What chance have we got?

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

**LINK**

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

Young chinese worker.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

None.

I can't get the little bugger out the cab to have a go.

[Philip BurmanParticipant @philipburman66049]

If you want to be a digger driver in China and have a big mortgage and hungry family – none. What do you think the little buggers' chances are of becoming an investment banker. As has always been the case when picking a career, check were the money is and who's the competition.

Phil

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Posted by Philip Burman on 12/02/2013 20:43:23:

What do you think the little buggers' chances are of becoming an investment banker.

Phil

In China, very good really. Process as follows: Join the Youth Communist Party. Do a lot of political party work, when you are older, join the army, become more politically active, become head of a first class Chinese bank, easy, ask any Chinese banker if you care to validate

Ketan at ARC.

[Clive FarrarParticipant @clivefarrar90441]

Well i say credit to him.

He is a much better driver than some of the morons i come across on my morning commute.

Clive

[A SmithParticipant @asmith78105]

You can tell there aren't many rural types on here. Tractor driving at that age was quite common with my contemporaries. After all, if you're too small to lift a bale, you have to find something else useful to do when the grass is comming in.

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

Excellent!

Steve

[Philip BurmanParticipant @philipburman66049]

Posted by A Smith on 12/02/2013 21:57:14:

You can tell there aren't many rural types on here. Tractor driving at that age was quite common with my contemporaries. After all, if you're too small to lift a bale, you have to find something else useful to do when the grass is comming in.

There's not many living in this century either. To day in the West it's illegal. If you got caught you would go to jail for child abuse.

Phil

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Hi All

The new Fergie is a quad bike, quite a grim reaper in the hands of the inexperienced. Unfortunately commen sense does not prevail in their design, You would think after millions of fergies particularly the early unprotected ones the designers of quad bikes would have learned. Instead they are even easier to flip over. You need a roll cage and a low centre of gravity. just for a start. they have neither. proper training is essential.

Two of my sons schlool friends have paid the ultimate price using these machines.

Farm OH&S is a good thing

John McNamara

[Sandy MortonParticipant @sandymorton10620]

I started to drive a Fergie tractor when I was 12. First mistake I made was when learning to plough – I was told to keep my eyes on something and steer straight towards it – I duly did but the cow moved!

[Brian WarwickParticipant @brianwarwick88192]

No Health and Safety in those days just good old common sense and a good tutor.

Gray,

Strage I thought health & safety was common sence

[jason spencerParticipant @jasonspencer41535]

Health and safety now days has more to do with job protection for those who work in that area.

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

OMG that would never happen here, would it?

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

My dad took me to an abandoned airfield to have ago at driving his Wolseley when I was about 10 or 12.

Neil

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

China's soloution to the Pension problem – get em working at a younger age whilst us old buggers mess about with steam engines – Splendid. When will we adopt the same in the UK ?

[AndyBParticipant @andyb47186]

Going back to the original question – none, if you were standing next to the tipper body

[Cyril BonnettParticipant @cyrilbonnett24790]

I like the scratching of the head and the smile when he tips the bucket, you'd get jailed here for life if you let your kid any where near a machine like that let alone start it. Good on the wee fella hope he has a long and successful life.

[Steven VineParticipant @stevenvine79904]

In the late 60's, when I was about 13, I was taught to drive the Unigate electric 3 wheeler milk float and was even allowed to drive out of the back streets and onto the main roads. It was a common thing to let the milk boys drive the floats back then. Happy days. Up yours you health and safety do gooders.

Steve

[Harold Hall 1Participant @haroldhall1]

Why are you people so anti Health and Safety, hundreds would have died and many more escape serious injury without it, Some of you, like me, may unknowingly be among them.

Harold

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Harold, I for one am not against Heath and safety, anyone who get to our ages with all 12 digits proves that. Health and safety is a frame of mind, not a load of laid down rules.

What I do object to is having to deal with the blowhards enforcing the rules, which in many cases don't even exist.

I have asked for copies of the said legislation and they have not been able to come up with it, mainly because it doesn't exist. They go away never to reapear. If there was an issue that would not happen.

This is the honest truth, I have had an 'inspector' pick a 2 week old angle grinder up, still with the CE sticker on it and insist that the top part of the wheel is guarded. When I pointed out theat the factory fitted guard was there to stop your hand sliding up and going into the wheel he insisted it have a full guard over it.

I got the number of his office, threw him out and rang them.

Told then not to send anyone who hadn't had practical experiance, that was over 7 years ago, never seen anyone since.

Obviously no one has practical experiance ?

[SpringbokParticipant @springbok]

Ketan

Been to China many times and have observed practices someone on a rope cleaning windows more than 30 stories up, I do love your synical but very true observation. I have seen the very poor side of the country and the very rich. I must confess that I have built up a great affinity with the people I met. One of the kindest was my wife had a leg ulcer and we were wiaiting on the tube station a very kind lady rushed out of her office with a chair and insisted that she sit down untill the train arived. In this country someone would have pushed her under the train.

Bob

[Harold Hall 1Participant @haroldhall1]

John

I cannot argue with your first hand experience and am fully aware that H&S can easily go over the top so to speak.

However, the safety of many people is not totally in their hands, powers above them expect them to work in less that safe situations. It surely is a case of setting the barrier between legislation and freedom at the correct level.

We have no doubt about your ability in the workshop and with that in mind you are well placed to take the safe route.

Whilst not H&S the following illustrates the limits of some machine operators common sense.

During the time I was editor of MEW I was castigated for publishing a photograph(mine) of a piece of equipment secured to the milling machine using screws, saying it would never have been allowed at his firm. When I enquired why, the reply came back that it was not unknown for someone securing, say a vice, only to find that it was not fully secure. To overcome that a piece of scaffolding was applied to the spanner to get extra torque with the result that the tee slot was broken. No doubt such individuals, with limited common sense, still exist.

Keep up the good work John

By the way, how can you be answering threads at 10 in the morning? Tea break no doubt.

Incidentally, I do always check the length of a screw against the depth of the tee slot before using that method, common sense!

Harold

Edited By Harold Hall 1 on 14/02/2013 10:48:19

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I had a Health and Safety meeting this week. A new member of the group raised a few very pertinent issues. He's in his twenties and his views can be summed up as "younger people understand H&S issues because they have things properly explained to them, older people are used to doing things their way and hate being told what to do". I was very impressed by his pragmatic and positive approach to H&S.

Neil

[WolfieParticipant @wolfie]

My cousin is a farmer and both of his lads drive tractors, teleporters and a combine. OK they are a little older than the Chinese lad but still at school.

As for H&S don't get me started. I run into all sorts of crazy restrictions that are not designed for my personal safety but for covering their tails.

Eg one particular place I go to to load steel. We have to wear boots, hi viz, safety specs(???) and hard hats. If they dropped a two ton bundle of steel on me I'd need more than a hard hat.

However then they expect me to sheet the load. This involves climbing on top of it in all sorts of weather and unrolling two heavy canvas sheets some 17 feet up on top of the load. I've even done it when the steel was covered in sheet ice and in a gale. I still had to wear a hard hat though and my vision is impaired by crap safety specs

I'll have to moderate myself if I go any further

Edited By Wolfie on 16/02/2013 08:00:37

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