Risk Assessment

[Simon Lewis]

This will depend on your own interperatation of the phrase 'common sense':

 

I strongly suspect the dictionary defnition is what most (i.e. the general public) would be thinking of. If we were to use your derivation of personal experience or knowledge, then we are pretty close to this definition:

• sufficient knowledge of the tasks to be undertaken and the risks involved
• the experience and ability to carry out their duties in relation to the project, to recognise their limitations and take appropriate action to prevent harm to those carrying out [construction] work, or those affected by the work

Which of course is the HSE definition of "competent" (as per CDM 2007 anyway).

 

Rather than taking a phrase which is usually accepted as "widely held knowledge", I'd prefer to stick with phrases defined in the legislation itself or at least in their ACOPs ;-)

 

Simon

 

 

 

[accessoperator]

This will depend on your own interperatation of the phrase 'common sense':

 

I strongly suspect the dictionary defnition is what most (i.e. the general public) would be thinking of...

 

Rather than taking a phrase which is usually accepted as "widely held knowledge", I'd prefer to stick with phrases defined in the legislation itself or at least in their ACOPs ;-)

 

Simon

 

 

 

 

?? Surley the very people Health & Safety is trying to protect are the 'general public' and the 'everyday worker'.

 

?? Surley every Health and Safety Representatives job is to act as an interpreter & explain legislation in simpler terms.

 

A spade is a spade (it can also be called an entrenching and material relocation tool ) but quote that to a novice labourer and he will look at you with glazed eyes.

 

By all means know the phrases or termonology as defined in the legislation or Approved Codes Of Practice but surley better to explain them as a phrase which is usually accepted as "widely held knowledge".

 

To me, Not explaining them in simpler terms in it's self could creat a risk. Tell the novice labourer not to use the entrenching and material relocation tool near that spot because there are buried electrical cables will only result in him picking up his spade and start hacking and digging at that very spot. He's under the assumption that the other tool must be some sophisticated piece of equipment he is not allowed to use.

 

Sorry, but for me Health and Safety is all about Common Sense.

[kerry davies]

I think I can see where you are both coming from and, to me, it is a very similar standpoint. However I veer toward Simon's understanding because though AO is right it is all about common sense, as I said before, common sense is a rare beast.

 

Even the brightest people may have 'sound judgement in practical matters' but no apparent common sense. When the ROH re-opened they took down the plyboard hoarding around it on opening day to discover there was a one inch step all across the entrance creating a trip hazard. That was a £200M rebuild by the finest architects and civil engineers in the world. Nobody had thought to check before they pulled the safety barriers, which had been up there for two years, down and it resulted in serious hard graft to bodge it before the Gala opening that same night.

 

"Common sense" is a bit like insanity in the Yorkshire saying; "Some days,'Arold, I thinks the whole world is mad 'cept thee and me. Other days I have me doubts about thee."

 

I have common sense but you lot? Hmmmm? <_<

[ramdram]

I beg to differ on the general sentiments of the term "common sense".

 

It was "common" then everyone would have it...ergo nary an accident because we would all be awash with prescient awareness and the inate ability to RA everything we did nanoseconds before an "event".

 

But accidents still occur the world over...you think about Darwin Awards and suchlike...which some might suppose was Nature's way of deciding whether some humans were "fit for purpose" sort of thing.

 

I still go for UNcommon sense.

[Simon Lewis]

I beg to differ on the general sentiments of the term "common sense".

 

It was "common" then everyone would have it...

 

Exactly. That's my point! I get annoyed at those who say, "safety is just common sense" as if we should all be able to just work safely using our innate experience of life. Beyond the most basic things that we do learn from everyday living, many safety issues require workers to be instructed in the safe manner of operation, and for hazards to be explained.

 

The terms used by the HSE include instruction, training, knowledge etc. These should combine to produce competence - which is what we're aiming for. I'm trying to differentiate between common sense (e.g. don't walk in front of a moving bus) and competence (e.g. knowledge and experience of how to isolate, lock out and test mains circuit for dead before working on it).

 

 

Simon

[ramdram]

So I did spell innate wrong, ** laughs out loud **.

 

Another issue is the "you can lead a horse to water etc, etc," and some folk will do the perverse thing and still insist on doing things their way. I speak from very, very, very recent experience where someone actually ignored an H&S mandate from on high on the grounds he had not be informed personally.

 

I despair, I really do.

[kitlane]

for all we know lanterns are raining constantly off the bars yet countless lives are saved by the secondary safeties...

 

I've worked in the business for 30 years now and never come across it myself or when speaking to others. Nevertheless I not only always use a safety myself, I always insist on my crew doing the same because if anything did happen then I'm sure someone would say "why didn't you use a safety".

 

 

I witnessed a 5K Fresnel (a big old Mole Richardson I think) get tipped off a bar by an adjacent flying piece during a fit-up. I think the clamp hadn't been tightened (i.e. not a failure of the clamp but a human error). The safety bond arrested its fall.

 

....risks so statistically insignificant that few if any examples have ever been recorded yet puts in place strategies to prevent them!

 

<cough> tallescope </cough>

 

A friend and colleague of mine was in a tallescope that was tipped over. He suffered some quite nasty injuries.