Marina eWof requirements

[Beccara 25]

That may happen on the low-end walk-ins but as late as 2013 it was St John's national policy to fill in part of the acc claim form around the location and time of the accident, They also report to WorkSafe/ACC all calls from a commercial premise.

 

If you don't want to believe the numbers then nothing I can say is going to convince you otherwise, Everyone here myself included can think of many silly examples of H&S but we often don't think/remember all the times where PPE or H&S procedures have saved someone's life or limb, When you cast a wide net you always get a few things you never intended to catch caught in the net.

[wheels 544]

When I was servicing, I used to drop Building site ext leads into a bucket of water and then do the test. You would be shocked at the number of them that had failed insulation and yet looked fine. You would also be shcoked at the number of Builders that operated leads with Plugs that had the main outer jacket pulled out of the plug and the inner three are exposed and also taking strain. It was kind of like the attitude of, But my Car still has a few months to go on it's warrant, so it must be Safe to Drive. Who checks over the Car before they get in a drive.

But back to smithy's post that started this. I am not sure that info is totally correct. Sure there is certainly some stuff tested when it does not need to be, but at the same time, there are very clear rules under the regs and that article makes it sound like a lot of testing is not required, that in fact is. It depends on the use and who is using it.
 

[southernman 73]

There is a whole industry created around H&S.  Our business H&S costs have increased 500% in the last 3 years.  And they will increase further.  For small business wanting to work with big business you have to do it.  It's just you don't have the opportunity always to recover this in your revenue as the economies of scale don't apply to small business.  There is an army of H&S leaches running around making money out of this bloody stupid in often cases rules.  

 

Take the Justice Precinct project in CHCH - inductions, endless H&S meetings, SOP's, everything done right BUT still endless injuries.  Look at the level of skill employed on this site - in most cases bloody terrible to dangerous.  Muppets running the cranes, H&S and site reps constantly change, no one knows what's going on.  Absolute madness.  And the head contractor makes a massive loss!!

 

I think we will see things get even tougher than they are now.  

 

You only have to work in the UK to understand a little about how things will end up here.  Bloody mental in most cases, but suck it up.  The safety boots I've worn for years and years are apparently no longer approved as they are dangerous because they don't have laces.  Honestly WTF since when have slip on boots been dangerous, bloody practical, less back bending to undo laces, foot get stuck you can get the boot off quickly.  

 

Rant over.  Small Business Owner.  

[Fish 0]

No one has ever been able to explain to me how slip on safety boots can be a hazard.

 

The best I've got is that if I get stuck in deep mud, the boot will come off. I seemed to think in that situation I'd want the damn boot to come off.

I tend not to walk in mud, gets my boots dirty......

[rjp 4]

The ACC claims rate for workplace accidents has fallen from 158/1000 FTE to 107/1000 FTE from 2002 to 2016.  I'm not going to raise specific scenarios as for everyone I can dream up you can dream up a counter. I honestly dont know if all H&S changes over the past 20 years have been effective but the overall trend is showing us work places are safer now and fewer people are injuring themselves

 

I only returned to NZ 3 years ago, after a couple of decades in the US East Coast, but those numbers seem appalling large -at times I worked home renovations, sailboat rigging, hi-tech facility fit-out.  US figures have been running at ~35 total recordable per 1000 (https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/ostb4732.pdf, data is per 100 in this table) with the 'construction/agriculture/dangerous' industries about double that.  

 

Yes, Im sure you can argue the stats are measuring slightly different things but I have not seen, heard or observed a single case where productivity here has been better than I saw in the US.  Nor, have I heard any one else provide an example from their own perspective.   

 

I propose that what you are seeing is many more people being employed on the site to satisfy H&S rules and a lower overall output/number of real workers.  I can't prove it for construction sites but I absolutely seem many more -probably double, workers on road sites than the US used AND it takes 2-3 times as long to get something done here.  As for home tasks: US -one person to paint a 300m2 2.5 story house vs NZ -4 people on job, plus scaffolders for same sized house.  Price difference 4 fold (allowing for exchange rates and paint cost).  In the US it was between the worker and their insurance company (as the homeowner or company owner you absolutely checked the worker carried their own insurance and they were responsible not you for their own actions).  The person doing the work took the risk if they wanted to and were in hindsight much more careful about what they did.  Here I see hopeless scaffolding, poor load handling etc all the time.  There almost never as if you screwed yourself up physically then you couldn't work and there was a consequence and liability.  Here no consequence to pay check, no immediate/personal liability to company/owner so why bother changing/taking care.

[ynot 60]

No one wants to hurt themselves neither do employers want staff injuries and want there employees be uninjured so that productivity stays as it should be and the company does not get a bad reputation.

However when the far more educated than me and have a 100k plus a year salary and thier some job is health and safety tell me i must Wear a harness in a scissor lift but the cannot explain or point out the certified attachment point for said harness and how I will not exceed the manufacturers maximum side force when I fall while attached says to me that something is wrong with the forementioned h & s system. There are many companys in Auckland that seem to place a blanket cover on h&s but also ignore that sometimes some things do not require certain safety procedures and do not base issues on a case by case situation.

[wheels 544]

Yep, even though I used to blow the odd thing up, cover the ceiling in molten Galv, or produce large quantities of smoke, I at least did it with safety in mind. For instance, if KM and I were putting some shackle under 12tonnes of destructive load, we would stand just that little bit further back from the Test Bed and sometimes made sure something or someone else was standing between us and it.

[MarkMT 68]

I have not seen, heard or observed a single case where productivity here has been better than I saw in the US.

 

Which would be consistent with recent data... from http://bit.ly/2iQxKyc -

 

[rjp 4]

 

Stop generalising as the majority of owners need their people and take a lot of effort to look after their people and they have done that a lot long than the laws saying they must have existed. Making dumbarse statements like the above is no different than BP and AJ calling anyone not extreme lefties Nazis, f**king stupid, counter-productive and does the exact opposite of what they they are trying to achieve or say they are trying too. I spend a mother load more coin and time making sure my team are as safe as practicable than I do on my own kids. I would not be unusual in doing that.

 

Clearly what I wrote was poorly worded.  It was not my intention to malign the companies owners nor to imply they didn't care about keeping/protecting employees.  I know from experience retaining a trained quality employee is ALWAYS cheaper and better than trying to replace them -No matter what the cause for their leaving.  It doesn't ever help an employer (or the bottom line) to have machinery broken due to improper use, to have staff numbers down due to stupid mistakes, to make people not want to come to work because conditions make them uncomfortable/scared.

 

My intention was to suggest that for the employee it has much less effect on their pay check if they do something silly/stupid.  Labour practices make it harder to fire them and if they do injure themselves then ACC picks up much of the cost in immediate and long-term care.  From the employer side any increase in ACC levy is a lot smaller than loosing an insurance discount or having a policy dropped (remember in US no policy providing coverage to your employees/removing liability for accidents from the work-site owner = no work).  I would like to be proven wrong but I have not heard of an employer being shut down because their ACC claim rate is too high.  What I do see is huge added costs and added staff numbers that must be hurting productivity per employee despite no proven correlation to improved outcome.

[wheels 544]

Can I add into this mix, the close ugly cousin of H&S, Resource Consent.
Well actually, not so much the RMA itself, but the silly expensive costs incurred trying to get a consent for something. The ability  of the Public to object when the objections are more about snobby attitude than a realistic concern. For instance, someone buys a property near an Airport and then complains about the aircraft noise(happening in Palmerston North area with RNZAF Ohakea) People Building a Home near a Landfill site and then complain about the activities carried out there(which is happening in Blenheim right now). It is just plain ridiculous.
 

[Zozza 363]

This has morphed into a political discussion.

I thought it was about eWOF in marina's?   My answer to that is, don't plug in - go solar

[Black Panther 1,776]

That's where I am headed. I think IT did the same.

[waikiore 501]

Its working for me havent plugged in since last Christmas

[Clipper 375]

Hard to run a dehumidifier on solar

[Zozza 363]

Hard to run a dehumidifier on solar

 

 

Add some form of EVA Insulation?

[Black Panther 1,776]

solar powered vents?

[Island Time 1,313]

Actually KM, that makes it impossible on most vessels. 250w 24x7.i reckon you'd need 1000w of panels min to run just that...

[wheels 544]

Plus, don't get fooled. There are dehumidifiers that are little more than a Fan and a container of material called "Damp Rid". It absorbs moisture from the air...poorly... and a Fan. That's it. A real dehumidifier uses a compressor fridge unit and the water is condensed out on the condenser plate and then the drier air passes through to the evaporator where it is heated again and enters the room dry and warm. They draw the same as a small fridge.

[jonathan 4]

I have been on piles in Panmure for 8 years, you get very used to no shore power, just go solar

Sad for the racing boats that need a dehumidifier tho,    feel better about leaving westhaven now

[ScottiE 174]

I'm impressed at just how good thru ventilation works on the T.  I wish now that I had put dorades in at the bow as the forward bunks are the only areas that I have even a remote problem.