Health and safety horror stories revealed
Wednesday 29th July 2009, 2:58PM BST.
Brave hedge cutter scales huge ladder
THE shocking injuries that can occur when health and safety concerns are given a back seat in the workplace have been revealed.
The catalogue of accidents is contained within the 2008 Jersey Health and Safety Inspectorate Annual Report.
From a man who was found up a huge ladder cutting a hedge to the roofer who was working perilously close to a sizeable drop, the disregard for health and safety is sometimes jaw-dropping.
Others were not so lucky. The report includes the story of a firefighter who suffered a serious and career-threatening knee injury when he fell down a manhole while showing people around a training facility. It also describes the appalling injuries sustained by a 15-year-old boy who was helping his father in the garden.
The boy stepped back into the path of a power scythe as his father was operating the machine. His father tried to pull him out of the way, but was too late to stop the mechanical teeth cutting through they boy’s lower legs.
• See Wednesday’s JEP for full story.
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
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Hello, what’s the problem with the hedge cutter. The ladder seems firmly wedged against the hedge. What’s he supposed to do, get a helicopter with a suspended scythe? That sounds really safe.
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No he should be using blunt ended cutters, thats the problem, he could have someones eye out with thoses. Lol
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The ladder is not tied to the wall (Health & safety issue one.)
There is knowbody at the foot of the ladder to secure it. (Health & safety issue two.)
He is not wearing a protective hat with visor. (Health & safety issue three.)
He is not wearing hi-viz or protective clothing. Health & Safty issue four.)
He is at a high requiring all three stages of the ladder when one would use a tressle or scafold.
I could go on from the book of common sense if you like….
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The book of common sense was long replaced by the book of namby pamby we know best.
If someone wishes to cut a hedge whilst balanced precariously on the top and falls off then it should be simply said that its their fault and they should have known better.
See that large hole where the manhole cover used to be ? ….
Walk around it
Want to operate a large, leg chopping power tool? ….
Make sure that children are indoors.
Cable on floor?….
Open your eyes and step over it.
Problem solved and one less over indulged, empire building states dept to worry about.
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gk. best laugh in ages …keep ‘em comin..
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You wouldn’t get me that high up a ladder, I’d definitely get vertigo. Most of health and safety is common sense yet sometimes the rules and regulations can go overboard with risk assessments etc., for slips, trips and falls.
Surely most people should take responsibility for their own health and safety, but then in these days of accident lawyers and litigation there has to be a way of making a fast buck by alleging someone was negligent – though it is often the injured party I’d suspect.
What is it they say about an accident, “It is an unintended occurrence, with and adverse physical effect.”
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what the picture fails to show is the ladder is tied in, as is the man harnssed into the tree. the ladder is being used in accordance with the hsc guidlines. Its a classic example of a photo taken by someone with nothing better to do. Its have been taken totaly out of context, the only this this photo proves is that there are infact still hard working people on thia island!!
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