Health and Safety in the Workplace

Yesterday I attended the worst training day I have ever been on. It was on 'Health and Safety in the Workplace' and it was painfully boring. Now I know that to most people this isn't the most exciting of topics but I do believe that most subjects, if presented in the right way can still be reasonably interesting. This was not.

We entered the room and were sat at tables which were in two lines along the length of the room, facing each other. What amused me was that in a course where they talked extensively about how we should look out for the ergonomics of our desks and make sure we are not twisting to see our computer screens we had to sit twisting all day in order to face the front of the room where the trainer and the projection screen were.

We sat at these tables ALL DAY, from 9am to 5pm. We did not leave the room except to go to the toilet. The session was run by 2 men, one was actually reasonably good - he had a fairly expressive voice, cracked a few jokes and told us a few interesting stories of workplaces he had visited where there were Health and Safety risks. Unfortunately it was the other guy that ran most of the day. He had a seriously monotone voice and absolutely NO sense of humour. He was obviously very very interested in Health and Safety (good thing as it's his job - fair enough) but was not able to communicate his interest and knowledge in a way that could engage us.

By half way through the afternoon it was clear that everyone there was losing the will to live. If the trainer guy had any kind of self awareness or people skills I think he would have noted that the body language of everyone in the room was telling him that they were bored and frustrated. One of my colleagues fell asleep and I had to poke him with a pencil and another one of my colleagues started throwing pencils around.

I really do appreciate the importance of good Health and Safety Policies in the workplace and of course I am concerned to do all I can to keep the staff and the congregation safe, however I really think it is a waste of my time to have a 40 minute lecture on how to use a ladder safely. In December I climbed a high stepladder in order to decorate our 10 foot Christmas tree at church. 2 of my colleagues helped me, one held the ladder and one passed decorations up to me. The ladder was safe and secure the work mates were responsible. Following my discussion with this trainer I was informed that only people who have received training on how to use a ladder and deemed competent in ladder usage should be allowed to perform such tasks and that next Christmas I should consider either:

1) Not having a Christmas tree at church.
2) Having a much smaller tree so that I do not need a ladder decorate it.
3) Getting some scaffolding to erect around the tree and using this to climb up to decorate it.
4) Hiring a 'cherry picker' electrical extendable platform to stand on and decorate the tree.

I am toying with the idea of finding out about local 'ladder safety courses' and attending what I'm sure will have to be a 3 week intensive course with a full examination on ladder handling techniques, after which I will take great joy in changing my job title to Mel Burley - PA to the Vicar/Church Office Coordinator/Ladder handling Coordinator.