, with absolutely bugger all chance of anything remotely bad or dangerous happening to them.

Cue the Monty Python piano.

But saying that I did feel I should have had a dust mask on earlier today when I was scrambling about in a loft.

LankyWill · Feb 2, 2016

I can see it from your point of view age wise, but as a 22 year old i want my body to last me till the later years.
Steelies- Always, crushed toes aren't going to earn you money
Hard hat- Always when surrounded by idiots in scissor lifts
Eyes and Ears- when i use power tools as I'm def as it is, especially when commissioning alarms(WHHHHHAAATTT!!!!!.
Gloves- when drilling or wrenching as my hands are weak!!!

All of the above protects you from yourself and the other idiots mulling about...

vxwestie · Feb 2, 2016

Pete999 said:
I can remember when working on Spec build (house bashing) we used to make ladders out of 4"x2" saw benches for step ups out of T&G flooring, no hand rails above empty stair wells, burning bits of wood in a oil drum and toasting our sarnies,you youngsters have it easy now, soft that's what you are sof. All mollycoddled up lol, tin hat, steelies, ear defenders on ready for the comments I'm going to get. :wheelchair::hanged::nopity:

I was about 15 when I first learnt to make a 'hop up' from 4x2 and I still make one now whenever doing a new build. Specific to the height of the ceilings there is no better...

vxwestie · Feb 2, 2016

LankyWill said:
I can see it from your point of view age wise, but as a 22 year old i want my body to last me till the later years.
Steelies- Always, crushed toes aren't going to earn you money
Hard hat- Always when surrounded by idiots in scissor lifts
Eyes and Ears- when i use power tools as I'm def as it is, especially when commissioning alarms(WHHHHHAAATTT!!!!!.
Gloves- when drilling or wrenching as my hands are weak!!!

All of the above protects you from yourself and the other idiots mulling about...

That proves your point Pete! Mollycoddled and soft... Pmsl

Deleted member 26818 · Feb 2, 2016

[ElectriciansForums.net] Safety! Am I really that old???

Safe as houses.

vxwestie · Feb 2, 2016

I will confess to buying some disposable masks and wearing them whilst taking out a huge asbestos heating unit the other day... I must be getting soft...

vxwestie · Feb 2, 2016

Back in my day (god I am old) we were taught to check an inspect a wooden ladder to make sure it's safe, no assumptions were to made until you checked it for yourself... Then you used common sense on how to use it safety. It's a trait I still apply today.

Perhaps we are being soft as to who is suitable for the building industry and common sense is no longer a requirement

Geordie Spark · Feb 2, 2016

Spoon said:
Isn't using super glue for cuts better than cardboard & insulation tape?

NO ........ It's better to use common sense and not cut yourself in the first place!! :nono:

Pete999 · Feb 2, 2016

vxwestie said:
I was about 15 when I first learnt to make a 'hop up' from 4x2 and I still make one now whenever doing a new build. Specific to the height of the ceilings there is no better...

We used to make tool totes out of flooring, as well as totes for screw clips etc, 15mm copper pipe for handle, dirty old carpenters Gladstone bag for the tools we didn't need that day, B&Q Screwfix never heard of them in those days, none of yer posh tool bags costing more now than we got in a week.
Joists covered in snow mud up to yer eye balls drilling joists with a hand driven wheel brace, or an Auger, battery drills huh we should be so lucky, men where men in them days, hard as nails, no toilets, some of the more rougher types used to do number twos under the floor, unwanted sarnies chucked down the nearest cavity, got to stop now I'm filling up.

:grouphug::rant::50:

Geordie Spark · Feb 2, 2016

Pete999 said:
We used to make tool totes out of flooring, as well as totes for screw clips etc, 15mm copper pipe for handle, dirty old carpenters Gladstone bag for the tools we didn't need that day, B&Q Screwfix never heard of them in those days, none of yer posh tool bags costing more now than we got in a week.
Joists covered in snow mud up to yer eye balls drilling joists with a hand driven wheel brace, or an Auger, battery drills huh we should be so lucky, men where men in them days, hard as nails, no toilets, some of the more rougher types used to do number twos under the floor, unwanted sarnies chucked down the nearest cavity, got to stop now I'm filling up.

:grouphug::rant::50:

In the Geordieland shipyards they used to do them in any welders' gauntlet that was lying around on the job.

Then cackle with glee when its owner put it on ....

LankyWill · Feb 2, 2016

vxwestie said:
That proves your point Pete! Mollycoddled and soft... Pmsl

I think the quote brain over braun springs to mind in your case. When you loose an eye or cant here the burglar downstairs, i will be the one laughing...

vxwestie · Feb 2, 2016

LankyWill said:
I think the quote brain over braun springs to mind in your case. When you loose an eye or cant here the burglar downstairs, i will be the one laughing...

I drink beer, smoke cigarettes, race fast cars, shoot guns and chase dodgy women, dying or harming myself on a building site is the least of my worries!

Dave OCD · Feb 2, 2016

LankyWill said:
I think the quote brain over braun springs to mind in your case. When you loose an eye or cant here the burglar downstairs, i will be the one laughing...

Shouldn't it be brawn over brain Will ?

LankyWill · Feb 2, 2016

Dave OCD said:
Shouldn't it be brawn over brain Will ?

Barsteward!!!!!

I have a Braun Razor

ruston · Feb 2, 2016

LankyWill said:
Barsteward!!!!! I have a Braun Razor

Be careful with it mind.:shocked3:

Safety! Am I really that old???

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