And the workers just get dumber ...

[Arfa Daily]

I've just had two Marshall combos from the music department of a local school, in for repair. Both had been subjected to some kind of electrical safety check fairly recently, and both had a large sticker on them that trumpeted "PASS". But where had the moron that did the tests stuck them ? On the front panel, that's where. One of them completely covered the recessed power on indicator and its legend, and the other covered the legend for two of the control pots. I can perhaps, just about, understand if such a label had been stuck on the front of a portable air conditioner unit or a toaster or computer tower or something, but an amplifier with controls and indicators that need to be seen clearly ? What was the bloke thinking when he did it ? Do you think that maybe there are TV sets and computer monitors all over this school, with "PASS" stickers in the middle of their screens ?

Is it just in this country that people barely have enough brain cells to keep their heart ticking now, or is it a world-wide problem ? Common sense ? What's that ...?

Arfa

[Scott M]

I think its because the H&S mantra is so all pervading that the PASS sticker must not only be there but IT MUST BE SEEN!

I don't think people are necessarily stupid but I do think that worrying about rules & regs actually contracts the mind and prevents common sense.

[Andrew Mawson]

electrical

thinking when

cells to

The DIY sheds are full of things where the stores barcode gets stuck over the instructions.

AWEM

[Tim Watts]

Which came first:

Being hard of thinking

or

Needing an idiot's guide to everything?

???

[Toby]

We had someone PAT test everything in our office, a lot of the stickers were placed on the data plate of the equpment, right over the serial number/service tags...

..Not impressed...

[Bill]

Aldi fairly recently had polarised sunglasses. They were in little sealed packets with dangly labels saying that there were different strengths and that each pair was marked individually. I thought "I'll get a strong absorption pair".

After a good few minutes of looking at several pairs trying to find the marked strength, including the one or two previously opened by inquisitive lurkers, I found myself a nice young shelf stacker to assist.

Together we eventually discovered that the strengths were marked on the inside of the folded side arms. Again together, we opened about 20 packets before we found one of the high strength pairs.

The sunglasses are now in my car and very good they are, too. Two days later I was in Aldi again. All of the huge pile of sunglasses had disappeared.

I expect they will all appear in the spring in different packaging.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I never found a Marshall Valve combo that worked for more than ten minutes without a completely illegal line fuse.

100mA fuses and 110dB vibration levels just don't mix..:-)

When I was developing equipment,. I had one of these in almost permanent use for comparison purposes. I replaced it with 1/2A after the first three blows. Apparently tinfoil was the normal roadie solution.

[John]

It's not restricted to Pat. I sent a multimeter for NAMAS acredited calibration to have it returned with the security seal over the battery compartment lid.

John

[Phil]

Done on purpose, as changing the battery gives you access inside... Or maybe alters the calibration?

[John]

The battery compartment gave no access to anywhere else. Changing the battery wouldn't affect calibration. It was a standard PP3. I sent it back and they put a new sticker in a different place. Just a numpty at the calibration house.

John

[<me9]

A friend sent off an oscilliscope for repair. It came back with calibration sticker and certificate, but still didn't work. how they calibrated it is anyone's guess.

[Geo]

Can't blame HSE - they particularly warn about this:-

[pete]

No, it's not HSE's fault. It's the "just in case" / "better be sure" brigade who don't have the skills to assess what a risk is, yet somehow have got themselves into a position where they get to make the decision (probably because no-one else wanted the job). So they presume that anything which is possible is therefore a "risk" in the literal meaning and therefore must be fixed/mitigated/avoided no matter the chance of it happening and no matter the inconvenience it causes. Telling them that the law doesn't require it will make no difference as they'll still come up with the "better be sure" universal response.

[The Medway Handyman]

Worth remembering that Homer Simpson os a safety officer....

[Bill]

In message , Arfa Daily writes

Amongst other things I repair portable radios, walkie talkies. We get quite a few back with the reported fault of "low transmit audio" the reason being that they have stuck a label with the users name over the little hole marked "mic" Do people not have common sense any more? Do they not understand how even simple things work? Do they not read the manual? NO they don't.........

[chrisj.doran]

And even if the internal people kow that, the insurance company will say that everything must be tested by a qualified PAT test person. BTDTGTTS.

Chris

[cj]

cut

Or the silver foil from the inside of 10 Woodbines.

CJ

[Andy Dingley]

My gf haunts charity shops in her search for obscure Scandinavian pottery. A favourite trick of the shops is to place the price sticker neatly on the base, right over the maker's mark.

At the same time I'll be hunting for books. The rarer it is, the more chance they've stuck a price sticker into the middle of the cover, using cheap stickers that seem to use epoxy as an adhesive. If you raise this with them, make sure that you're holding the book rather than them - otherwise a clawed talon will reach straight out and rip the sticker clean off before you can stop them, probably taking a chunk of the cover with it.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , John writes

Yeah, I've had that on more than one occasion too..