hi guys im new

[IZU069]

Spoken like a true legal eagle.

[Poida]

As some of you know I work in the construction industry as a traffic controller. People often have a completely wrong impression of what we do and the degree of complexity in this line of work.

The construction industry has multiple levels of OH&S checks.

• I need a NSW state Construction Industry General Induction card to just be on a work site. That is a 1 day course.
  I need a NSW state 'Traffic Controller' (blue) ticket to operate as a traffic controller. A 1 day course.
  I need a NSW state 'Apply Traffic Control Plans' (yellow) ticket to set up sites, a 1 day courses.
  I need a NSW state 'Select/Modify Traffic Control Plans' (Red) ticket to choose a standard generic plan for a site or alter an existing plan which is a 2 day course.
  I need a NSW state 'Design and Inspect Traffic Control Plans' (Orange) ticket to design trafic control plans or inspect plans or sites, another 1 day course.
  These RTA courses have to be refreshed every 3 years.

For each construction job (for instance the highway duplication job for the NSW Hume Northern Alliance - a section of Hume Highway between Holbrook and Tarcutta) I had to attend a half day general induction course and a card issued to show you have authorisation to be on site. The job is split into 4 zones, each has a short induction for that zone and you are issued with a helmet sticker showing everyone you have been zone inducted. Then each day we do a pre work toolbox meeting to discuss issues that might have come up and share plans for the day ahead to ensure cooperation and understanding between different groups of workers on the site.

I can be shipped around between different job sites and each will have at least 1 level of OH&S induction before you can work on that site.

It's something you get used to but these days productivity comes second place to safety in this industry. People have and do get kicked off sites for what you might call ridiculous breaches. Something as simple as walking across a road that you do every day of the week in normal life can see you banned from a site for breach of the site rules. The Hume Southern Alliance job had strict no second chance policy about that. Eventually they had to soften their stand a bit because traffic controllers NEED to cross roads for some things. So in the end we needed to have two controllers stand on the side of the road while one stood watch as the other crossed the road. Two sets of eyes.

Some stuff you do seems ridiculously time and resource consuming but it's done for good reason. To set up a site you need road signs. Speed signs and warning signs have to be placed on the left side in single lane roads but dual lane roads need a second sign on the opposite side. You are not allowed to park on the left side and carry a sign across to the opposite side. You have to do the left side signs from start to finish then go back to the start and do the right side signs BUT, you have to have a lit arrow board on your vehicle directing traffic approaching from behind to merge to the left lane, you also need a second car 250 metres behind as a buffer with the same direction sign. This same procedure is needed to remove the signs as well but in the opposite order, right lane pulled down then left lane. You should see this is to provide the maximum safety for the traffic control crew as our job is a high risk job.

[IZU069]

It's something you get used to but these days productivity comes second place to safety in this industry.

Legally yes. In practice - not necessarily.

I cursed my domestic electrical meter changer - I said how I could no longer grow drugs on the premises with these new electronic meters.
He laughed and replied he knew I wasn't growing. (See you can apply some intelligence to old meters!)

We got into a general chat centered around OH&S after I said "hey - it's not that I'm much for talking or rambling, but if you need to concentrate on your work....".
He said he welcomed the chat. That was the major problem with his job - the lack of stimulation (#1). They used to work in pairs, but no longer - productivity reasons.
"But what about one for each side of the street?"
No - not even that (#2).
And they were still being pressured to do more installs (#3).

I was impressed by the OH&S breaches above.
Whilst #3 may involve workplace bullying, it may well lead to an accident.
The refusal to even allow a 2nd worker in the same street (#2) will be very interesting if someone is electrocuted or otherwise injured.
And #1 is one for the OH&S "Hygiene Factors" as well as safety, and productivity.

But I was very impressed by his safety. I thought I overdid it by checking voltages etc AFTER pulling fuses etc, and then a final "back of hand" test.
But he did similar. He mentioned electrocution after pulling a main fuse.
Why - UPS and battery inverter systems (with mains bypass)?
No - apparently some people bypass/short the main fuse (thinking that bypasses the meter?).

Anyhow, I couldn't help ponder the reduced productivity from his employers attitudes - as if the increased accident risk wasn't bad enough!

Not that I keep abreast with new laws or medial reports etc - I left all that in 2005.
But despite some reasonable worker gains since then, it still seems as if Aussie workers still suffer bad OH&S stats, and even worse unofficial work fallout - from unpaid overtime to work related stress.

Certainly I hear the importance of workplace bullying & OH&S, yet see it constantly abused. (My own retrenchment in 2005 being witness to that LOL!)

Yeah - that construction industry is a real pain. Managers & profits can't do as they wish.

Get a real job Poida!

Oh - rats! I forgot to mention web & forum liabilities.....

[Coron]

it's not that I'm much for talking or rambling, but..................

"nah" i never hear you ramble Pete hehehe
being honist i enjoy your rambles, your very informitive