Comments??

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Hey look, here she is "working" in car factory in America. **LINK**

And now she's in the UK **LINK**

And back in America again **LINK**

And now she's in Italy **LINK**

And on and on.

Definitely a stock photo showing absolutely nothing. Like all those pics of power station cooling towers belching water vapor that get used with every carbon emissions story.

[Peter HallParticipant @peterhall61789]

Well I most certainly have a view.

As I gaze out of my 3rd floor window across the River Itchen, I can clearly see Merlin Wharf where the Spitfire was developed and built back in the 1930s. I have to say it looks better in the sunshine than it does under today's leaden skies.

Pete

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Probably a posed setup purely for the photographer. Stand there, put these on, put your hands here, hold still, OK. I've seen it being done.

Martin C

[larry PhelanParticipant @larryphelan54019]

Yis are all wrong,I think she,s making a yoke !!

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I wonder if she gets any royalties for the picture if it is being used all over. When I first started work we in UK were making part of a USA satellite and I was (posed) photographed working on some circuit to send to Hughes Aerospace to show we were actually doing something, A few months later the boss went over there and reported his shock to see my head and torso blown up to 10 ft high but as an artists interpretation on their reception wall.

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

Thank you, everyone.

The reason for the thread was what, to me, was an immediate concern at potential safety risks – long hair unconstrained, gloves(so often a no-no with forum members) and, particularly, bare arms in the featured environment. I take the point that it is a generic, rather than specific, working scene but rotating machinery and flammable substances are fairly universal.

My reaction was exactly as in my previous working life when seeing photo's of other mil aircrew 'modifying flying safety gear (overalls, immersion suits etc.) to "make them more comfortable" and then heading out over water. Having to recover the end results of that combination concentrates the mind on safety aspects.

Maybe I'm just an 'Elfin manque'??

rgds

Bill

[Billy BeanParticipant @billybean67480]

Cornish Jack raises a very valid point to safety to which some people show little regard.

At our recent club meeting, mention was made of a recent posting on a different forum shows a chap reaching over a myford ml4 lathe whilst it was still running.

An accident waiting to happen ?

[Brian Sweeting 2Participant @briansweeting2]

Unfortunately the original post did not mention any context but merely asked "Comments?"

What on ?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

For those still interested in decoding this image … I tracked down a higher resolution copy, and a file reference:

**LINK**

http://c.files.bbci.co.uk/17131/production/_99931549_dagenham_2015.jpg

MichaelG.

[colin branniganParticipant @colinbrannigan54160]

Is that a Ford logo on her swipe card?

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Her ID card appears to have Ford on it so would fit with Michaels detective work of the picture being Dagenham which these days is an engine plant. European and USA car plants are very safety conscious workplaces and operator workspaces are very well protected by safety systems with a high level of redundancy. Photography in car plants is very restricted and pictures and films are strictly controlled. Many regular operators do not want to be photographed so the picture is near certain to have been staged. Companies like to project an image of equal opportunity so you tend to find a female is often in a starring role. She appears to be immaculately turned out for the picture. The hair and jewellery could not be worn in some areas but if it is not an issue in this situation additional protection may not be required. Every process in a car factory will have had a risk assessment and compliance is enforced. Gloves are mandatory for many processes, any sheet steel handling will require Kevlar reinforced gloves these days. Any handling process will have massive attrition on the hands if gloves are not worn. I am sure Ford will have full documentation for what she is doing, how it is done and what protection is required. As it is likely to be a publicity picture then liberties are probably taken like guard removal and relaxation of PPE requirements.

Mike

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Update:

It's picture 4 in this set of 10 **LINK**

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/the-new-state-of-the-art-ford-production-line-532248963?#an-employee-works-on-an-engine-production-line-at-a-ford-factory-on-picture-id461479684

Interesting to see how little credit is given to Getty, by publishers that should know better.

… I think I only saw a credit on Hopper's Italian link.

MichaelG.

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

We've all assumed that it's a girl….. but what if it's a young lad with long hair??

Brian

[Steve PaveyParticipant @stevepavey65865]

She is clearly wearing some ppe. And she doesn’t look like a typical ‘model’, so while the picture may have been posed I don’t get the impression that it isn’t a typical working situation that has been photographed. To me it shows someone unplugging the test leads from some sort of engine test rig, so why would anyone need to worry about the long hair and necklace? There is a bloke in the background with a high viz jacket, so clearly he does a different job. The need for ppe is related to the job being done, which is probably why she isn’t wearing Kevlar chainsawing trousers and a life jacket.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 08/02/2018 17:59:42:

Update:

It's picture 4 in this set of 10 **LINK**

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/the-new-state-of-the-art-ford-production-line-532248963?#an-employee-works-on-an-engine-production-line-at-a-ford-factory-on-picture-id461479684

Interesting to see how little credit is given to Getty, by publishers that should know better.

… I think I only saw a credit on Hopper's Italian link.

MichaelG.

Took me a while to find that Michael, then I refreshed the screen for my new post to enlighten everyone and your message appeared. My Google fu must be failing.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

I've a few.

Most assembly workers wear gloves. There being nothing rotating that she can reach the hair doesn't matter either. If there was she would have been kicked off. That just leaves the fact that it's a woman – so what, there was thousands of them back in the Forties doing way more dangerous jobs than that one. Why should today be any different?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Another angle on our heroine: **LINK**

https://goo.gl/images/d1FbS9

Photograper: Carl Court … [search for him if you've not seen his other work]

She looks convincing as a 'real' worker to me.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: Sorry, that short link doesn't work properly

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 08/02/2018 22:20:05

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 08/02/2018 22:28:58

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 08/02/2018 17:59:42:

Update:

It's picture 4 in this set of 10 **LINK**

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/the-new-state-of-the-art-ford-production-line-532248963?#an-employee-works-on-an-engine-production-line-at-a-ford-factory-on-picture-id461479684

Interesting to see how little credit is given to Getty, by publishers that should know better.

… I think I only saw a credit on Hopper's Italian link.

MichaelG.

With Getty, you pays your money to use their image and they don't seem to care if you credit them or not. They supply half the images you see in many magazines and advertising, billboards, packaging etc etc worldwide and not often do you see a credit.

The last image you posted certainly looks more like a real worker shot. Well done tracking that lot down.

Edited By Hopper on 08/02/2018 23:33:50

[Alan Waddington 2Participant @alanwaddington2]

I served my time as a plater/welder in the early 80’s, worked in heavy industry for 10 yrs after i came out of my time, at several establishments including, boiler makers, oil industry fabricators and structural steel manufacturers. Non of the factories i worked in looked as posh as the one in the photo, they were all cold, noisy, dark, smelly and hazardous…………PPE was an uncoined phrase, most of the old hands were either deaf, half blind, had a bad back, a bad chest, a missing digit, or all the above……I know of at least 3 blokes that were injured so bad they would never work again, and witnessed several near misses that could have resulted in loss of life……..The safety elves are definitely a good thing, but i reckon it’s gone too far the other way now, it’s a wonder we ever leave the house.

Edited By Alan Waddington 2 on 08/02/2018 23:36:45

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I saw massive changes in the car industry in the 44 years I worked in it. It was noisy and filthy in 1972 but things got better with every model. When I retired it was pretty clean and quiet, a massive transformation much of which was enabled by improvements in technology. What never changed was the relentless speed of mass production, things are quite busy when you make a car every minute on a single build line.

Mike

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

No reason to doubt that this lady is a real worker; none of the chaps doing more obvious production line work in the series of photos look like models!

Of course the photos are 'posed' – they were taken by a professional photographer and intended to appeal to paying customers.

I'm intrigued by what the lady is doing. I like Juddy's suggestion that the hefty orange wall-mounted device on the right is a dynamometer, or possibly an electric motor that spins an unfueled engine as part of final testing. Her job is to align the engine with the test rig; to connect the electronic instrumentation; do the test; and then move the engine to the next stage. The second photo supports the idea that the orange device is a dynamometer. In the first photo there's no obvious way of removing exhaust. In the second photo the lady could be connecting the engine to an exhaust analyser.

Dave

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

The first picture seems pretty certainly posed. If the engine was being rigged for test, or derigged post test, some tooling would be evident, (air tools suspended from a balancer, or electric screwdrivers /' wrenches). Possibly that shot only showed a unit being moved from place to place.

With no rotating equipment near by the long hair is probably acceptable. The rest of the PPE placxes the shot in a modern factory environment.

My conclusion is that there are a series of publicity shots purporting to show how things are made, (without the real in depth knowledge of what IS happening).

An engine in a cold chamber at -15 C does not look cold, (the low temperature removed any moisture a long time ago) So you throw buckets of soapy water over it, so that the ice and icicles LOOK cold. The folk around it, wearing thick gloves, hats, clothing are far more believable.

Howard

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 09/02/2018 10:47:30:

No reason to doubt that this lady is a real worker; none of the chaps doing more obvious production line work in the series of photos look like models!

Of course the photos are 'posed' – they were taken by a professional photographer and intended to appeal to paying customers.

Dave

It may have been posed like you said, but I have no reason in my personal experience to doubt that she is a real worker, I've worked with a few older and less photogenic honest ladies on the production line.

(Ironically the factory had more women working there years ago than now, when the work was needed post-war. but there were also a lot more men too, company went into administration temporarily and downsized from a workforce of 50-60 to around 20 in my time) 

It's good PR for them. To be fair they haven't over done it, if we can believe they really work there. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 09/02/2018 16:37:09

[Martin 100Participant @martin100]

Posted by Alan Waddington 2 on 08/02/2018 23:34:49:

The safety elves are definitely a good thing, but i reckon it’s gone too far the other way now, it’s a wonder we ever leave the house.

In a similar vein there was this on the BBC website the other day

Eight things more likely to kill you in 1970s Britain than today

The workplace being one of them.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

We seem to be building a generation who are blameless of anything, whatever happens it must be someone else's fault. People should man up and take responsibility for their own stupidity.

Mike

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