Started a new job 3 months ago with a waste water utilities company, totally new direction for me and thought id give it a go, company is Health and Safety mad and you cant take a piss without doing a course first, place is really anal over everything you do and im thinking its not for me 🙁 … they worry more about the paperwork on the notice boards than actually doing the job!
question is should i be settled and happy by now or just a case of tried it , didnt like it and move on ?

Health and safety does exist for a reason.

Grow a pair.

Give it at least three more months.

I knew recently in about a week that a role wasn’t for me, but that wasn’t H&S based it was the fact the people running the business were nutters (technical term)

I think it takes time to adapt to a culture and get used to their way of working
I would give it a little longer and see how you feel
Perhaps apply for work in the meantime

Oh and best of luck growing a pair big enough to cope with H & S legislation 😕

If you worked alongside me with that attitude to H&S I’d want you to leave….. 😉

H&S shouldn’t be a reason to quit.

I started a new role 4 months ago. Antiquated systems, procedures, attitudes. I started a thread a month ago about dreading going to work.

I still do, but it’s getting better. If it hasn’t clicked after 6 months, I’ll reconsider. Helped recently by a guy who is inclined to be an annoying knob taking me to one side and telling me that he went through exactly the same when he started working on the team. Made it clear that it’s the team and the systems, not me.

3 months isn’t long. I’d give it another 3. That said it sounds like it is your attitude that needs to change rather than the whole company becoming more slap dash. Maybe learn why some of these procedures are in place and how they can help you.

3 months ?

Hmmm.. you kinda know within a month. But play it out for the other two, you may find your attitudes morph into theirs.
But..
Is it really worth hanging on to something you’re not happy with. After all you are spending a lot of your time there.
Think before you leap tho’ eh.

Not sure what your job role is?

However, waste water involves some pretty hazardous activities.

If you have people going into sewers and other enclosed spaces there are some serious things to consider, H2S, methane, low O2 etc.

A strict H&S culture is a good thing in that business.

You think they’re health and safety mad?

I have to do the same confined space training as the waste water companies, (breathing apparatus, comms, harnesses and winches) for going into a 2 metre deep hole in the pavement to pull a cable into a duct.

Its the result of compensation culture and corporate manslaughter, any responsible employer will be the same.

Have you heard the various tales of ‘worker 1 enters hole and falls unconscious, worker 2 enters to help and is also overcome by lack of oxygen, 3rd man enters and ditto. Someone finds three bodies hours later. Or the man who entered an industrial oven to clean it, colleague shut him in by mistake and cooked him to death.

More recently in the news, farmer got done for manslaughter for allowing (encouraging) two guys to hold their breath to retrieve apples from a silo that was known to contain an asphyxiating atmosphere. That ruling was only a week or two ago I think.

I’m also trained to use a stepladder. Trained to move from a ladder to a flat roof. Trained in use of crawling boards. Working in the highway (streetworks). Manual handling. etc. etc. Its all there to ensure the company have done their bit to keep me safe, and minimise the chance that if I do have an accident, I can’t sue them.

Try working in the food industry if you want H&S, HACCP, BRC, FEMAS, SMETA, IPPC, SOCS, GMP, IPMS, ETIBC, PSB, VBS & I kid you not SCAT audits.

(I’ve probably left off more than I have included)

It gets to the point where they all blend into one another and you don’t really remember WTF you are trying to do day to day.

I did a SCAT audit last week when my sister wanted to use my computer.

I’ve been 8 years and still not sure.

they worry more about the paperwork on the notice boards than actually doing the job!

The culture can bring out the inner jobsworth in some, then again if it wasn’t H&S they would be using the wrong kind of bog roll as an excuse not to do anything. Is it a former state run company?

The one thing that shouldn’t change is good H&S practice though.
Whats your role? What can you do to make things happen without compromising H&S?

Totally new type of job, totally new environment, four months in and I’m just starting to feel that it’s the job that I thought it was

[Quote]I did a SCAT audit last week when my sister wanted to use my computer.[/quote]

You need to modify your working practices. You should always proactively manage your scat records. That way you’re always prepared for a snap audit.

OP so you’d prefer a place that was maverick, cut corners to save money in your field? Sounds like they are alright.

Meh , ive got the right tickets , i still cant do shit cause of hse…..

I move locations alot . I have 15 tonne fork lift license , bucking unit operator and pressure test tickets …..

My office doesnt have any of the above , it turns out my office is the only place im allowed to use any of the above because of company policy….

Just go with the flow do what you can , no point getting het up over it. No point fighting hse , youll only lose that is guarantee’d

Why didnt you get xyz done…. “Because hse ” usually suffices – assuming its true and accountable.

Which company do you work for? Some of the water companies have unfortunately seen a few fatalities recently so it has reaffirmed how important it is to get staff home every night.

On the plus side I used to work for Thames water and you could always get money for health and safety stuff, almost no questions asked.

I thought we had it bad, I refused to go on a manual handing course as I don’t manual handle anything other than a keyboard at work.

Its all there to ensure the company have done their bit to keep me safe, and minimise the chance that if I do have an accident, I can’t sue them.

That’s the important bit highlighted. If someone is doing something that causes an accident and it’s their fault, then they shouldn’t be able to sue.

I work for an organisation that takes H&S seriously and i’m much happier entering into substations, plant rooms, etc. because of it

I thought we had it bad, I refused to go on a manual handing course as I don’t manual handle anything other than a keyboard at work.

No paper records at your work? You never move a chair/desk/monitor? There’s more but it all counts and disc in spines are fragile things if they are loaded badly.

I thought we had it bad, I refused to go on a manual handing course as I don’t manual handle anything other than a keyboard at work.

Well then you’re a compete muppet. I was trained as a trainer for manual handling and all sorts of other stuff. One of the courses I went on was taught by an ex-London paramedic. He said one of the worst manual handling incidents he attended was a guy sitting in a normal office chair turning round while sat down to reach a folder off a shelf. The combination of the twisting, load at distance and his position did something in his back. They had to inject some badass painkillers in his back (or something) to get him out of the chair and into the ambulance and he was just constantly screaming from the pain.

A manual handling course would have taught to set up the folders in a more accessible place or a place he would have had to get out of his chair to reach in the first place.

As someone who has a very bad neck which affects his cycling done through incorrect manual handling I would say it’s pretty damn important to get the right training. the people who think the training is useless are generally the people who haven’t been hurt…… yet. :-/

I thought we had it bad, I refused to go on a manual handing course as I don’t manual handle anything other than a keyboard at work.

Refusal to do compulsory basic training could lead to disciplinary/dismissal in some places I’ve worked in.

He said one of the worst manual handling incidents he attended was a guy sitting in a normal office chair turning round while sat down to reach a folder off a shelf. The combination of the twisting, load at distance and his position did something in his back. They had to inject some badass painkillers in his back (or something) to get him out of the chair and into the ambulance and he was just constantly screaming from the pain.

Luckily I don’t plan my life by absolute worst possible outcomes.

I’m pretty sure someone has died from a heart attack picking up a folder, so it won’t be long before we have courses telling us we need two people to open a desk drawer and a 3rd on stand by with a defib before you can use a stapler.

If I’m going to put my back out it will be straining for a PB weight lifting, not picking up a pen at work.

If I’m going to put my back out it will be straining for a PB weight

Most people hurt their backs doing relatively light lifting tasks, not heavy ones. Generally most people prepare themselves properly when trying to lift heavy weights, so they natural put themselves in the right position and posture. Our bodies generally do things right when they are lifting at the edges of their ability. It’s the tasks which we know are well within our limits which we get lazy with and do it badly.

It isn’t the weight which causes the damage, so your pen/weightlifting excuse doesn’t really work, it’s the twisting and posture that does it. You can quite easily injure your back moving your own body weight around.

I’m not trying to make myself clever or trying to belittle you – I’ve lived with chronic neck pain since I was 30 by doing it wrong and I don’t want anyone else to be affected the way I am. It can be chuffin miserable sometimes.

Manual handling has very little to do with picking heavy stuff up by hand. Should be a good and useful course if taught well. Anybody refusing to go on one would be immediately pointed out as a liability to the company for a number of reasons.

Job before last ‘3 days’ before I knew it wasn’t for me.
Turns out they had been slightly generous with the truth over certain issues ,and speaking with the engineer I was recruited to replace brought up some issues I was not happy with.
Plus there working practises were stuck in the dark ages and I know would have driven me mad, so I walked away after the 3rd day no point wasting mine of their time.

Most people hurt their backs doing relatively light lifting tasks,

Almost certainly because they’re in very poor physical shape. Anyone in good physical shape is not going to put their back out doing light tasks e.g. picking up paper files. Our bodies are designed to cope with a very diverse range of physical activity / motions / posture, it’s just 99% of the population don’t make any effort to maintain their body and then after 30 years of sitting on their arse, find themselves with all sorts of aches and pains / pulled muscles from pulling too hard putting their socks on.

Almost certainly because they’re in very poor physical shape. Anyone in good physical shape is not going to put their back out doing light tasks e.g. picking up paper files.

I really with that was the case.

I guess we know why you don’t need to go on any training….

I did a SCAT audit last week when my sister wanted to use my computer.

You need to modify your working practices. You should always proactively manage your scat records. That way you’re always prepared for a snap audit.

😯
You two should probably encrypt and hide those folders if your tastes are that niche!