I was flicking across the channels last night (Wed, 27 Oct) and started watching a part of GD. The scene in question involved craning in a steel lift shaft and a circular staircase, to a part- finished building. There were about half a dozen builders in view, shouting things like "a bit to the left, Dave" and guiding the payloads into their final resting place. Not one of them was wearing a H/H, though I briefly saw one lying, discarded close to where the work was taking place. Is this the sort of work environment that you'd normally expect to see people wearing protection? or are there special rules for private property or when making TV programmes? I didn't stay with the programme very long, so I don't know if this was an exception to the show's usual practices, but it did seem a little lax.
realised it is wearing the hair off his head. In previous series he would put one on just to go to the toilet. But I also used to notice lots of "hard hats must be worn" signs. Simon.
That is quite contentious since this program is supposed to be reality (even more so than (un)reality TV). By the way, why is TV still using "noddy" shots? Everyone is wised up to this sort of thing now. The Xfactor is exposing things even more with its extreme levels of fakery. I think in general, politics, TV, people are getting annoyed about being conned and lied to. Simon.
The HSE would take a dim view. Bear in mind that most building site employers won't allow a worker to put a foot onto the site unless they have a hard hat, steel toe cap boots and a hi-viz jacket as a minimum.
Despite what some HSE Inspectors might try to claim, the regulations are fairly flexible. Regulation 13 of the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 states
(1) So far as is reasonable practical, suitable and effective means shall be taken to prevent any event specified in paragraph (3)
(2) So far as is reasonably practical, the measures required by paragraph (1) shall be measures other than the provision of personal protective equipment, information, instruction, training or supervision.
(3) The events specified in this paragraph are
(a) any person falling a distance likely to cause personal injury
(b) any person being struck by a falling object likely to cause personal injury
So, if there are reasonably practical precautions in place that are not the provision of personal protective equipment, information, instruction, training or supervision, then no PPE is required. In any case, would a hard hat be a suitable and effective way to prevent personal injury if someone were struck by an object that needed a crane to lift?
The idea that hard hats are worn at all times no doubt arises from the fact that on a large building site it is simpler to enforce that than to assess every situation to decide whether PPE is appropriate, especially as each case may change from day to day as building progresses.
In fact, in terms of safety, PPE is almost the last resort. The ideal is to completely separate people from any danger. A fully automated factory with no human access, except for maintenance when everything is stopped, is an example of that. The next best choice is to guard people from individual sources of danger, for example safety guards on a machine. Then comes PPE and finally, information, instruction, training or supervision.
Yes I know, but I mean why are they using them when they look so stupid ? They invariably show the jaw of the talking person, and it obviously not moving in sync with the words. Simon.
Any 'usual practices' that you might usually see will not be those of the show but those of the contractor running the site. It this case the designer was the contractor.
That's my experience of things. I have never seen a builder or any one else wear a hardhat on a single house building site.
Typical rules on an estate would be that if you are second fixing then the hat and hi viz can be removed when you are in a property but must be worn at all times when outside the propery. Some safety officers take things too far - there is often a no eating of drinking rule apart from in the canteen area. The ones with the common sense allow drinks to be consumed wherever you want when the sun is blazing and the mercury is touching 30 deg. The ones that cannot be flexible are usually the ones that have to deal with problems later as no-one bothers to report things to them.
I used to work in an office park, with a new build going up alongside us. Big name builder, big signs for "No hat, no boots, no service". We watched in surprise as the scaffolding was swarmed over by a bunch of barefoot Sri Lankans. This went on for a few weeks and no-one seemed bothered by it.
(Our Sri Lankans used to go and have lunch with their Sri Lankans)
I was watching one of the recent series the other night and noticed that the first scene in the old barn they didn't bother wearing hats or vests, but for the next scene, when work had started, they did.
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