Electrical repair agent not removing shoes in house due to health and safety?

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mattwnz

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#250901 30-May-2019 17:24

Had an whiteware appliance agent come to look at a defective piece of whiteware today. When they were asked to remove their shoes, as they would be walking on brand new carpet they said they couldn't due to health and safety. Also had other tradespeople working in the house, and they all voluntarily removed their shoes. Does this sound right, or is health and safety now being used as an excuse for everything? Anyone else come across this? Instead had them put down cardboard but they didn't come prepared with anything to protect carpet where they walked, even though they have this policy for not removing shoes. Or they come with indoor shoes. I can understand they don't want to step on anything sharp, bu indoor shoes or slipper would fix that, or even those platic blag things you stick over shoes. It was also a wet day. I know some cultures like Japanese families require shoes to be removed when entering, which IMO is a good idea.

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#2248613 30-May-2019 17:28

If it bugs you that much, go and buy a bunch of these and get any tradies who wont take off their shoes to put them on

https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/necessities-brand-bath-disposable-shower-cap-4-pack/R2127967.html#start=1

mattwnz

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#2248615 30-May-2019 17:35

wellygary:

If it bugs you that much, go and buy a bunch of these and get any tradies who wont take off their shoes to put them on

https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/necessities-brand-bath-disposable-shower-cap-4-pack/R2127967.html#start=1

As I said , I have never come across a tradesperson that has refused to remove their shoes on entry before, so would have never even thought of buying something myself for that purpose. Not only that but it is common cortesy. As I said, others who were working on site all removed them, and others who haven't, I have asked always remove them as welll. My point is, if companies are now using health and safety as a policy to refuse removal of shoes, they should provide alternative solutions to their workers, such as shower caps, indoor shoes, or plastic to protect floor. But pretty sure there are purpose made shoes ones. I wouldn't be surprised if shower caps wouldn't be considered a health and safety risk to, due to being slippery to walk on, or a higher risk of tripping. The last thing is needing to get the carpet cleaned after a tradeperson have left wet/dirty skidmarks on new carpet, which I have seen happen before.

vexxxboy

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#2248618 30-May-2019 17:41

i would have thought he had to have rubber soles so he could earth himself against an electric shock and since he is the only tradesman working worth electricity i would think it makes sense

Common sense is not as common as you think.

mattwnz

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#2248621 30-May-2019 17:44

vexxxboy:

i would have thought he had to have rubber soles so he could earth himself against an electric shock and since he is the only tradesman working worth electricity i would think it makes sense

I guess that a possibility. but they could have indoor shoes with rubber shoes. I do actually recall one tradesperson who did bring some indoor shoes with them. However I know the electrician removed their shoes.

tdgeek

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#2248623 30-May-2019 17:45

wellygary:

If it bugs you that much, go and buy a bunch of these and get any tradies who wont take off their shoes to put them on

https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/necessities-brand-bath-disposable-shower-cap-4-pack/R2127967.html#start=1

They probably have a grip coefficient less than the OECD average... :-)

My tradies take them off voluntarily.

SATTV

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#2248624 30-May-2019 17:50

This is nothing new, I experenced this over 20 years ago, I was a bit miffed at the time but I can see the logic.

You have to remember that these trade have to go from posh homes to commercial sites, most commercial site require steel cap shoes or safety shoes at minimum.

Just imagine the OSH nightmare if a repair ( person ) dropped a 50kg dishwasher on their foot.

I have to admit they should carry disposable shoe covers with them, you might like to inform them next time they come out.

John

I know enough to be dangerous

gregmcc

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#2248627 30-May-2019 17:54

It's all about safety at work and taking all practicable steps as required by the law.

Imagine if they dropped one of their tools - lets say a screwdriver and it stabbed their foot, Worksafe would be all over the worker and the employer issuing fines and picking apart the company health and safety policies. Wearing safety boots is a simple practical step which every trade worker should observe.

Asking a worker to remove their PPE which is their last line of defense against injury would also open you up to been liable to been fined should an accident happen.

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timmmay

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#2248712 30-May-2019 20:13

It seems reasonable for tradesmen to keep shoes on to me. Supply booties if it bothers you.

Some are dumbasses who will take their shoes off, then walk around outside to their van in their socks, negating some of the benefit of taking their shoes off.

Technofreak

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#2248736 30-May-2019 20:56

timmmay:

It seems reasonable for tradesmen to keep shoes on to me. Supply booties if it bothers you.

Most are dumbasses who will take their shoes off, then walk around outside to their van in their socks, negating some of the benefit of taking their shoes off.

Do you always insult people and fellow Geekzoners in this manner? 😊 There's at least a couple of tradies who frequent this site

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surfisup1000

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#2248737 30-May-2019 20:57

The tradesperson should have refused to drive to your place too. Roads are very dangerous.

OSH is just way over the top.

timmmay

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#2248740 30-May-2019 21:04

Technofreak:

timmmay:

It seems reasonable for tradesmen to keep shoes on to me. Supply booties if it bothers you.

Most are dumbasses who will take their shoes off, then walk around outside to their van in their socks, negating some of the benefit of taking their shoes off.

Do you always insult people and fellow Geekzoners in this manner? 😊 There's at least a couple of tradies who frequent this site

Apologies. It's a small fraction of dumbasses who give the rest a bad name.

Aredwood

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#2248753 30-May-2019 21:54

surfisup1000:
The tradesperson should have refused to drive to your place too. Roads are very dangerous.

OSH is just way over the top.

Worksafe dont care in the slightest about vehicle safety. Getting your staff to drive vehicles that are only 1* crash safety rated is considered perfectly OK by Worksafe. As car crashes are investigated by the Police instead of Worksafe. And the Police dont investigate beyond things like: Speeding, drink driving etc.

@mattwnz Do you know what make and model of vehicle the repairman arrived in? If it doesn't have a good crash safety rating, ask that company how they are managing the hazard of getting injured or killed on the road as part of the job. As approx 10 people get killed on the roads for every person who gets killed on the job. And then bill them for getting your carpet cleaned. As putting their employees in vehicles with poor crash safety shows that they dont actually have a safety Management system. Or such a system is only being used to reduce financial risk rather than actually intended to improve safety.

Worksafe say that PPE is only to be used as a last method of managing a hazard, not the first. The hazard control order goes: Eliminate, then isolate with barriers, then isolate with admin controls, and finally and only 3 the previous things are not reasonably practical to do. Is PPE considered acceptable to manage a hazard.

An owner occupier getting a tradie to do work at their house is not considered a PCBU, so it would actually be on the tradie or their boss. As to why the didnt refuse to do the work if they thought that it couldn't be done safely.

mattwnz

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#2248822 31-May-2019 00:43

gregmcc:

It's all about safety at work and taking all practicable steps as required by the law.

Imagine if they dropped one of their tools - lets say a screwdriver and it stabbed their foot, Worksafe would be all over the worker and the employer issuing fines and picking apart the company health and safety policies. Wearing safety boots is a simple practical step which every trade worker should observe.

Asking a worker to remove their PPE which is their last line of defense against injury would also open you up to been liable to been fined should an accident happen.

That is probably true, but you would hope common sense would prevail. However there is nothing stopping them having indoor shoes, boots, which will have the same safety level. Theonly ime their woul dbe a risk involved, would be during the time they switch shoes. It was a wet day today, they had muddy feet, so walking on brand new carpet with shoes that have just come from outside, shows poor common sense. All they were willing to do was to wipe their feet in the carpet by the front door. We worked out a solution by putting something on the carpet to protect it, but the employer should really have steps to protect the owners property, if they have introduced this policy to protect their employees. However there is no universal standards around health and safety it seems, and most tradies will remove their boots without even being asked, so they haven't got the memo. If they had caused skid marks on the carpet, they would be liable for cleaning the carpet.

That does remind me, I did one have one company once erect cones around their work area in the house, and warning signs as well. Although they were part of a franchise, so expect that was one of their policies.

mattwnz

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#2248823 31-May-2019 00:55

timmmay:

It seems reasonable for tradesmen to keep shoes on to me. Supply booties if it bothers you.

As above, they would probably not provide the same friction, and could see it being a trip hazard, so I suspect they would refuse to put them over their shoes, and I would understand that.

mattwnz

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#2248824 31-May-2019 01:04

Aredwood:

@mattwnz Do you know what make and model of vehicle the repairman arrived in? If it doesn't have a good crash safety rating, ask that company how they are managing the hazard of getting injured or killed on the road as part of the job. As approx 10 people get killed on the roads for every person who gets killed on the job. And then bill them for getting your carpet cleaned. As putting their employees in vehicles with poor crash safety shows that they dont actually have a safety Management system. Or such a system is only being used to reduce financial risk rather than actually intended to improve safety.
.

Didn't see what they were driving, but it may have been a van, which don't usually rate that well. Ironically they had to travel over the Rimutaka hill road which was almost closed due to very high gusts and rain, and it currently has driver warnings on it. But they obviously didn't see that as an increased risk

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