The government is spending £29.5 million training local authority enforcement officers how to police the imminent smoking ban. We are generally a law-abiding lot. We grumble, turn a few shades of purple, then get on with it. Businesses have had to create smoke-free rest rooms for a number of years and I know many smokers feel a total ban would help them give up. Since employers and pub landlords will be fined if they allow smoking, as will the smoker, this is self-policing legislation. I wonder how long it will take to recoup this money through fines they wouldn’t have had to impose had the rules been made clearer?
The need for expensive training is puzzling; presumably these officers are capable of reading the regulations? And a local authority inspector (who has powers within a workplace) does not have powers of arrest over a smoking member of the public. So, will they have to make a citizen's arrest to hold them until the police arrive? By definition, any of us can do this without the luxury of training (there is no set form of words but you must tell the person what you are doing, why and what offence you believe they are committing - while they passively submit).
This money would be better spent on more workplace inspections or catching fly-tippers, predictably increasing because of the higher costs of waste disposal.
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
Thursday, 25 January 2007
Cook the food and clean the cloths!
We are now being told to put cleaning cloths in the microwave to kill the germs.
A team of environmental engineers in Florida soaked cloths in faecal contaminated water (like you do) then cooked them in a microwave. Between 4-10 minutes is required to kill everything, but most bacteria, including E.coli and salmonella, are zapped in 2 minutes. Cloths need to be damp and 'cooked' until steaming to kill most bugs - at around 71C. Yummy.
Reports don't say at what time the sponge is likely to set alight so if, like me, you don't generally stand there watching the microwave cook, I suggest you don't go off multi-tasking!
Why do we make things so complicated? They must be laughing their socks off in Europe. We need to teach our kids to eat food that looks like food, wash their hands after going to the toilet and wash, disinfect and throw away those cloths!! Remember, the Americans spent years and $millions inventing a pen to write in space - the Russians had the sense to use a pencil.
A team of environmental engineers in Florida soaked cloths in faecal contaminated water (like you do) then cooked them in a microwave. Between 4-10 minutes is required to kill everything, but most bacteria, including E.coli and salmonella, are zapped in 2 minutes. Cloths need to be damp and 'cooked' until steaming to kill most bugs - at around 71C. Yummy.
Reports don't say at what time the sponge is likely to set alight so if, like me, you don't generally stand there watching the microwave cook, I suggest you don't go off multi-tasking!
Why do we make things so complicated? They must be laughing their socks off in Europe. We need to teach our kids to eat food that looks like food, wash their hands after going to the toilet and wash, disinfect and throw away those cloths!! Remember, the Americans spent years and $millions inventing a pen to write in space - the Russians had the sense to use a pencil.
Thursday, 18 January 2007
Big Bully Reality?
I kept being asked my opinion (that's my excuse) so switched onto Big Brother last night - helping to boost the ratings to 5 million. Damn. We're all voyeurs to some extent it's being manipulated I hate.
Anyway, I saw this massively insecure child-woman intent on humiliating and scoring points over an attractive, successful Indian woman, for precisely those reasons. Shilpa Shetty was sharp contrast to Jade Goody’s empty celebrity, built on foul mouthed ignorance.
Faced with someone who does not fit her frame of reference Jade attempts to batter them into something she understands and can relate to. She and her silly girlfriends think speaking their disgusting minds is 'honest' whilst consideration and manners are ‘phoney.’ Her foul mouthed ranting at Shilpa was crass and ignorant, jaw-droppingly nasty and embarrassing.
There was a clear social clash but to call this racism is to presume it would not be directed at someone of the same colour when we know that it is. In fact, Jody Marsh was bullied on this show but after an initial flurry of protest the general tenor was that being a dim white girl from Essex she more or less had it coming. So to call it racism suggests that one sector of society is entitled to protection whilst the rest of us must put up with it; as if it's our 'culture.'
Jade's attitude reflects that of a growing underclass that finds it easier to denigrate others than to raise its own aspirations. Bonded by insecurities these individuals attack anything that's 'different' to bolster their own self-esteem.
What I found really shameful was the cowardice and lack of support shown by older members of the house, which is probably, disappointingly a true reflection of real life. Perhaps it was edited out to increase the ratings but I did not hear anyone other than Shilpa tell Jade to shut up.
I don’t believe Shilpa Shetty wants or needs sympathy. As someone who speaks eight languages she'll laugh at Danielle's remark that she 'can't even speak proper English.' As a wealthy, intelligent woman she clearly saw advantage in appearing on this show to further her career. Perhaps she'll appear in the next James Bond? We need to remember that these people are being paid a lot of money, signed contracts to be humiliated and are not prisoners.
27,000 bothering to complain at least demonstrates that this particular reality is rejected as part of our culture.
Click here for information on bullying and work-related stress
www.quadrant-safety.co.uk
Anyway, I saw this massively insecure child-woman intent on humiliating and scoring points over an attractive, successful Indian woman, for precisely those reasons. Shilpa Shetty was sharp contrast to Jade Goody’s empty celebrity, built on foul mouthed ignorance.
Faced with someone who does not fit her frame of reference Jade attempts to batter them into something she understands and can relate to. She and her silly girlfriends think speaking their disgusting minds is 'honest' whilst consideration and manners are ‘phoney.’ Her foul mouthed ranting at Shilpa was crass and ignorant, jaw-droppingly nasty and embarrassing.
There was a clear social clash but to call this racism is to presume it would not be directed at someone of the same colour when we know that it is. In fact, Jody Marsh was bullied on this show but after an initial flurry of protest the general tenor was that being a dim white girl from Essex she more or less had it coming. So to call it racism suggests that one sector of society is entitled to protection whilst the rest of us must put up with it; as if it's our 'culture.'
Jade's attitude reflects that of a growing underclass that finds it easier to denigrate others than to raise its own aspirations. Bonded by insecurities these individuals attack anything that's 'different' to bolster their own self-esteem.
What I found really shameful was the cowardice and lack of support shown by older members of the house, which is probably, disappointingly a true reflection of real life. Perhaps it was edited out to increase the ratings but I did not hear anyone other than Shilpa tell Jade to shut up.
I don’t believe Shilpa Shetty wants or needs sympathy. As someone who speaks eight languages she'll laugh at Danielle's remark that she 'can't even speak proper English.' As a wealthy, intelligent woman she clearly saw advantage in appearing on this show to further her career. Perhaps she'll appear in the next James Bond? We need to remember that these people are being paid a lot of money, signed contracts to be humiliated and are not prisoners.
27,000 bothering to complain at least demonstrates that this particular reality is rejected as part of our culture.
Click here for information on bullying and work-related stress
www.quadrant-safety.co.uk
Friday, 22 December 2006
'Head injury inflames sex drive' - or 'preventable fall devastates marriage?.'
'Fatuous euphoria,' a deliciously lyrical turn of phrase, was introduced this week as the condition suffered by Stephen Tame following a head injury at work. It describes his sexual disinhibition in using pornography, having affairs, visiting prostitutes and generally misbehaving in the presence of females. Much sniggering muttering "not much suffering there" and the like, was followed by indignant protest at the £3.2m payout; “more money to fund his habit” and even, “I wouldn’t mind an injury like that."
Behind the headline was a bit more than a knock on the head with stars whizzing around.
Stephen Tame now aged 29, fell from a gantry in a cycle warehouse back in 2002 because his employer hadn't taken precautions to prevent it happening. In a coma for 53 days doctors did not expect him to survive and, after two years of rehabilitation his ‘miraculous’ recovery is tempered by this devastating change in personality. Married just 8 months at the time of the accident his wife is being treated for clinical depression and the judge didn't expect the marriage to last much longer. Professional Cycling Marketing admitted liability but contested the amount of the award. As the risks of working at height are well known what would any of us consider appropriate compensation in the circumstances?
46 people died and 3351 suffered major injury after falls from height at work in 2005/6. Whilst the effects are generally not so startling as in this case, they are always far reaching. This case is a reminder to employers whose activities involve work at height to check their own house is in order. Assessing risks and planning to work safely should be a natural part of the work not an onerous bolt-on.
And what of this ‘Fatuous euphoria?’ Is it really just an excuse for bad behaviour? Euphoria, that soaring ecstatic state experienced when everything falls into place and goals are achieved, is a transient, extreme condition that cannot sustain itself and evaporates quickly. At its extremes, where a person cannot deal with the lows and obsessively pursues the highs, it can tip over into mental illness. In Stephen Tame's case, fatuous euphoria seems a sensitive euphemism to distinguish the compulsive, empty pursuit of this heady feeling from the motives of others who indulge in such activities. However, I predict it will be hijacked by kerb crawlers and the like over the coming months.
Behind the headline was a bit more than a knock on the head with stars whizzing around.
Stephen Tame now aged 29, fell from a gantry in a cycle warehouse back in 2002 because his employer hadn't taken precautions to prevent it happening. In a coma for 53 days doctors did not expect him to survive and, after two years of rehabilitation his ‘miraculous’ recovery is tempered by this devastating change in personality. Married just 8 months at the time of the accident his wife is being treated for clinical depression and the judge didn't expect the marriage to last much longer. Professional Cycling Marketing admitted liability but contested the amount of the award. As the risks of working at height are well known what would any of us consider appropriate compensation in the circumstances?
46 people died and 3351 suffered major injury after falls from height at work in 2005/6. Whilst the effects are generally not so startling as in this case, they are always far reaching. This case is a reminder to employers whose activities involve work at height to check their own house is in order. Assessing risks and planning to work safely should be a natural part of the work not an onerous bolt-on.
And what of this ‘Fatuous euphoria?’ Is it really just an excuse for bad behaviour? Euphoria, that soaring ecstatic state experienced when everything falls into place and goals are achieved, is a transient, extreme condition that cannot sustain itself and evaporates quickly. At its extremes, where a person cannot deal with the lows and obsessively pursues the highs, it can tip over into mental illness. In Stephen Tame's case, fatuous euphoria seems a sensitive euphemism to distinguish the compulsive, empty pursuit of this heady feeling from the motives of others who indulge in such activities. However, I predict it will be hijacked by kerb crawlers and the like over the coming months.
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