26.02.2012
Shovelling snow at height
A regular reader in UK could not believe his eyes during the recent snow storms in the UK, when two men looking to clear the roof set to with now protection apart from their hi-viz vests – it’s amazing what people expect of these items of safety clothing.
Our reader explains what happened:
“Here is one for your Death Wish series. This was scene played out in front of my very eyes – I could hardly believe it. I noticed the movement as the skylight opened and out jumped two workers who started shovelling ice and show off the top of this industrial unit.”
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Two men on an icy roof shovelling snow with no fall protection measures in sight
“I only had my camera phone so the quality is not that good, but I can assure you neither had a harness or lanyard to protect them. Instead they were walking on an icy (and presumably sloping) roof without placing or using crawl boards and, as you can see, without any edge protection whatsoever to stop them falling 10 metres or so onto the car park if they had slipped. I have blanked out the company’s name from the building for obvious reasons.”
Yes we agree a definite Death Wish, we just think he should have left the name in place.
Bryan Cronie
I agree with the article, "a death wish".
More to the point, what did the person on the end of the camera do about it ? Blanking the name out is not going to save anyone's life, was it brought to the notice of anyone or were they just left exposed to the risk and hope that nothing happens? If anyone from the HSE reads the article will they act on it?
I believe in a little line that says "Silence is Consent", seeing someone at risk and walking away from it without doing anything about it, you have just agreed with what they are doing. Furthermore, in this modern day the camera is becoming a much used tool within industry, photographs of people at risk being taken, the next stop is the computer to send the photograph to someone, asking what they are going to do about it - without having stopped or challenging the person at risk. I bet such a photograph would not be sent or shown publicly if the person at risk had fallen to their death a few minutes after it had been taken!!
Remember that great piece of poetry "I COULD HAVE SAVED A LIFE THAT DAY".