Hard hats

[cappy]

##just as a matter of interest when were the the hard hats ist spotted at sea apart from the surveyors... I guess they were who came aboard in the late 50s or early sixties ....never saw hard hats or them prison like orange boiler suits in my time cappy

[Lewis McColl]

I think really when HSE kicked off big style say 1980's, the thing that piss-d me off was trying to enforce fire retardent boiler suites. BP had a rethink on that one when engineers complained that you could not was them properly and get oil out of them, also it was found that when you washed them a few times they lost fire retardent ability.I think the main reason they binned them was they cost a bloody fortune. Nothing more comfortable to wear down below than a cotton based boiler suite.

[Keith Tindell]

the only thing we had when going aloft was a wing and a prayer. Do you recall painting the funnel. usually job and finish, you would haul yourself up, then holding the two parts of the gantling together, throw the lowering knot through the chair, change hands to get the knot right over your shoulder, so now you could lower yourself. Not a very good description, but sure most on deck have done this, kt

[robpage]

we used fire retardant because of welding , they had to be dry cleaned , waste of time , cotton worked well , it was the polyester ones that caught fire .

Hard Hats , I was talking to a senior engineer with utility company , he had just been to a widow , her husband was less than six foot up a ladder , fell backwards onto concrete , died instantly , no chin strap , hat fell off , it affected her compensation , e was not using PPI correctly.

came into force PPE at Work regulations 1992

[cappy]

i think really when hse kicked off big style say 1980's, the thing that piss-d me off was trying to enforce fire retardent boiler suites. Bp had a rethink on that one when engineers complained that you could not was them properly and get oil out of them, also it was found that when you washed them a few times they lost fire retardent ability.i think the main reason they binned them was they cost a bloody fortune. Nothing more comfortable to wear down below than a cotton based boiler suite.

in the 50s saw many firemen going below in long johns and a sweat rag ....always a comment made if they had the long johns with trap door ....that gear was gone by early sixties.....like old square riggers every thing changedand not for the better......cappy

[John Arton]

If you watch Marians post on old cinema films, the Harland and Wolff one, you can see the guys painting the accommodation front standing on stages, no hard hats, no safety harness etc. That was the 70's.
Hard hats probably came in the early 80's. I have a vague memory of engineers being up in arms having to wear them when doing main engine overhauls, saying they interfered with vision and restricted their movements when crawling around crankcases. I can recall in the 80's C.P. introduced "bump caps" for engineers.
The P.P.I. ethos was certainly needed as in the 80's I can recall seeing all sorts of unsafe procedures being carried out on a variety of vessels I sailed on from geared bulkers through to chemical tankers. I was never a real safety addict as I always thought (still do) that forcing people to comply with certain procedures and using check lists to enforce them was/is stupid. Only proper teaching/mentoring by experienced and knowledgeable seamen can properly instil safety into new entrants.
rgds
J.A.

[Lewis McColl]

100% agree John, training in colleges these days is absolutely rubbish and one of the reasons why is those doing the training are not a lot of use either.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Cappy.
Are you asking because you think the hard hats would have been a boon for cooks to stop the spuds comin through the skylight. I never saw a hard hat at sea and I was there up until middle 60s. No hard hats on construction sites in NZ up until I left in 72. I think they came in around middle 80s in Aus.
I nearly fell off a stage over the side when i saw two blokes painting the side of a passenger ship of a punt in 2000 with safety ropes, lifebelts and hard hats. Stone the crows they could only fall two feet into water.
Cheers Des

[Keith Tindell]

How many times did we shim up the gantling when painting off the stage, miss half the smoko waiting for the pilot ladder .The only time we refused to go over the side on stages was in India, the reason was the night before, drinking our cans and throwing the empties over the stern, saw the sharks swallowing them , that was enough for us, kt

[happy daze john in oz]

Hard hats, fluro vests, not a day passes here in Oz we do not see them.
Yes on the building sites but also on the TV.

Bloody politicians in them on some site or other telling the world how wonderful they are.

They bring the hat and vest into disrepute if you ask me.
I would never allow them to wear one on a site, just make sure the bricks on that load fall at the right time.