# Hard hats and vest



## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

The hardhat and the vest are a part of the GC's safety program, the one that he has to make his worker's comp insurance a tad bit cheaper.


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## leland (Dec 28, 2007)

Understood RK, So I guess real safety aint thier business.

We all know "looks good on paper".


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## manchestersparky (Mar 25, 2007)

Thats becoming standard here in Maryland.It seems more and more of the commercial jobs are requiring the people working on them to wear those bright green vests. You can get away from wearing the vest if you wear an approved bright safety green shirt. It does seem kind of "overkill" when the project reaches the final stage though.
Guys wearing hardhats,safety glasses, safety vests to walk around and do punch list items, but the rules are the rules.


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## unionwirewoman (Sep 7, 2008)

Try working in 280' wind tower when you're only 30' off the ground in a protected cage away from the hatches . They did a safety audit on our tower ....our company got scolded because I didn't have my harness and rigging on ....where am I gonna tie off to ? The cage had no tie offs and was nowhere near the "drop" zone . They stated that I had to have it on in case I passed out and they had to lower me down . The access holes are only 3x3....so what good is my harness going to do ? Even the rescue team told me they took the harness's off the victims and made their own . The GC said nobody would be able to lift me to put a harness on....let's see...a 170lb man can't manouver a 115 lb woman...give me a break ! My job made it impossible to wear a harness and get behind the transformer to wire it up. Stupid people .


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## esidirectau (Dec 22, 2008)

australia has gone high level of safety now with chargeable offenses if people are not wearing the correct safety equipment on site. steel cap boots, helmets, witches hats, bunting, signs galor. etc etc
While a pain in the but to try and remember, the number of workplace accidents in Australia have dropped dramatically
cheers
Esi


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

unionwirewoman said:


> Try working in 280' wind tower when you're only 30' off the ground in a protected cage away from the hatches . They did a safety audit on our tower ....our company got scolded because I didn't have my harness and rigging on ....where am I gonna tie off to ? The cage had no tie offs and was nowhere near the "drop" zone . They stated that I had to have it on in case I passed out and they had to lower me down . The access holes are only 3x3....so what good is my harness going to do ? Even the rescue team told me they took the harness's off the victims and made their own . The GC said nobody would be able to lift me to put a harness on....let's see...a 170lb man can't manouver a 115 lb woman...give me a break ! My job made it impossible to wear a harness and get behind the transformer to wire it up. Stupid people .


 
The rules are the rules miss and that is the way it is. I am used to jobs with GC safety inspectors that get their rocks off sending people home and writing them up.

A tie off point is supposed to hold a 5000# shock load, one recent job I was told to tie off to the RTU lifting points, yeah my 300# wouldn't stand a chance if I needed to count on that piece of sheetmetal but we did it anyway..just to keep em happy.


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## sgtdan (Jan 3, 2009)

Better yet. Having to be tied off when ever above 6 feet but the harness strap is 12 ft when extended.


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## PhatElvis (Jan 23, 2009)

randomkiller said:


> The hardhat and the vest are a part of the GC's safety program, the one that he has to make his worker's comp insurance a tad bit cheaper.



It's more than a _*tad*_ and combined with the lawsuit lottery mentality a lot of Americans seem to have, an injury with a safety violation, even if the violation has nothing to do with the injury is just one more bullet for the lawyers gun.

Keep in mind the subs are also probably contractually obligated to indemnify the GC, so the GC is actually doing the subs a favor by making sure you follow the dumb rules.


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