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  1. #1
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    Default Useless safety departments

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    The one problem with companies today is the safety department , they people they hire have no knowledge of the trade, so fellas with little or no experience tend to commit unsafe acts and don't really have a clue that they are unsafe. For example. I recently observed two young Journeyman jumper out a 3 phase runoff to install permanent taps. They allowed their centre phase jumper to contact the road phase that had rubber cover on it. The framing allowed this to happen but there was a span guy above with a fibreglass rod in it. When I took them aside to explain that crossphasing a redhead , even when protected with rubber, was an extremely bad practice and a good way to die, the response was the foreman said it was ok. Foreman was a 26 year old former streetlight lineman with little to no line experience. My response to the young lineman , " your listening to someone who has no clue himself". The safety department was useless , no one with knowledge, but they could quote the rule book!

    It scares me that this blind leading the blind is going to get decent young lineman killed.

  2. #2
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    Sounds like the "foreman" using the term loosely, is a moron.
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

  3. #3
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    What ever happened to the "Safety" department reviewing safety procedures in safety meetings? Today it is sign the attendance roster and write you up for not having the proper spacing between the cones.

  4. #4
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    Around here lately the safety people have taken a few safety courses, they can count cones, understand traffic control, but have zero knowledge of the work actually being done. I even met one that could quote safety rules all day long , didn't have a clue what they met, and half the time his "rules" were just simply a company policy. We need in our industry , safety men that know the work.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by rob8210 View Post
    Around here lately the safety people have taken a few safety courses, they can count cones, understand traffic control, but have zero knowledge of the work actually being done. I even met one that could quote safety rules all day long , didn't have a clue what they met, and half the time his "rules" were just simply a company policy. We need in our industry , safety men that know the work.
    It saddens and concerns me that more and more leadership in utilities is someone other than linemen. Part of it is the pay for those positions as compared to linemen, the other is guys who want no responsibility.
    Note to self, just because it pops into my head doesn't mean it should come out of my mouth.

  6. #6

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    When I started in 1970 I was impressed with the company's safety process. The people in the safety dept all had backgrounds in the business, a couple of linemen a guy from the generating plants an electrician. What I was impressed with was it wasn't about getting a scalp on your belt for catching somebody or getting them fired it was about correcting and teaching people the safe and correct way to do things and they didn't have any problem telling supervision when we had a valid safety concern and they would back us up. When companies started to get professional CEO's you know the exec's that go from company to company with sweeping changes and then move on, safety became an account that had a budget that meant a manager that had to justify his salary by handing out discipline to show he was doing something. Then people with any real caring or concern about safety started to leave the safety dept. and we got a lot of safety professionals whose main job was to count cones and hand out safety warning or time off. We had quite a few that after seeing what safety in the company had become left rather than giving up their morals. Well so much for an old farts morning ramble who knows someday common sense might reappear.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by bluestreak View Post
    When I started in 1970 I was impressed with the company's safety process. The people in the safety dept all had backgrounds in the business, a couple of linemen a guy from the generating plants an electrician. What I was impressed with was it wasn't about getting a scalp on your belt for catching somebody or getting them fired it was about correcting and teaching people the safe and correct way to do things and they didn't have any problem telling supervision when we had a valid safety concern and they would back us up. When companies started to get professional CEO's you know the exec's that go from company to company with sweeping changes and then move on, safety became an account that had a budget that meant a manager that had to justify his salary by handing out discipline to show he was doing something. Then people with any real caring or concern about safety started to leave the safety dept. and we got a lot of safety professionals whose main job was to count cones and hand out safety warning or time off. We had quite a few that after seeing what safety in the company had become left rather than giving up their morals. Well so much for an old farts morning ramble who knows someday common sense might reappear.
    Great post Streak! I totally agree, we broke in the business around the same time, it's a shame what went down in the industry.
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

  8. #8
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    Bluestreak , you could not be more right. The same happened here in Canada, safety went from people that truly cared about your safety , to people out to make a name for the self. Great post!

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