# Tomatos for lunch



## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

I call BS.
Not you, the story.


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

Lone Crapshooter said:


> This little horror story was told to me by a friend of mine. It is a prime example of some one in a safety department that wants to make a name for themselves at the expense of another.
> 
> A worker was sitting in a lunch room cutting a tomato for his sandwich. Someone from the safety department walked through the lunch room and wrote the worker for not having Kevlar gloves on wile he was using his knife to cut the tomato.




What are Kevlar gloves? :laughing:


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

I would have totally tossed the tomato at the safety dude.


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## Missouri Bound (Aug 30, 2009)

The cutting of the tomato which was clearly a dangerous situation......was not done during the job..........it was on lunch time. The safety department has absolutely no authority unless it was an on the job matter. Lunch breaks are personal time


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## Mr Rewire (Jan 15, 2011)

I would insist that the safety director produce a copy of the writen procedure for properly slicing a vegetable in the cafeteria.


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## doubleoh7 (Dec 5, 2009)

Are injuries during lunch time covered under workman's comp?? If the story is true, the safety manager should face a series of closed fisted blows to the head in the parking lot.


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

I'm 100% for worker safety, but safety guys even make me want to punch someone.

I had one of them come through a power house and start talking about re-enforcing the wall of a room because "what if one of the turbines blew apart while it was rotating?" What the hell is a re-enforced wall going to do when the operators are *in the room* with the turbine?! 

Or even better, the safety officer who didn't want the guys to record readings or have prints on sheets of paper because "we don't want flammable things in the powerhouse" when the whole powerhouse is made of creosote soaked wood.

OP's story is, unfortunately, entirely believable. :wallbash:

-John


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## doubleoh7 (Dec 5, 2009)

Big John said:


> I'm 100% for worker safety, but safety guys even make me want to punch someone.
> 
> I had one of them come through a power house and start talking about re-enforcing the wall of a room because "what if one of the turbines blew apart while it was rotating?" What the hell is a re-enforced wall going to do when the operators are *in the room* with the turbine?!
> 
> ...


 

Those positions of emloyment attract little twerps with severe personality defects who had their lunch money taken away when they were kides. How many of you who are employess can lose your job because of one of these little Neopolitans??


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## don_resqcapt19 (Jul 18, 2010)

Missouri Bound said:


> The cutting of the tomato which was clearly a dangerous situation......was not done during the job..........it was on lunch time. The safety department has absolutely no authority unless it was an on the job matter. Lunch breaks are personal time


It doesn't matter if it was on personal time or not...it only matters if it was on company property.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Big John said:


> I'm 100% for worker safety, but safety guys even make me want to punch someone.
> 
> I had one of them come through a power house and start talking about re-enforcing the wall of a room because "what if one of the turbines blew apart while it was rotating?" What the hell is a re-enforced wall going to do when the operators are *in the room* with the turbine?!
> 
> Or even better, the safety officer who didn't want the guys to record readings or have prints on sheets of paper because "we don't want flammable things in the powerhouse" when the whole powerhouse is made of creosote soaked wood.


Common sense: not required to work in the safety department.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

Would most of you throw away $100 to save $1,000 or $5,000?


That is the situation insurance companies are putting companies in. In our trade lacerations are one of the most common claims. Just to have an employee make an e-room trip for a simple cut can cost $1000s immediately and may cost much more down the line. In this area more and more GCs and large projects are shutting bidders out that have poor MOD rates. 


I am not defending lack of commonsense, just pointing out that there are reasons these safety people are getting so much power and influence on the job.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

BBQ said:


> just pointing out that there are reasons these safety people are getting so much power and influence on the job.


I'm our safety "department" now.  So I fork over $$ to become an owner and I get stuck running safety in return, nice. 

Wanna take bets on whether our rates go up or down?

I also realize I advocated tossing a tomato at myself and suggested I have no common sense earlier.


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## Demac (Apr 28, 2010)

doubleoh7 said:


> Those positions of emloyment attract little twerps with severe personality defects who had their lunch money taken away when they were kides. How many of you who are employess can lose your job because of one of these little Neopolitans??


Psst, unless residents of Naples do a lot of safety inspections, I think you meant "these little _Napoleons_".

Seriously though, you are right. Those types of people gravitate towards positions where they are 'given' authority over others, since they lack the ability to 'earn' it on their own. That's one of the reasons that I ran away from law enforcement work, the industry is full of the guys who were picked on in school and refused to stand up for themselves, and now they are 'getting even'.

The problem I have with the whole safety side of things, is I have yet to see or hear any cognizant explanations as to where the line is drawn. In the given example, one extreme would be the banning of knives, while the other would be no rules on knife usage at all. Where and who picks the meeting place in the middle of those two extremes? And what criteria is used? 

...soapbox hurts my feet...




Speedy Petey said:


> I call BS.
> Not you, the story.


This used to be the standard reaction to stories like this, myself included. How sad is it that now when these stories come up, we want to say this again, but now have an element of doubt. I do anyway, I've seen too many stupid stories like this be true, or somewhat true.


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## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

This is one of the many reasons I do not like big/union/corporate type jobs. :no:

If this happened to me I'd tell the guy to GFY!! Then I'd get laid off or fired.
I am all for safety but COME ON!


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

We have been doing 'Tool box safety' talks for about 12 years now. One that I had to read to the crew was about chain saw safety.

It actually said '_To avoid injury do not try to stop the chain with your hand'._


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## Zog (Apr 15, 2009)

BBQ said:


> It actually said '_To avoid injury do not try to stop the chain with your hand'._


You know why it says that? Because some moron did it once.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

Zog said:


> You know why it says that? Because some moron did it once.


That is not enough of a reason, someone, somewhere, at sometime has done everything.:001_huh:


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

I was in a deli yesterday watching the clerk operate a slicer wearing a plastic glove.. he didn't change it after handling money from the previous customer.. 

You would think a safety glove would be mandatory operating a slicing machine..

You would also think money is loaded with fecal matter and this guy is making me a sandwich..

I threw it out and bought some ring dings at 7-11..


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

I would wipe that safety guy all over the lunch room. To be really safe, he would have to anonymously mail me the citation.


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## tkb (Jan 21, 2009)

BBQ said:


> We have been doing 'Tool box safety' talks for about 12 years now. One that I had to read to the crew was about chain saw safety.
> 
> It actually said '_To avoid injury do not try to stop the chain with your hand'._


I like how we would get the tool box talks on heat stroke in the winter and frostbite in the summer.


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

Not excusing the refusal to act on common sense, I actually feel bad for safety guys. Often management puts a ton of pressure on them to enforce the stupid stuff (like the gloves), which pisses of the workers.

And when they have to address very serious problems that will reduce or stop productivity then it pisses of the management.

You can't be a safety guy if you like having friends.

-John


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## lefleuron (May 22, 2010)

Speedy Petey said:


> I call BS.
> Not you, the story.


 Not at all! I live this dream every day- and it is ONLY because of worker injury. I hate this chit, but every time you are written and threatened, our "safty team" can pull a case where a worker was injured doing almost the EXACT same thing you were doing.

The guy was in the lunch room. On company time, On company premises- he is screwed. ANYTIME you have a sharp object in one hand, the other better have a cut resistant glove on it.

Its BS I know, but they probably have a case where an employee was high on crack and cut his fingers off during lunch with a meat cleaver. But, because of this moron, we all are held to his "moronish" standard.



doubleoh7 said:


> Those positions of emloyment attract little twerps with severe personality defects who had their lunch money taken away when they were kides. How many of you who are employess can lose your job because of one of these little Neopolitans??


 I am a little safer then the (more) normal employee- but it could happen, yes.

Our safety guy is afraid of some of the electricians, and is pretty sure we will fry him. Now of coarse, that would never happen. But we do nothing to make him feel safe around us either.


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## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

Are you guys allowed to use razor knives? 
How about T-strippers? 
I pinched my fingers a few times in my lineman's. Are they allowed?


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## lefleuron (May 22, 2010)

Speedy Petey said:


> Are you guys allowed to use razor knives?
> How about T-strippers?
> I pinched my fingers a few times in my lineman's. Are they allowed?


 Anything sharp, and you must wear a glove.

As far as the lineman's, that's the catch 22. Once someone files an accident report- the company must respond. So if you and I were together, and you cut my finger with a *****....as long as we don't file a "case", there will be no new rules even if I bleed to death.

Its messed up. But because of insurance pressures, companies react quickly, then tend to over react.

You find yourself "blocking" other peoples view automatically when you are working. If its only you who knows why you are bleeding or burned, deniability is always in your corner.


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## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

If I may ask, what kind of jobs are these?


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## 76nemo (Aug 13, 2008)

I did some work for a company that didn't allow ANYONE on site to have a rip/hole in their clothing because it was a possible snag hazard

That was their way of keeping people looking like bums showing up on their jobsite And "Yes", I saw someone get sent home for the day with a small rip in his jeans. It's one thing to have a dress code, it's another to say it will increase safety measures


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

Speedy Petey said:


> If I may ask, what kind of jobs are these?


We can still use knifes ....... but all employess while on the clock must wear.


Boots

Hardhat

Safety Glasses

Gloves

Long pants


At a lot of construction sites the GCs require our guys to wear 'safety florescent green' vests so we don't get hit by heavy equipment.

It is what it is.


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## sparkymcwiresalot (Jan 29, 2011)

I had a safety guy that required gloves at all times. His reasoning was that you could slip and fall and hurt your hands. I worked in one plant that banned all knives, it wasn't really enforced, but I didn't pull one out when the safety guy was around.


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## Jmohl (Apr 26, 2011)

Between the homegrown B.s. that our plant EHS comes up with, and the crap the the Corp. EHS crams down our necks, it's amazing that anything gets done at all. In fact, there is such thing as Too many safety regs. Guys get so fed up with all the stupid sh*t that they start ignoring the real deal. Our co. answer for every stupid little discrepancy that they find is to create another "SURVEY" find a missing k.o. plug, create a monthly survey. Somebody gets a nick on them from a sharp edge on a door jam, "survey", Someone finds a recep with some evidence of heating, You guessed it, survey. Sheez!


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## kaboler (Dec 1, 2010)

I'm working at the Edmonton Airport for a company called PLC, and they have safety guys that take their jobs seriously. But they're not complete idiots, they're damn smart.

I wouldn't judge safety people too harshy because they have a tough job, and the only reason why they HAVE a job is because there's no shortage of idiots on a jobsite.

If I have to go up an 8 foot ladder, I have to tie off at 6 feet. So what? I have to wear gloves. Big deal. I commonly wear safety glasses all day anyway.

Of course, I'm working next to some 3000 psi main gas line, and the safety guy was smart enough to come up to guys working close to me and tell them that they shouldn't park their big crane on top of where it runs underground. Completely unnecessary, but hey, why not? If it goes, everyone dies.


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## Jmohl (Apr 26, 2011)

The reason we have so many idiots on job sites is because the Safety guys have pretty sucessfully taken Darwin out of the equation which results in a very low moron mortality rate. Without safety nannies, the dipsh*ts would remove themselves and their resulting moron progeny from the population and therby increase the safety and IQ of the working population.....:whistling2:


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## Demac (Apr 28, 2010)

Jmohl said:


> The reason we have so many idiots on job sites is because the Safety guys have pretty sucessfully taken Darwin out of the equation which results in a very low moron mortality rate. Without safety nannies, the dipsh*ts would remove themselves and their resulting moron progeny from the population and therby increase the safety and IQ of the working population.....:whistling2:


I wish I could hit the 'thanks' button more then once. 75 times might do it...


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## PsiMan84 (Oct 29, 2010)

Jlarson said:


> I would have totally tossed the tomato at the safety dude.


Toss the tomato at the safety guys face and tell him to write himself up for not wearing a face shield. :laughing:


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

Lone Crapshooter said:


> This little horror story was told to me by a friend of mine. It is a prime example of some one in a safety department that wants to make a name for themselves at the expense of another.
> 
> A worker was sitting in a lunch room cutting a tomato for his sandwich. Someone from the safety department walked through the lunch room and wrote the worker for not having Kevlar gloves on wile he was using his knife to cut the tomato.


This could totally happen on one of our job sites right now, where you also have to tie off your stepladders.


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

sparky970 said:


> This could totally happen on one of our job sites right now, where you also have to tie off your stepladders.


 Please tell me that was mistyped. They aren't actually making you tie off the actual step ladder, are they....? :blink:

-John


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

Big John said:


> Please tell me that was mistyped. They aren't actually making you tie off the actual step ladder, are they....? :blink:
> 
> -John




That is the site rule.


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

sparky970 said:


> That is the site rule.


 That's the stupidest thing I've heard this week. If safety guys actually enforced proper ladder use techniques, they probably wouldn't need all these totally asinine rules about anchoring step ladders.

-John


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

Jmohl said:


> The reason we have so many idiots on job sites is because the Safety guys have pretty sucessfully taken Darwin out of the equation which results in a very low moron mortality rate. Without safety nannies, the dipsh*ts would remove themselves and their resulting moron progeny from the population and therby increase the safety and IQ of the working population.....:whistling2:



No, the reason for these strict safety guys is money, it is all about the cost of insurance.

Companies can no longer afford to let Darwin take care of things because that costs a butt load of money each time an idiot hurts or kills themselves on the job.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

sparky970 said:


> That is the site rule.


Tie the ladder off, or tie yourself off when on the ladder?


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

BBQ said:


> Tie the ladder off, or tie yourself off when on the ladder?



Always the ladder, yourself above 6'.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

sparky970 said:


> Always the ladder, yourself above 6'.


Well than I go with Johns thought 



> That's the stupidest thing I've heard this week.


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## Hamer (Oct 5, 2010)

-"Do not use hairdryer in shower"
-"keep this and all other drugs out of reach of children"--on a stick of deodorant


...all b/c some idiot somewhere did it


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## Podagrower (Mar 16, 2008)

sparky970 said:


> Always the ladder, yourself above 6'.


I've worked on that jobsite. Never did figure out how tying myself off to a 20 gauge steel stud with a 6' lanyard would keep me from falling, but it made some idiot somewhere happy.

I also worked on a jobsite where the designated break area was also the only designated smoking area. Brilliant. 

Or the jobsite where the GC felt the need to stand on a 5 gallon bucket to read us the weekly safety meeting.


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## 76nemo (Aug 13, 2008)

Working in a light commercial site, not contract work, is anyone else mandated to wear a hardhat on a fork lift where hardhats are otherwise not mandated? I'm having to review a new safety policy and this is the _one _thing throwing me off. The cages of a forklift are built to withstand a given fall, a fall not calculated with hardhats in the calculations.

Not saying it's a bad mandate, I'm saying it's a personal rule, not one mandated by OSHA.

Anyone prove me wrong? I know this is very broad, but I am asking across the board. I see NOWHERE where OSHA mandates you to wear a hardhat on a caged forklift.

Wrong, am I?


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## Lone Crapshooter (Nov 8, 2008)

Although I do not always ware mine look at it this way.
If the employer issues you a hard hat They feel it necessary to ware one in certain areas. Although it may not be necessary to ware one wile operating the fork truck you may have to get off the fork truck in a hard hat area. There for you should keep it close by and the best way is hang it the fork truck or ware it in the fork truck


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

BBQ said:


> Would most of you throw away $100 to save $1,000 or $5,000?
> 
> 
> That is the situation insurance companies are putting companies in. In our trade lacerations are one of the most common claims. Just to have an employee make an e-room trip for a simple cut can cost $1000s immediately and may cost much more down the line. In this area more and more GCs and large projects are shutting bidders out that have poor MOD rates.
> ...


In the Pentagon renovation project, the big box electrical contractor makes their electricians all wear these kevlar looking forearm sleeves.


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

Lone Crapshooter said:


> Although I do not always ware mine look at it this way.
> If the employer issues you a hard hat They feel it necessary to ware one in certain areas. Although it may not be necessary to ware one wile operating the fork truck you may have to get off the fork truck in a hard hat area. There for you should keep it close by and the best way is hang it the fork truck or ware it in the fork truck


"wear" "wear" "wear" "wear"


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

Big John said:


> Please tell me that was mistyped. They aren't actually making you tie off the actual step ladder, are they....? :blink:
> 
> -John


I was on an Army Corps of Engineers jobsite and one of their rules was you had to tie off to the lift when you were in it. :thumbsup:


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## lefleuron (May 22, 2010)

76nemo said:


> Working in a light commercial site, not contract work, is anyone else mandated to wear a hardhat on a fork lift where hardhats are otherwise not mandated? I'm having to review a new safety policy and this is the _one _thing throwing me off. The cages of a forklift are built to withstand a given fall, a fall not calculated with hardhats in the calculations.
> 
> Not saying it's a bad mandate, I'm saying it's a personal rule, not one mandated by OSHA.
> 
> ...


 Nemo,

I doubt this is OSHA. This sounds like something a safety director made up- see how valuable he is? He makes new rules for our safety....:001_huh:

Almost every plant has a few odd-ball rules you will see nowhere else. Trick is to figure them out before you get caught breaking them.


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

steelersman said:


> ...One of their rules was you had to tie off to the lift when you were in it. :thumbsup:


 If I'm not mistaken, that's actually an OSHA reg. for boom lifts, but not for scissor lifts. I've been at places that required it for scissor lifts, too, though.

I've also been at places that required harness tie-off on step ladders. I'm sure it was real easy to write that rule on paper, a lot harder to comply with in the middle of a sheet-rocked room.  :thumbdown:

-John


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Our crew turned up at a site that had banned ladders, no ladders on site at all. We had to go and buy a rolling scaffhold which slowed things up considerably when we had to either dismantle it or pull all the studs out of the track and lift each wheel over then replace the studs to move rooms, complete madness all because of an accident that happend on their site in another city and an OSH investigation. I got a warning drilling out studs with a blunt holesaw and there were a couple of sparks so apparently I required a hot works permit, fair enough but most guys would let that pass since it was in an open area and the floor was flooding from the rain.. Those guys were paranoid there were undercover OSH inspectors.


Eventually the Security Techs, Sparks and us Data guys just brought our ladders onsite and told the site managers that they can take the ladders but we will be taking them back as we have more grinder blades than they have chain. Thankfully they didnt call our bluff that they couldnt kick us all of site.. we would have looked a bit stupid.


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## ejmatt (Apr 3, 2011)

Big John said:


> Please tell me that was mistyped. They aren't actually making you tie off the actual step ladder, are they....? :blink:
> 
> -John


One of the minesites I've worked at had a stupid rule like this where if you were working at a height of anything over 1.8 metres, you had to to wear a safety harness. The harness provided by this site would allow you to freefall 2 metres before it would stop you falling. How does that work?:blink:


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## mikestew (Apr 18, 2011)

The company I work for is a big GC, but our local branch is only data/electrical. The company prohibits the use of knives and gloves are to be worn at all times. Of course in reality gloves are only worn when needed, and knives are used daily, only we refer to them as 'spoons'. :whistling2:


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## Zog (Apr 15, 2009)

I had tomatoes for lunch today, just had to mention that. Added some basil and parsley, everything fresh from my "deck garden". Just picked some fresh mint leaves for mojitos.


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## doubleoh7 (Dec 5, 2009)

mikestew said:


> The company I work for is a big GC, but our local branch is only data/electrical. The company prohibits the use of knives and gloves are to be worn at all times. Of course in reality gloves are only worn when needed, and knives are used daily, only we refer to them as 'spoons'. :whistling2:


 
I bet you look around before using a spoon???


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## tkb (Jan 21, 2009)

I had some grilled tomatoes with my BBQ chicken tonight.


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## mikestew (Apr 18, 2011)

doubleoh7 said:


> I bet you look around before using a spoon???


Yep for sure, thats just another part of job safety - being aware of your surroundings.


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## Clay (Jul 12, 2011)

I was working outside at the bottom of a set of 4 stairs when I heard a creak. Turned around just in time to dodge an unattended step ladder being blown off the landing on top of me. Smashed my knee with the drill i was holding in my haste. Probably should have tied it off on such a windy day. Felt stupid at the new job as they're very strict on safety. Same wind was blowing our hard hats all over the place. Gotta work to the conditions I suppose.


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

Why or should I say how, do people find these ancient threads and feel the need to reply to them?


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

Clay said:


> Turned around just in time to dodge an unattended step ladder being blown off the landing on top of me.


Sounds like it was "your" ladder, and not some random unattended ladder.


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## travelingelec (May 31, 2011)

I was sent home to change shirts for wearing a sleeveless shirt. When I got home I called and told them I must have caught something on the way home and won't be back in.


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

travelingelec said:


> I was sent home to change shirts for wearing a sleeveless shirt. When I got home I called and told them I must have caught something on the way home and won't be back in.


What does this have to do with tomatoes?


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## oldtimer (Jun 10, 2010)

steelersman said:


> What does this have to do with tomatoes?


 Check back to post #1


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## Island Electric (May 9, 2011)

There is nothing better than a good safety talk every Monday morning.
I hate when they do it on Friday's it makes no sense.

The Tomato thing sounds like someone is way out of line. Never heard of anything like that.


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## JohnR (Apr 12, 2010)

I was doing fire alarm in a machine shop. The Master electrician on the job was about to quit. 
He had to put orange cones 3' away from each corner of his ORANGE lift. Had to have a flag man while moving the thing too. While working alone, he had to have yellow safety tape dangling from outriggers on the rails. Seems someone bumped their lip on the hand rail of the lift. Thereby the over reaction.

I let them know I was going to do nothing more than what osha required on the style of lift I was using at the time. They didn't bother me about it either, but I saw the woman who was safety looking at us wondering what she could do and still have us get the job done.


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## Clay (Jul 12, 2011)

steelersman said:


> Sounds like it was "your" ladder, and not some random unattended ladder.


Indeed it was.


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

Clay said:


> Indeed it was.


Our industrial customers would insist you be terminated.


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## Current (Jul 4, 2011)

76nemo said:


> Working in a light commercial site, not contract work, is anyone else mandated to wear a hardhat on a fork lift where hardhats are otherwise not mandated? I'm having to review a new safety policy and this is the _one _thing throwing me off. The cages of a forklift are built to withstand a given fall, a fall not calculated with hardhats in the calculations.
> 
> Not saying it's a bad mandate, I'm saying it's a personal rule, not one mandated by OSHA.
> 
> ...


If it's just a cage, it will not stop a falling wrench (etc.) from hitting you on the head. I believe the OSHA rules say something about being exposed to danger or some crap like that, the roll cage doesn't stop many of those dangers.


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## rnichols (Apr 19, 2011)

I loved safety meetings in the military.. They would come in make us have an 8hr class , get the knowledge.. Then the safety guy would leave, then they would tell us to just forget about all that bullcrap and just do our jobs how we have to do them and ignore all that safety stuff. I couldnt belive that they wanted us to follow OSHA rules in the middle of the desert anyways.. Couldnt imagine being tied off trying to work on something and take incoming fire.. We had more to worry about than falling from a damn ladder...


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## ptcrtn (Mar 14, 2011)

*propane heater*

a safety guy wrote me up once because I did not have a burn permit or a fire watch for our propane heater.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

Speedy Petey said:


> I call BS.
> Not you, the story.


I say...the story teller. It just would not happen. It is BS.


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