Roundup about Ship work - First 5 days down!
steemiteducation·@zakludick·
0.000 HBDRoundup about Ship work - First 5 days down!
 Working in the docks is hard and dangerous. There has been many incidents and many lost lives in this industry. It is because of this danger that there is a lot of Heath and Safety rules. The way I lead my team is H&S based management. Usually the principal contractors do not like it that the Supervisor is the Health and Safety Officer as well. This is because a Sup pushes promotion while an HSO pushes safety. Somehow these go in opposition to each other a lot. But seriously I do not see it this way. If you are going to instruct people to work in environments such as this, the H&S Act instructs the Construction Supervisor to make sure that provisions were made to keep people safe. It starts from the architect and designer all the way through to the people doing the work. It means that you cannot start work if you cannot do so without a high risk of casualty. Also it makes no financial or legal sense. What will it help you push production and then pay out in claims and law suits? I do think that clients need to be held more accountable for their procurement of resources for Health and Safety - ie That enough money has been allocated to the job to ensure the work gets done safely. By law it is the client whose building/structure/ship it is who must answer firstly to the Department of Labour when there is a fatality. Only once absolved of blame does the question go to the next level and it can still come back to the client after the contractor, sub-contractor or employee has been audited/investigated.  ### Height scares Now let me share a few photos that will put hair on your chest.   So let's get this straight. It is terrifying enough to get on to a scaffold that is 15m-50m high. Ask me, I have been there. What these guys are doing is not illegal or bad practice., but it looks insane! Without help from the ground (because we are still on the water), they are building a scaffold horizontally through the air as it is hanging from the reinforcing structure underneath the heli-pad of the vessel. To fall from here would mean death with a small chance of mangled survival. There is a 20m drop down to pipes and a metal deck. An 8m free fall to concrete results in an instant fatality. Strange things have happened though where people walk away from such falls, but it is by no means common. What is common though are the **Fatal Four**. These are the top killers of workers in the construction industry. I will post more about the Fatal Four in another post. For now, it is time to go to bed. Another ship waits for me tomorrow. Regards Zak Ludick