The grumpy thread

[Lord Sterling]

Urgh, bloody hell, all day today I've been feeling right shit. Drowsy, headachey, coughing up phlegm (yuk) all while trying to apply for jobs and fill out huge online forms wanting to know every single detail of your life.

[scaryoldcortina]

^ That's how I felt last tuesday. By wednesday evening I was in bed with full blown flu. The rest of last week is a bit of a blur, but it wasn't very plesant at all, I'm now more or less better but with a horrible dry cough which is stopping me sleeping and a huge headache.

 

My grump however, is with the makers of DVD players. FFS put the controls on the front somewhere. Sometimes I might want to play a DVD without first finding the remote.

[RobT]

We’ve had a new system implemented here (by the resident office twat no less) that requires us to sign in and sign out every day. The ‘system’ is a paper-based tick box so it’s contingent on everyone using it properly to be of any use (which they won’t). What really grates with me though is his reason for this pointless exercise being Health & Safety, so that if there’s a fire they take the sheets and use it as a register to check who is in and who’s out. My issue is this actually negates H&S – what if I sign in, pop out for an off-site meeting but forget to sign out, there’s a fire and they see I’m unaccounted for. What happens next? Do they send a fireman in to a burning building to save me on the basis that a piece of poxy paper states I am in the office?

 

My workmate who is fire marshall for our floor agrees, her role is to clear the floor in the event of a fire alarm and report back to the head fire bod that it’s clear. A simple and effective system that doesn’t rely on the intelligence of others.

 

I needed to vent my spleen as it really bugs me these sort of ill thought out, but more important dangerously stupid processes. I shan’t be complying, and I’ve told m’colleagues not to tick me in if I forget as that equally annoys me!

 

The said twat is such a corporate lap-dog he's probably been told by the so-called management to do all this. Rant over.

[Rocket88]

We’ve had a new system implemented here (by the resident office twat no less) that requires us to sign in and sign out every day. The ‘system’ is a paper-based tick box so it’s contingent on everyone using it properly to be of any use (which they won’t). What really grates with me though is his reason for this pointless exercise being Health & Safety, so that if there’s a fire they take the sheets and use it as a register to check who is in and who’s out. My issue is this actually negates H&S – what if I sign in, pop out for an off-site meeting but forget to sign out, there’s a fire and they see I’m unaccounted for. What happens next? Do they send a fireman in to a burning building to save me on the basis that a piece of poxy paper states I am in the office?

 

My workmate who is fire marshall for our floor agrees, her role is to clear the floor in the event of a fire alarm and report back to the head fire bod that it’s clear. A simple and effective system that doesn’t rely on the intelligence of others.

 

I needed to vent my spleen as it really bugs me these sort of ill thought out, but more important dangerously stupid processes. I shan’t be complying, and I’ve told m’colleagues not to tick me in if I forget as that equally annoys me!

 

The said twat is such a corporate lap-dog he's probably been told by the so-called management to do all this. Rant over.

 

This system is really the work of a complete non thinking mong. As chief fire warden for our bit of the building, we run a buddy system. Basically, if the alarm goes off, and you have to evacuate, when at the assembly point, go and find the person you sit next to. If you can't find them, tell a fire marshall. The signing out system doesn't work, as habitual skivers will just not bother signing it.

[MrDuke]

We’ve had a new system implemented here (by the resident office twat no less) that requires us to sign in and sign out every day. The ‘system’ is a paper-based tick box so it’s contingent on everyone using it properly to be of any use (which they won’t). What really grates with me though is his reason for this pointless exercise being Health & Safety, so that if there’s a fire they take the sheets and use it as a register to check who is in and who’s out. My issue is this actually negates H&S – what if I sign in, pop out for an off-site meeting but forget to sign out, there’s a fire and they see I’m unaccounted for. What happens next? Do they send a fireman in to a burning building to save me on the basis that a piece of poxy paper states I am in the office?

 

My workmate who is fire marshall for our floor agrees, her role is to clear the floor in the event of a fire alarm and report back to the head fire bod that it’s clear. A simple and effective system that doesn’t rely on the intelligence of others.

 

I needed to vent my spleen as it really bugs me these sort of ill thought out, but more important dangerously stupid processes. I shan’t be complying, and I’ve told m’colleagues not to tick me in if I forget as that equally annoys me!

 

The said twat is such a corporate lap-dog he's probably been told by the so-called management to do all this. Rant over.

 

This system is really the work of a complete non thinking mong. As chief fire warden for our bit of the building, we run a buddy system. Basically, if the alarm goes off, and you have to evacuate, when at the assembly point, go and find the person you sit next to. If you can't find them, tell a fire marshall. The signing out system doesn't work, as habitual skivers will just not bother signing it.

 

They have exactly the same system as RobT in my office - the most utterly pointless waste of paper I can imagine. No other department in the hospital has the same system, which proves what a sad control freak our middle-manager is. One other clerical office that does actually need tight H&S, the main IT suite, has a security card swipe on the door that logs individual's entry & exit, but our office doesn't see that system as any more efficient And yes, everyone signs each other's names, or doesn't sign it at all, or in my case just writes rude words on it instead.

[RobT]

This system is really the work of a complete non thinking mong

 

Got it in one. I normally try to ignore all the cretinous goings on around here, but the H&S as an excuse thing just got my goat. Ho hum, on to better things - as the weather is so fine I think an oil change and a good clean of the Monty is in order once I've left this place for the day

[RobT]

Sounds good Norm, I'll get Finance to raise the PO for you

 

My line on this is similar to what Basil Fawlty said - "I don't know why we bother, we should let you all burn!"

[Rocket88]

My predecessor in my job was a complete H&S Nazi, it's taken me the best part of 5 years to re-write or simply eradicate most of the ridiculous dictats he put in place.

[autofive]

My predecessor in my job was a complete H&S Nazi, it's taken me the best part of 5 years to re-write or simply eradicate most of the ridiculous dictats he put in place.

 

in some cases (usually involving a death or two) employees go to jail for not heeding H & S paperwork that crosses their desk.

Any employee can train to be a "H&S Nazi", and middlemanagement are encouraged to train, as it looks good on their CV, and the company gets tax breaks for training costs. sometimes this leads to complete fuckwits getting involved. I was a union health & safety rep for a while and attended many meetings where new policy was issued to me by a man, or several men, who ultimately would go to jail if a death occured on site and H & S rules and regs had not been followed. These people were very, very, serious at all times and some of that rubs off on middlemanagers who have to impliment it. getting out of any location alive in the event of fire is everyones responsibility. I wouldnt leave it to the H & S nazis to save me life.

[theorganist]

We have had three employees claiming damages of us for injuries which were mainly due to a lapse in common sense.

 

One lad was asked to know down part of an old Factory building which we were planning to rebuild, he decided to knock the walls down before dismantling the roof, he decided to claim damages for the resulting injuries. To be honest considering the type of person he was at the time I wouldn't have left him alone doing a job like that.

 

If my liberty was on the line then I think I would probably be very serious about H & S, however the government should try and curb the litigation culture we have nowadays. For example local councils chopping down Acorn trees due to the fear of being sued by members of the public if an Acorn should fall on their heads.

[Rocket88]

I have no issue with sensible health and safety regs. U fortunately, most H&S law is so badly drafted that it gives the zealots carte blanche to spend vast amounts of money on totally unecessary, and, in some cases, counter productive schemes and policies.Without wishing to get all "Daily Mail", most of it is complete overkill, and the people who's job it is to enforce it are too stupid to question it.

[theorganist]

Well I hate to say it but it is not just government regulation. It is the no win, no fee lititgation culture, which to be honest we do seem to have inherited from across the pond.

 

When a woman successfully sues McDonalds because the Coffee she ordered was too hot and she scolded herself with it, you know you are in trouble!!

[TimothyClaypole]

We have a register at work but I assume the customers are left to their own devices and can burn as far as the management are concerned.

 

One Fire Door was blocked with a pallet and two sandbags for a good 6 months from the outside...

 

The H&S man also got a bit shirty when I asked why he never checked the lift too which wasn't installed properly leading to someone getting stuck in it.

 

He was more concerned that I'd filled an empty Flash floor cleaner bottle with the company supplied floor cleaner.

[Cavcraft]

H&S? They wrote the book where I work.

[M'coli]

We can bash H&S all we want, until we remind ourselves of just how bloody dangerous workplaces could be prior to its introduction in the 1970s. It's only in the last 15 years or so that it's started to get really tight and perhaps out of hand in some cases, where H&S officers become drunk on the little power that they wield.

[cms206]

http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/09/rock-radio-glasgow-to-rebrand-as-real-xs/

 

 

[Cavcraft]

R.I.P David Croft. Writer of 'Dads Army', quite possibly the funniest comedy series of ever.

[CIH]

http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/09/rock-radio-glasgow-to-rebrand-as-real-xs/

 

 

 

The station they run in Manchster, 106.1 rock radio, has also been rerbanded to real xs.

Steve Berry, ex-Top Gear bike doode, is/was* the breakfast deejay. Pretty good show it was/is*, too.

 

 

*I left oop north about 18 months go for Hemel Hempstead so my information is likely out of date.

[M'coli]

We can bash H&S all we want...

Thank you, I will. Along with the EPA and NHTSA and CARB and all the other claptrappery which "the West" has hung like an albatross about its competitive neck. If you hadn't noticed there's a reverse Opium War going on right now: wherein the ChiComs have got the Brits (revenge!) and the Yanks bloody well addicted to cheap-as-shite consumer goods (including auto parts and tools) uber alles, including our own jobs.

I had noticed this, actually. There isn't a great amount that I can do to prevent it, so I'm not even going to try. This is the free market economy at work, and the shareholders want their dividend so get the goods made with the cheapest labour possible - remember this includes some US brands too - Apple for example.

Don't give me H&S saves lives when HRM Gummit permits import of papermache jack stands and crumbling tires from the Land of the Little Red (Cr)Book. Saving us from disaster, my ass. We've been Shanghai'd and sold up the Yangzte without a paddle by our Protecting Domestic Overlords.

So what do you suggest is done about it?

[theorganist]

The point is, if we didn't have this compensation in the first place then maybe we would not have so many stringent H & S rules, therefore that is partly societies fault, i.e. our fault!! School children miss out on trips because teachers are too scared to take them due to the fear of being sued. I help out at a youth club and you cannot even put a plaster on a childs knee if they fall over without parental permission. The world has gone mad to be honest!!

 

R.I.P David Croft

 

Yes a talented writer from when sitcoms didn't need a swear word in every sentance to be considered funny!

[CIH]

I diagree, Norm, though I may be in the minority. China has become synonomus with cheap, worthless and often counterfit shit.

[yes oui si]

I can't boycott the Chinese. I enjoy their women too much...

 

*n

[M'coli]

Chicken coming home to roost.

 

Back to the H&S thing - one of those two miners has sadly died.

[cobblers]

Fanbelt on the bus munched then engine bay seal the other day, and ended up twisted at a funny angle,but still on. I twisted it back, retensioned it this morning and thought no more of it.

 

Driving home, about 1/4 a mile away I hear a noise and the alternator light comes on. I limp the rest of the way home, coast down the hill and pull up (Water pump is on the same belt). Just opening the deck lid when BOOM - The lids is flung out of my hands and all of a sudden there's steam everywhere and boiling water all down my legs

 

 

Surely you'd make a header tank out of a material that can withstand boiling water, at a pressure of about what the cap limits it to? (It exploded before the cap had began to vent anything)

 

My mate had a spare tank to put on, but to top it off, Halfords don't sell alternator belts anymore. I've stuck up for them in the past (I used to work there) but this has gone TOO FAR. I'll slander them up and down the carpark from this day forth!

[CreepingJesus]

http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/09/rock-radio-glasgow-to-rebrand-as-real-xs/

 

 

 

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck. Real Radio is The Devil's Work. There is no finer argument for having your radio exorcised. As their idea of 'rock' ranges from Bon Jovi to Robbie Williams, I'm not looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

Bet I get a reception for it over here, once it turns shit as well

 

BTW I was admiring your bus duck tape handiwork, from the westbound side of the A737 last Sunday; very classy, sir!

 

Oh, and I'll stand up for H+S in general too: sometimes people need saving not only from cost-cutting, risk-ignoring employers, but also from themselves. Guilty on that last count M'Lud.

[Albert Ross]

The world has gone mad to be honest!!

 

It's a ball of confusion.

 

That's what the world is today.

 

Black Sabbath?

[Albert Ross]

Hmm. I was thinking of "Wheels of Confusion" from Vol.4. Doh!

[M'coli]

Darwin shows the way for people not protecting themselves. A good thinning of the dumbasses from the herd would do wonders for the gene pool. Let them face the peril using ALL their intellectual prowess. And whatever happens, happens.

The problem there is that these people usually take some of the decent population with them.

[eddyramrod]

No, the real problem is that these are the ones who breed, in banker's-salary numbers! They're like weeds, you just can't get rid of 'em fast enough.

[Albert Ross]

I heard on the TV tonight (therefore it must be true) that for certain Anti-Cancer drugs it costs the Tax-Payer up to £90,000 per year to keep 1 patient alive. Let the patient pay. It's not me who has Cancer now, is it? (Please don't bombard me with messages saying how a loved one has Cancer and I've offended someone..... I know it's out there... I'm just having my 2 cents!!!)