A Sad Day

[Handyjack]

Today, in the interest of safety our table saw, metal lathe, band saws, metal cut off saw, drill press and bench grinders were sent away to be scrapped. Also taken was a radial arm saw.
All the machinery was at least twenty years old and had survived a move of workshop seven years ago. I am not aware of any incidents with the equipment it was deemed unsafe and admittedly some of the equipment could have been better, or at least (floor) stop buttons could have been installed.
Now we have next to no tools. What next? Deem screwdrivers are a dangerous tool: people have been killed with them? Ban power drills? I have my cordless, batteryless drill ready to go but we now lack a facility to sharpen drill bits.

A couple of people have said it is a step towards getting rid of full time staff and just bring in contractors.

Management have indicated some of the tools will be replaced, I will believe it when it happens.

[bsrlee]

Apparently Worksafe or whatever they are called in your part of the world have decreed that any ladder over 10 years old must be replaced regardless of condition. Sounds a lot like management in some industries are jumping the gun or mis-reading the edict.

Of course this is great news for all the importers of Chiwanese ladders regardless of the quality.

[Bob38S]

Sent away to be scrapped.....

or sold off.

[Twisted Tenon]

A couple of people have said it is a step towards getting rid of full time staff and just bring in contractors.

Management have indicated some of the tools will be replaced, I will believe it when it happens.

Hi Handyjack. Are you a TAFE or training school?

TT

[Handyjack]

Hi Handyjack. Are you a TAFE or training school?

TT

Neither. Maintenance department at a medical facility.

[Twisted Tenon]

Neither. Maintenance department at a medical facility.

I wondered. Something like that happened to a training school I used to work at in the late 90's. It's death by bean counters, no going back.

TT

[Bushmiller]

Handyjack,

Sounds like bureaucracy gone mad. I see it all the time at work. Having said that, machines should have as much guarding as is practical even if it is the last step in the hierarchy of safety.

Still sounds like a waste to me.

Regards
Paul

[Paulyboy1960]

Interesting, I also work in a warehouse where we repair and store medical equipment. I can see similar happening here, and I will fight it because once you lose capability you never get it back.

I like the comment about beancounters as well, I was in the Army for over 20 years and the Army I left in 2000 was, I believe run by beancounters and academics as opposed to the Army I joined in 1979 which was run by Soldiers.

My 2 bobs worth.

Cheers, Paul

[Handyjack]

The radial arm saw, great for docking lengths of timber had been deemed unsafe years before as the blade had no guard and it could not be retrofitted. The bandsaw did not have a working brake, but I do not know what the problem was with the table saw or lathe. The bench grinder did not have a guard for the linishing belt, like how would you use the belt if it is guarded. The drill press probably lacked a guard over the chuck. I do not know what the issue with the cut off saw was.
I think management wanted to remove the machines before an over zealous Worksafe inspector walked in.

Surprisingly the welders remain (cause short circuit and sparks, risk of burns and eye damage) and even a cartridge nail gun remain!

Now looking for new toys, sorry, tools. We might even end up with something better.

[KBs PensNmore]

My friends father worked as a Mechanic for a State Government Department, when metrication came in, the bean counters in their infinite wisdom said that all imperial tools and stuff had to go. So off it went to the disposal yard, to be sold something, like $750,000 was raised from the sale. After a few weeks someone said that the metric tools didn't fit the imperial bolts, metric taps couldn't be used for cleaning up threaded holes, so they had to get all new stuff. Cost to replace everything $3,500,000.
Intelligence gone mad.
Kryn

[doug3030]

I like the comment about beancounters as well, I was in the Army for over 20 years and the Army I left in 2000 was, I believe run by beancounters and academics as opposed to the Army I joined in 1979 which was run by Soldiers.

I could not agree more Paul. I joined one army in 1977 and got out of the other one in 1997, served 20 years and 2 days, 20 years to qualify for my DFRDB pension and the two days because they just happened to be a Saturday and a Sunday so I didn't have to work but still got paid for them. If it was not for the requirement to serve 20 years for the pension I would have gone a few years earlier when the rot set in.

Cheers

Doug

[Mobyturns]

Sad part is that it is really about the inadequacies of "managers" and their inability to manage, so they make decisions that benefit them and not the user of the tools or machines.

There is risk in everything we do. Understanding hazards and how we manage associated risk is the important bit.

Sure some modern machines have more safety features but that does not necessarily make them a more precise/accurate, "better" or "safer" machine than an existing one that in most cases can be "accessorized" to comply with machinery guarding etc..

Most managers have neither the trade/technical background or any specific task related hazard/risk management training to fully understand the consequences of the decisions they make. Mostly there is another agenda & the removal of machinery on "safety compliance" issues is the excuse used.

[Handyjack]

Sad part is that it is really about the inadequacies of "managers" and their inability to manage, so they make decisions that benefit them and not the user of the tools or machines.

There is risk in everything we do. Understanding hazards and how we manage associated risk is the important bit.

Sure some modern machines have more safety features but that does not necessarily make them a more precise/accurate, "better" or "safer" machine than an existing one that in most cases can be "accessorized" to comply with machinery guarding etc..

Most managers have neither the trade/technical background or any specific task related hazard/risk management training to fully understand the consequences of the decisions they make. Mostly there is another agenda & the removal of machinery on "safety compliance" issues is the excuse used.

Hence my "tongue in cheek" comment about removing screwdrivers. There are areas where we should not carry them in pockets unless we are using them as other persons may use them as a weapon either on themselves or another person. There is also the risk that we could injure ourselves when using them.

When using any of the tools, the operator needs to be aware of the hazards and asses the risks. Unfortunately these days that is not good enough and mechanical protection and interlocks are required. More to go wrong and at times it can make the process more difficult. That may explain why often guards are removed and interlocks bypassed.

[Bob38S]

Latest Hare and Forbes catalog has a radial arm saw on special for $1900 odd, rrp is $2200.

funny about that

[Handyjack]

Unlikely to replace radial arm saw.
We still have a SCMS which we obtained from another department (therapy) when the instructor was made redundant. While it is a Ryobi, it does the job.
Prior to obtaining the SCMS we only had a Makita miter saw (not compound) which is why the radial arm saw was useful.