18.02.2012
Extra counterweight
Another example of the capacity of an industrial fork truck being boosted by human counterweight. Amazingly the counterweight is safety conscious enough to be wearing a hi-viz vest and probably has safety shoes too…guess he thinks this makes him immune to accidents?
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A man fully equipped with his Hi-Viz vest, serves as an extra counterweight for the forklift
Sadly the photo, which was snapped at a location in Kent is not very clear, but it does show what we know goes on all too often. Definitely a Death Wish.
paul-roberts54
I agree 100% with Michael’s comments. The moment some people put on PPE it is almost as if they become invincible and believe they can't be hurt or killed.
I work within nuclear decommissioning where Safety is not given a priority, it comes before anything. It's not just the people we have to keep safe, but the plant, processes and environment around us. Many of the contractors we bring to site struggle at first with our safety requirements and procedures but they soon adapt. They have to if they wish to stay on site.
Anyone on site can and is encouraged to challenge any bad or unsafe behaviours and it works.
Paul Roberts
LOLER Compliance Manager
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Good Evening Mr Editor,
Your excellent website is a significant contribution to driving-up safety standards in the Crane and Lifting Industries and the photo above pursues that objective.
The photo depicted is yet another graphic example of the widespread myth in British Industry, that I can do anything Dangerous that I want... and do it in a very Dangerous manner and I will not get killed, as long as I wear my Hi-Viz vest.
This Myth permeates every level of British Industry from Boardroom down to Shopfloor and is seen by me on a Daily Basis. The best recent example I can give was on Saturday Afternoon the 21st January 2012, when I stood on Hill Street in Birmingham and watched two (2) Men wearing full PPE including Fall Arrest Harnesses working on the unguarded roof of two Double-Stacked Portakabins at the Nth End of Platform 1 on New Street Station. The reason I mention this was because the two Men were both wearing Harnesses, but were not 'Clipped On', for on this particular Roof there was no-where to clip onto.
This was only 10 days or so after Network Rail (NR) had been prosecuted for the two Fatalities on a Level Crossing in Essex. Yet these two Men were clearly working in an unsafe manner 25 foot above the live 25 Kva Tracks in New Street Station, despite being surrounded by a myriad of HSW Signs, Hard Hats and Orange Hi-viz Vests.
For the avoidance of doubt, 'Safe Systems of Work' the common Law obligation for all Employers in the UK is not, repeat is NOT achieved by wearing Hi-viz Vests. It is achieved by Assessing the Risks beforehand, then putting Control Measures in place to mitigate the effects of workplace hazards, by means of ERIC ( Eliminate, Reduce, Isolate, Control). So before anyone from NR reacts by writing-in to say 'We Know all that'. Then let me reply, I dont doubt that you do, but that your company is NOT applying it in practice and Saturday 21/1/12 at BNS Station is just one example.
The HSE will confirm that 171 men and women were killed at work in 2010/11 including 50 killed in the Construction Industry. (Plus two Members of the Public). But on Friday 15th January 1988, one of those fatalities was my Father in Law David Stanford, who was killed at work by a Crane Driver. Thus leaving his family in poverty for the next 10 years.
So please lets stop the Myth that Hi-Viz vests makes us Safe, for it does not. Only Training, Instruction, Supervision and Compliance with The HSW Act 1974 makes us safe. For all the rest is just window dressing, to make it look like we are compliant, when in reality we are not.
Only Lightning is accidental, most of the rest of these dangerous incidents are simply VG examples of Negligence.... for which the Employer is Vicariously Liable in English Law.
Kind Regards
Mike Ponsonby BA