Way tooooo Risky

I’m currently feeling like we’ve crawled up our own backsides over health and safety.

We see desperate immigrants and refugees taking to children’s inflatable dinghies to cross the channel often in horrendous weather …. but…. consider it ‘Way too risky’ for them to be housed in a barge designed for the purpose of sheltering them. Five-star hotel accommodation must be the answer to alleviate any potential damage from a dodgy breakfast?

We’re stopping children’s education because of the risk of roof collapse when I’m pretty sure my school was falling apart all the time I was there. The greater risk for me at school was having my head shoved down a toilet because my dad was one of the teachers – nobody ever looked at that as a risk….

Roads are shut for hours when there’s been a minor bump.

Works on a pavement lead to adjacent road lanes being closed unnecessarily.

On site people slip and fall on steep ground, they might twist an ankle if they’re unlucky – the amount of paperwork this produces is unbelievable.

What’s happened to… ‘Just get the job done’ ….

We all laugh at the clips on LinkedIn where workers are shown balancing one ladder on another whilst leaning on a wheelbarrow …. but actually …what they’re trying to do …is get the job done.

Yeah yeah I know I know ….but it’s ok laughing and being all superior when you have budgets and risk assessments and H and S officers ….these guys are trying to make a buck and live their best lives and doing it the best way they can figure out.

I’m not stupid, I know it’s dangerous and I know people die – but the point I’m making is – it’s not just because they’re dumb ….they just don’t have the correct equipment and maybe cannot afford it …so they try and improvise.

Would we have ever been to the moon if a full health and safety risk assessment had been carried out? Unlikely.

Would any of our major buildings and structures ever have been built using current guidelines? Unlikely.

The picture of the welders and fitters sitting on the girder of the Empire State Building? Pretty sure that job would have been stopped?

Pretty sure the various world wars wouldn’t have started if the Health and Safety boys were involved …. actually, maybe that’s a good thing.

Just saying balance is needed.

Getting things done maybe needs to be pushed back up the list of priorities?

 

Mike C