From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

[john walker]

A lot of the Health and Safety legislation were passed by the E.E.C. These Laws along with the European Working Time Directives and other Legislation to do with labour laws are one of the main reason for the majority of U.K. Unions wishing to remain in Europe. The Conservative Government under David Cameron admitted that due to the strong H&S Laws the country had seen a marked decline in industrial accidents due to these laws.

[Ken Norton]

Visting Spain a couple of years back could not help but notice on a construction site close to the hotel, workers working in what we in th U.K. would consider to be unacceptable. Could not help thinking how a lot of the E.U. directives were being interpreted differently by other nations within.

[Keith Tindell]

I think the same Ken, they just ignore what suits them, Greece is another , frequently see motorbikes and scooters with no helmets on. Had a coach trip there, up into the mountains, tyres as bald as a bears ar**, and the broken windscreen done up with tape. They take the money from the EU, and stick two fingers in the air, kt

[robpage]

I did a course at Moreton-in-the-Marsh on application of the alteration to factory / commercial premises fire regs , an older Station Officer took the 1-Day course , a planning officer from a local authority started off about travel distance to a fire exit should be 12m / high risk 25m / low risk , he was bragging that he refused to planning permission several plans that were up to 500 mm over , the fire officer called him an idiot with no common sense , what a great lecturer

[Captain Kong]

All this Safety gear we had to wear ...Hard Hats, goggles, boiler suits, Gloves, steel toe caps on boots, Harness for aloft or over the wall. Makes you wonder how we survived in the old days.


below,
Hard hat was a straw hat. boiler suit was a Sarong, Safety Boots were Flip Flops, harness was one hand for your self and one hand for the ship.
No problems and very comfortable.
The photos are from the 1950s and 1960.

Photos do not open up anymore ,, Why ??

[john walker]

#12 & 13 if individuals and companies wish to ignore safety laws in other countries that is up to them. As already mentioned in other posts if an accident did happen then compensation pay outs would be less due to ignoring the legislation. Fines for the company would/could be increased for not enforcing or ignoring the legislation. Individuals can also be held responsible. For an example picture a scenario where you are working say on a band saw or other piece of dangerous machinery, your work colleague who is not wearing safety/non slip shoes/boots slips or trips on an obstacle he manages to bump you and if your lucky nothing happens .I f you are unlucky you loose digits from you hand. You are then of work for ?? Under present legislation any one of work for ten consecutive days has to report the accident to the Health and Safety Executive. The company can be fined, the person responsible for the working area (Manager) and the individual who is not correctly attired can both face disciplinary procedures. All because somebody can not be bothered to observe H&S Law. I think that the same laws are in place right across the EEC and it is one piece of EEC Law that the U.K. generally adheres to which pleases me. As already mentioned there are always people who go the other way and are jobsworth's or to pedantic in interpreting the law but they are in place for the protection off every one.

[Keith Tindell]

Brian 15, they open ok for me !!. kt

[Lewis McColl]

#15, Brian understand what you are saying but you only need to forget the one hand for yourself and one for the ship once and sadly many a guy did just that. But a lot of the problems concerning accidents is lack of proper training. But in the modern MN as a rule the 2nd mate is the ships safety officer. Nothing against 2nd mates and to be honest it was a job that has been forced on them. I have had on several occasions had a tap of the shoulder and been told I am being reported to the ships safety committee for failing to wear my safety helmet. Once was when I had my head inside a generator crankcase wtf!! but the best one was when sitting in the ECR filling in the log book. BP introduced fir retardant boiler suits. Try wearing them in the gulf when the engine room temperature was nearly 50degrees, engineers were getting bad rashes prickly heat etc. Thankfully BP sensibly decided they were not as they should be, bugger all do with HSE, they were $60 a pop against a white cotton boiler suit was $12.00.

HSE is a good thing and has saved a lot of deaths and injuries but sometimes some of it is just plan daft.

[Chris Allman]

I have told this before however it is very pertinent to this thread so I will tell it again today.

ELF & SAFETY

Things that were done in the 60s as commonplace, would appear out and out stupid and downright dangerous nowadays. But, that was the way of the world then and you did it that way or you were a wimp.

My first venture aloft on my first trip, would either make or without doubt break ( if not some part of my body – then my spirit ) I had decided. It had to be done, so I had therefore made it known to the Bosun that I was ready to venture upwards, merely I hoped, to the mast table and not to heaven.

It was agreed that this event would take place at sea, on a calm day with little wind, a kindness for which I was very grateful, however the thought crossed my mind that it might have been better to have done it in port, in similar weather conditions and the chance of at least some qualified medical treatment if something went wrong. I voiced my concerns, this was received with some mirth and I was assured that if something did go wrong, then medical treatment would probably be a lost cause. This piece of information did my state of mind no good whatsoever, and so not wishing for one second, to appear a wimp I laughed it off.

A couple of days later whilst on passage between Las Palmas and Brazil, I was working on deck when the Bosun called me over. He pointed to the table of the foremast and said, “ Right off you go “. Heart in mouth and sick in stomach, I made my way to the foot of the foremast.

I began climbing and was doing quite well until I approached the table. I then realised that the table stuck outwards at an angle above my head. How the h-ll was I to get up and over this outcrop onto the table itself. I stopped. A voice from below shouted, “ Come on, hurry up “. I shouted down, “ How do I get further up ?” The voice shouted, “ stick your hand up and over the edge and you will find a hand hold, pull yourself up by that “.

Looking up I saw a hand hold on the slope of the table base. I managed to get as far up the mast as possible, grabbed the handhold with my left hand and then reached up as far as I could over the edge of the table with my right hand. At first I felt nothing but suddenly, when I felt I could hold on no longer with my left hand, I felt the hand hold and grabbed it. The voice then shouted, “ Grab the base of the railing with your left hand and pull yourself up “. I did as I was told, and managed to then haul myself onto the table itself.

I was there, some 40 feet above the deck, on a flat gloss painted steel surface, about three feet wide at its middle, tapering to about eighteen inches at the ends and which was covered in salt and quite slippery. There was a small single handrail running around the table, which I gripped fiercely.

The wooden topmast was in the centre of the table and attached to it was the yardarm or crosstree with the flag halyards rigged to it, also attached to the topmast was the masthead light, another 25 feet above my head.
The topmast ladder was made up of wire sides and rope rungs. This was attached at the top and at the bottom, which allowed it to bow out slightly when being climbed and when the ship rolled.

“ Up, Up, “ shouted the voice from below, “ Up, Up to the masthead light “. Oh ****, I thought, am I really going to like this job. I grabbed the ladder and began to climb. Out bowed the ladder and I nearly had an accident of the underwear type but held on and in the end managed to reach the masthead light. “ OK, you can come down now shouted the voice. I gladly climbed down the ladder to the table.

Now what, how the h-ll do I get to the foremast ladder ? “ Oye “ shouted the voice, obviously knowing my thoughts, “ Grab the handrail and handhold , and feel with your feet for the mast ladder “. I again did as I was told and dangled my legs over the edge, feeling with my feet for the mast ladder rungs. Fortunately I found them first time and by reaching down for the hand hold on the underside of the table and then transferring my other hand to the ladder, I got over the edge of the table and onto the mast ladder quite easily. The descent down the mast ladder was a doddle and I arrived back on deck, in one piece and with clean underwear.

“ Well done “, said the Bosun. “ Now you can do that, cant you ?”, I nodded, “ Good “ he said, “ Because its your job to change the bulb in the foremast light when it blows, which can be a couple of times a trip “. I nearly collapsed.

When I think back, there was no safety harness, no safety procedures, nothing but the deck to break your fall. At least mountain climbers had ropes, but this was normal practice then and nobody had a second thought about it. I didn’t either after a couple of trips.

Elf and Safety – what was that ?

Chris.

[Captain Kong]

I did fall off the mast table, in 1953, [ blimey, 65 years ago,] I was 18 years old then on the TARKWA of EDs, in Port Harcourt Nigeria. We were rigging the Jumbo , my hands were full of grease off the wires and I slipped and fell all the way down to the winch bed,
I lay there in agony and covered in blood, my legs twisted in differendirections, The Bosun stood above me, "Dont lie there, leap aloft again or you will loose your nerve,"
They carried down the gangway and put me on the back of a flat bed truck that took me the hospital, I had two broken legs and a broken arm. In hospital for a few days then brought back to the ship in plaster. and carried aboard, then we sailed, The Mate asked the ships Doctor, a screaming alcoholic , if I was fit to work, he said , "His left arm is OK . so he got that sailors to carry me out on deck, sat on a small box with a chipping hammer and chip the deck, The monsoon rains came and all hands ran aft into the mess room, I sat out on deck all soggy.
I later refused to work. We got home two weeks later and was taken to Liverpool Royal Hospital where my dressing were changed, a couple of days in there then on a crutch made my way home on the train with great difficulty.

Never sailed with EDs again.#Brian