Harness and using a portable ladder ?

[Strathead]

I am a retired utility electrician and worked in the power industry for 45 years. Just my personal opinion, of course, but are things any safer now with OSHA regs overshadowing everything we do? Ladder safety should be obvious....don't do anything that might cause you to fall off. But to be on a 6 ft step ladder and really think there's a safe way to "tie off" is kinda ridiculous. Ditto for wearing PPE suitable for voltage testing inside an energized cabinet with minimal working space, poor lighting, possible mitigating hazards such as standing water, etc. and then be required to wear PPE which reduces dexterity, reduces visibility and makes some operations virutally impossibe, such as testing and troubleshooting of delicate control circuits, which must be done while energized. I understand there are exceptions for certain work, such as troubleshooting, but isn't the risk exactly the same if you're troublesooting? Safety is a mindset, not a regulation. If you want to go home at the end of the day, just be careful and keep your mind on the job....naw, too simple! Sorry, but a good rant every now and then is therapeutic for old retired farts like me. But I still have all of my body parts. I know I'm probably out of line, but what else is new....I think some (or most) of the safety rules at many companies boils down to "well, YOU broke the rules" when an injury happens. CYA.

There is a part of me that agrees with what you write, but it assumes the natural "goodness" of mankind. There are employers that would expect their employees to cut corners and employees that cut corners on their own. It happens every day. There are always ways to make things more safe, and when people aren't "forced" to think about them, they default to the easiest way. My best anecdotal example of this is that my company has adopted a no energized work without upper management approval. We are new construction commercial and industrial. As a project manager, I merely inform my customer that I will require a written, signed letter explaining WHY the work they are requesting must be performed without turning power off. Most of the time, they decide that they can accommodate a power outage when the other option is THEIR signature.

 

[alicecolin]

Every manufacturing plant have their own rules and regulations. So it depends on the company policy what he prefer.

 

[kwired]

Seems like those company safety people are often people that are book smart, yet have no idea how things work in the real world.

Put your harness on to use a portable ladder and tie off to what? Even if there is something to tie off to at the point you will be working, what do you tie off to while climbing to get there? If there is something that is regularly accessed, permanent ladder or stairs is likely the best solution. There is fall arrest systems that work well with permanent ladders.

With such policy ladders are basically useless, better have lifts available and better have space for the lift available at anything and everything that may need reached even if just for maintenance purposes every few years.

 

[Strathead]

Seems like those company safety people are often people that are book smart, yet have no idea how things work in the real world.

Put your harness on to use a portable ladder and tie off to what? Even if there is something to tie off to at the point you will be working, what do you tie off to while climbing to get there? If there is something that is regularly accessed, permanent ladder or stairs is likely the best solution. There is fall arrest systems that work well with permanent ladders.

With such policy ladders are basically useless, better have lifts available and better have space for the lift available at anything and everything that may need reached even if just for maintenance purposes every few years.

Last year I did a job with one of the big boys in the south. They have massive safety programs. A safety officer came out one day and was lecturing my men on something like not wearing safety glasses when walking across the site (no work going on), while standing under the raised bucket of a Bobcat.