My Blog Site - The crazy world of Britain's OHS Regulations

My Blog Site

whsblog.com OHS and Safety

My Blog Site whsblog.com

Anything of interest to the OHS Committee in NSW,

People at work, Safety, Travel and anything quirky or funny.

The crazy world of Britain's Health and Safety Regulations

Are they a safety issue, a breach of OHS laws or just a throwback from a distant past? Some of Britain's safety laws possibly ask more questions than they answer.

Flag Waving Loonies

MOTORISTS who attach England flags to their car windows ahead of the World Cup may wish to reconsider. According to police in Hampshire, dangerously executed displays of patriotism can scare wildlife, cause horses to bolt, and may result in criminal prosecution.

Officers at the force's wildlife crime office warn that the 'loud flutter' generated by car window flags was startling horses and other wildlife, particularly in the New Forest area. They also stressed that if flags became detached from vehicles they could turn into 'plastic missiles hurtling though the air,' which could cause serious injury.

Mark Perryman of the England fans supporters' club said: 'If there is a serious Health and Safety issue it needs to be taken seriously. But I was at Old Trafford for England's last match and about 25% of the cars carried flags. I didn't see any of them flying off and blinding people.'

The Guardian 1/6/06

Barred from planting daffodils

Flower loving Jenny Bailey was barred from planting daffodils outside a tax office on health and safety grounds. Gardening fan Jenny, in her 60s, wanted to brighten up the patch of land with some bulbs she had spare. She was stunned when officials vetoed the idea because she might injure herself and sue them. Jenny, who has planted flowers in her neighbourhood for 30 years, said: 'It's crazy. What is the world coming to?'

Green-fingered Jenny is regularly employed by her local council in Stroud, Gloucestershire, to spruce up the town. 'I don't know how they think I am going to injure myself,' she said. 'With 30 years experience, it's insulting.'

The Sun 27/12/04

No pencil cases in this class

A school has banned children from taking pencil cases into class in case they are used to hide sharp weapons. St Anne's Primary School in Denton, Greater Manchester, acted after a boy was cut with a letter opener.

Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: 'Most parents will think it is ridiculous to ban pencil cases just because one child carries a letter opener in his. It seems a bit extreme. Serious action should be taken against the particular individual, but to ban pencil cases universally is silly.'

Derbygtipe.co.uk 2/07

Rocking horse industry 'nobbled'

Britain's tradition of rocking horse manufacture, which has its roots in knights practising their jousts, could be crippled by new European safety regulations (CENLEC). According to the new standards, "activity toys" cannot have a height from saddle to floor of more than 60cm. That effectively rules out all but the smallest rocking horses, say craftsmen in the cottage industry's 60 or so firms who comprise the £35m per annum industry.

(EU Weekly News 11/03 )

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I Speak My Mind

◦	Do you drop your dacks at work
◦	Whats for breakfast
◦	Go Home. Stop those long overtime hours
◦	Benifits of Booze
◦	Stop Laughing and start living
◦	Don’t become a victim of the ‘Streisand Effect’
◦	Tell the boss to turn-it-down
◦	Coffe, Cancer and Chaos
◦	Weddings should be banned
◦	The Laws of the Universe - or Murphy was an Optomist
◦	Is it time to tell the boss to get ..........

The Law - Act, Regulations, Codes of Practice

Case studies - WHS through the cases - Australia

◦	Jail plus $1m fine
◦	Category 1 offence
◦	$1.3m penalty for death of a worker
◦	$10m Undertaking
◦	Farting at work
◦	Playing cricket is work
◦	Chain of command
◦	Accident on way home was found to a connection to work
◦	Worker impaled by reinforcing bar
◦	Unfair Dismissal at end of fixed term contract
◦	Sexual assault in hospital
◦	First_cat_1_Offence_in_NSW
◦	Record NSW WHS Penalty
◦	Who is Engaged as a Worker?
◦	Record Victorian penalty
◦	When are you at work?
◦	Fall at work. $688,000 compensation
◦	Record penalty against businessman for underpayment
◦	Rise in manslaughter cases
◦	Ladder use - training not required
◦	Make sure that your defence team knows the right numbers
◦	Telling a ‘porky’ won’t bring home the bacon
◦	Employment agency not vicariously liable
◦	Tourist dies whilst on tour in Northern Territory
◦	The cost of failing
◦	Suspended gaol term
◦	Enforceable undertaking
◦	Lifting of boxes is part of normal office work
◦	Should you be terminated for swearing at the boss, or kissing a colleague
◦	Who is NOT an officer of a PCBU.
◦	Powers of WorkCover NSW to force a company to produce documents
◦	Ensuring safety
◦	Can unreasonable behaviour be insured
◦	Is it forseeable?
◦	Employee responsible for own safety.
◦	HSR loses unfair dismissal case
◦	Transport company, and the director, fined for false records
◦	Hume doors enforceable undertaking
◦	Theft_of_data
◦	What_is_reasonable
◦	When a frolic is not compensatable!
◦	117 Workers found guilty
◦	Fired for doing a chicken dance
◦	Sexual harassment worker wins after appeal
◦	Enforceable Undertaking in glass factory
◦	Injured worker caught playing competative basketball
◦	Claim 19 years after death
◦	Throwing Stones – Not the Right Answer
◦	Employer beats OHS charge
◦	Beware of hot water before you land in it.
◦	Is 'lippy' a cure for bullying?
◦	Does a principal contractor have a responsibility to train a sub-contractor
◦	What constitutes 'reasonable'
◦	Be Polite
◦	Big payout for sexual harassment
◦	Sex not work - High Court decides
◦	Court defends HSR's actions
◦	What is acceptable alternative work
◦	Worker crushed by machine safe system failed
◦	Is it work? The courts don't always agree
◦	How not to break an egg
◦	Is drinking coffee work?
◦	Lifting copy paper nets almost $240k
◦	Baida Chickens
◦	Machinery supplier fined over amputation
◦	Director is not 'too remote' from the company
◦	The Kirk Case
◦	Bunnings and the Potting Mix
◦	Hazardous Hairdresser and OHS
◦	Robbery at Franklins
◦	Fosters $1.25m penalty
◦	Self employed - Safety for the disobedient

Stories from around the world

◦	UK Company pays 1 million pounds
◦	Hotel workers to wear panic buttons
◦	Royal Opera House made to face the music
◦	When can work be a smoko?
◦	penalty reduced on financial grounds
◦	Star Wars Film Producers Prosecuted
◦	Electromagnetic fields harmful to your health
◦	Warning to Welders
◦	A big payout for two four two letter words
◦	Green Tea can improve brain function
◦	Don't bully the boss
◦	When is a mother not a mother
◦	Obesity and work - the connection
◦	New Zealand to adopt Australian WHS law
◦	How I Broke My Collar Bone
◦	The church thatdoes not believe in prayer, and the whore house that does
◦	OHS Consultant fined for being unqualified
◦	Prison for OHS fraud
◦	What is sex discrimination worth?
◦	Don't get Cross about a Cross
◦	Fired for being too sexy
◦	Is lactation a condition of pregnancy
◦	Email From Home results in sacking
◦	Compo case while working from home
◦	Top ten US causes of workplace injury
◦	Drug testing and the story of a false 'you know what'
◦	Does your company have a love contract?
◦	Unknown worker retires
◦	The crazy world of Britain's OHS Regulations
◦	Buffered for Morale, or getting it all off

Stories from around Australia

◦	Who is looking after those that look after us.
◦	Drug vapours threaten life of police officer
◦	Urine testing banned
◦	Discriminatory Conduct
◦	Coles fined $170 000
◦	Unfair Dismissals
◦	Sex on a business trip
◦	Director acquitted and charged after appeal
◦	Telstra employee injured while working from home
◦	Jail sentence for OHS offence
◦	20 20 Hindsight
◦	OHS in a Brothel

Resources

◦	Pin Decision Tree
◦	Site Inspection Form

Communication

◦	Impromptu Speaking
◦	Retorts and Witticisms
◦	Washington Post Word competition
◦	Quotes1
◦	Quotes2
◦	Quote3

Legislation- codes of practice - fact sheets

◦	Legislation and Codes of Practice
◦	Fact Sheets and Statistics
◦	WHS Decision Tree

Accident Investigation and Reporting and Management Theories

◦	The concept of empowerment
◦	The Heinrich Law
◦	The five why technique
◦	Fishbone or 'Ishikawa technique'
◦	William_Edwards_Deming
◦	P_D_C_A
◦	Risk_Matrix

Just for fun

◦	SDS for hazardous material:- Man and Woman
◦	Murphy was an optomist
◦	OHS Humour
◦	Jokes you could tell in church
◦	When U Black, You Black
◦	Brain Teasers
◦	BrainTeaser 1
◦	BrainTeaser 2
◦	BrainTeaser 3
◦	BrainTeaser 4
◦	BrainTeaser 5
◦	BrainTeaser 6

Signs and Photographs

◦	Illusions
◦	Transport
◦	Stupid Signs
◦	Working at Height
◦	Not a good idea
◦	Electrical
◦	Wrong tool
◦	Overloaded
◦	Building sites and builders

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