as an observation...we shouldn't judge an old video by 2009 work
rules.............just a waste of time.
it happened..................get over it!
Merry Xmas everyone!
Robin Lowrie
Stony Plain, Alberta
----- Original Message -----
From: Don Thomas
To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 9:42 PM
Subject: Re: [cpsig] Re: K1a - 4-8-4 #3101Construction Video
Safety is not the same as mindless maintenance of rules that are not relevant
to the situation or are counterproductive. In the case you cite, the workers
should have been made aware that they have a right to refuse to work in an
unsafe situation, and if they were passing out from heat stroke or related
condition caused by their clothing, their working conditions were unsafe by
definition. Under the railway dictum that in case of doubt the safe course must
be followed, it could be argued that they were obliged to remove their
coveralls because the heat was an actual danger while the risk of fire from gas
was remote or nonexistent. Workers should not routinely be in a position of
arbitrarily disregarding the rules. In this case the company should re-examine
the circumstances where the coveralls are required. A responsible safety policy
would take the opportunity of examining the incident to determine whether it
was a freak incident or whether the PPE was counterproduc tive and what changes
should be made to the policy to mitigate it. Safety practices continue to
evolve based on experience.
Don Thomas
----- Original Message -----
From: craig
To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 7:17 AM
Subject: [cpsig] Re: K1a - 4-8-4 #3101Construction Video
I agree, but safety needs a common sense element too, which sometimes can be
missing when the rules are arbitrarily applied.
I worked at a gas plant in Alberta and it was required that before you left
the office or your truck you had to be wearing fire proof coveralls, hard hat,
safety glasses, gloves, and steel toe boots. All good if you're at a well and
taking readings, but we had summer students who were raking gravel at a
reclamation site after the well has been abandoned; so were in the middle of a
farmers field with no gas facilities for miles. However they were still
required to wear everything, so on a 32 degree day they were passing out from
heat stroke. Lots of incident reports to fill out, and the HSE people in head
office were not impressed that the cause of the injury was the PPE!
Craig
--- In cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Don Thomas" <thomasd@...> wrote:
>
> I work in a safety department. Safety is not getting to the point of
ridiculousness, unless you consider reducing or eliminating workplace injuries
and deaths to be ridiculous. An injured worker or someone's next of kin
wouldn't agree with you.
>
> Don Thomas
