MeterSwangin,
It seems like you have all the bases covered. He three safety guys you mentioned –
The nice guy – you don’t like him because he apparently tries to develop a rapport with the craft.
The conscientious guy who makes corrections – you don’t like him because he apparently is DOING his job, (at very least part of it, probably much more than you’d care to admit).
The office/paperwork guy – gee, RPs have NO administrative stuff that MUST be done – maybe you were passes over for this type of position?
Safety guys aren’t into carrying the ball? Really? BeerCourt has that answered pretty well – as a safety professional, you are often totally alone – the very people who hired you will turn on you if you – even ever-so-professionally and tactfully – stand up for what is right.
The “burnout” quip – yeah, right.
We often remember the ignorant cop who wrote us a citation (regardless of whether we were in the wrong or not), We rapidly forget the cop who stopped on a rainy night to change a flat for an elderly motorist. That’s human nature, sadly.
I encountered a HUGELY ignorant female RP who threw a SCREAMING fit at us because a scaffold in containment – that was properly yellow tagged, dated and signed off on by a competent person at the beginning of the shift and was NOT anywhere near where our company/employees were working – was lacking a toeboard. She did not understand that 29 CFR Parts 1910 & 1926 do not prohibit the tagging of scaffolds that may be worked on and are missing a component such as a toeboard provided they are so tagged, inspected and signed off on by said competent person. She brought a copy of some pages of the reg into he safety meeting waved them around, and shrilly shrieked about “OSHA says toeboards SHALL be affixed.”
She was rapidly instructed by the project manager, he civil superintendent and he scaffold supervisor on the tag system. She shrank, shriveled and shut up – thank goodness.
One of many such encounters with RPs.
Why is it like his? Is it because RP/HPs don’t typically get paid as much as safety operators? Is it because RP/HPs sometimes double as safety on some jobs when full time safety operators are not hired and hay are upset when safety people ARE hired?
Who knows – and I don’t care.
Now, the “not required by OSHA” snivel – I’ve had people whine they wanted GRAPE flavored sports drink, NOT lemon-lime. I’ve had people snot about not liking the safety glasses (they wanted something “fashionable”). I’ve had people screamingly demand bifocal (reader) safety glasses – again, safety should not order equipment. However, I ask these last bifocal tantrum throwers if they came to work unprepared to do their assigned work. If the company wants to buy readers, so be it – not my responsibility, not my job.
-When I set up a job, I stipulate that the safety department does NOT order, inventory, select or issue equipment – and that ESPECIALLY includes hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, etc – THAT IS EQUIPMENT.
You want equipment, (including safety glasses or gloves?); I’ll show you where the tool room is if you don’t know where it is.
Grape kool-aid, (along with pink lens safety glasses, lilac scented commode water and Midol in the lunch/break area are, (drum roll), NOT…… REQUIRED BY OSHA!
Don’t like it? So sad, too bad – now get back to your assigned work area and get [back] to work.
This is not PC, but here goes – RPs make poor choices to be safety operators. And – union people should NEVER be hired to do safety. The latter constitutes a huge conflict of interest.
It is the crew foreman’s responsibility to make the work area ready and safe for their crew to go to work in. I’ve been called by a foreman a half mile away – I walked over there and he pointed to a 3 foot 2” X 4” laying on the walking surface and told me – profanely, “do you f*****g job for once and pick that up!”
We got that straight in short order.
The finest, safest job I was ever on was a non union job in the South.
So, Mr. MeterSwangin, (do you keep a Schwarzenegger poster taped on your bedroom ceiling?), grow up!
