No more Creosote......eh?

[clivehorridge]

World gone mad indeed. I’ve got a wooden fence that is failing under its own weight. 12 years ago I tried to get creosote to treat it and couldn’t, I used “replacement” products on it but knew I was wasting my money. Creosote would have stopped the rot in its tracks...

 

[Rob Cowell]

Just walk into an agri merchant and buy some. If they ask if you are a farmer, say you are. I've never even been asked though. Agreed, the replacement stuff is as useful as spray tan.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Was helping a mate do some fencing after a fire; the posts that were left in the fence line were 12" dia, 8' Tallowood posts... which his Dad had put in some 60 years ago... no treatment, just bloody hardwood that even the Aussie wood eating thing won't touch.

Strangely enough, he found a few suitable trees down, stripped the bark with the bobcat and cut them to length and then fitted them in in place... that should be good for his lad to get to retirement without having to do anything to fence... if the state forest guys don't set fire to it again...

 

[StarCruiser]

Health and safety is good…up to a point. It has now largely replaced common sense and is often administered to the letter. To my mind it’s preventing natural selection. Ok, harsh view maybe but take somebody that’s been cosseted by over applied H&S from the UK on holiday in France, or India. The complete rustiness of their common sense then leaves them open to death or injury from the lack of ‘contents may be hot’ or ‘deep water’ or ‘cliff edge’ warning signs.

Why with no overhead works does a contractor need to wear a hard hat? Answer, because he’s at work and someone is too lazy to know when to apply the rule and when not to so it’s easier to apply the rule all the time.

Threadjack over.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Why with no overhead works does a contractor need to wear a hard hat? Answer, because he’s at work and someone is too lazy to know when to apply the rule and when not to so it’s easier to apply the rule all the time.

That got me thinking - when I used to work on the rivers (G2/3 white water in canoes), we tended to run with helmets all the time on even the flat sections. What that meant was that you weren't tempted to just run a rapid without your helmet on because "She'll be right, I've done it already this week, and twice last week... and the week before... and the month before" - and I suspect that the "out the vehicle = hard hat" on is an extension of that. One of the other things is just avoiding forgetting things - even now, I have habits from that that have carried over - helmet on ready to go on the motorbike? It's strapped up... not just sitting there, as soon as it goes on it gets strapped up, as it's too easy to forget.

Just remember half the population are less than average intelligence... we see it here in Australia, especially at tourist traps that have got a reputation for photo opportunities - people climb over fences etc, stand in the way of the waves or blow holes...

 

[SteveJB]

Used to work in a steel factory with a 20tonne gantry crane unloading upto 13tonne coils of steel now can anyone suggest how a plastic safety helmet is going to protect anyone from a 13 tonne coil but what was said amongst the work force was We will smear the helmet with your blood and lay it beside you Ok that works for me and they were still using an accident book from the early 80s with very few pages used mostly cut hands from sharp edges but if you asked for any PPE even to take home with you it was no bother best firm i ever worked for

 

[StarCruiser]

That got me thinking - when I used to work on the rivers (G2/3 white water in canoes), we tended to run with helmets all the time on even the flat sections. What that meant was that you weren't tempted to just run a rapid without your helmet on because "She'll be right, I've done it already this week, and twice last week... and the week before... and the month before" - and I suspect that the "out the vehicle = hard hat" on is an extension of that. One of the other things is just avoiding forgetting things - even now, I have habits from that that have carried over - helmet on ready to go on the motorbike? It's strapped up... not just sitting there, as soon as it goes on it gets strapped up, as it's too easy to forget.

Just remember half the population are less than average intelligence... we see it here in Australia, especially at tourist traps that have got a reputation for photo opportunities - people climb over fences etc, stand in the way of the waves or blow holes...

On the one hand, that makes sense about the hat, but what it also does is to remove the need to think about wearing it and why.

By the same token we are taught to psss a driving test ‘mirror, signal, manoeuvre’ but not why you use the mirror or what you’re looking for. The Advanced test however teaches you, look in the mirror, if there’s anyone that needs a signal, signal, otherwise you don’t have to.

With half the population at less than average intelligence, refer to my natural selection comment above. Their genes will continue in the gene pool diluting the other half of the population. Ok, in part that’s tongue in cheek but I think it is fairly accurate.

 

[Towpack]

IMO a lot of it comes down to the emergence of the blame culture and the easy access to litigation and compensation. Employers/companies have to cover themselves against claims from people who seem to lack basic common sense and the self preservation instinct, not to mention the scammers who see a way of making a fast £.
My Dad wanted to put razor wire round the back fence of his garden years ago, after having an entire patio suite nicked, but was strongly advised against it by the police due to the likelihood of a compensation claim from anyone injuring themselves scaling the fence, even if it's to break into the house.

 

[StarCruiser]

IMO a lot of it comes down to the emergence of the blame culture and the easy access to litigation and compensation. Employers have to cover themselves against claims from people who seem to lack basic common sense and the self preservation instinct, not to mention the scammers who see a way of making a fast £.
My Dad wanted to put razor wire round the back fence of his garden years ago, after having an entire patio suite nicked, but was strongly advised against it by the police due to the likelihood of a compensation claim from anyone injuring themselves scaling the fence, even if it's to break into the house.

Roses. They don’t like roses.

 

[SteveJB]

As a kid used to play on building sites and derelict buildings and loads of times got hurt rusty nails broken glass splinters and such when got home mum said how did you do that told her the usual answer was Your own bloody fault shouldnt have been there she did never kiss it better

 

[StarCruiser]

Pretty similar ‘Your own stupid fault’.
Unfortunately someone somewhere invented a way for loads of litigation firms to make money out of it. It just seems this isn’t so prevalent in other countries, not that far away.

 

[Pat]

We've got half a dozen BT poles here. A couple of months ago a BT van turned up because they'd noticed some noise on our line. He tracked the fault down to a box at the top of one of the poles (the first one where the line comes up from underground) but couldn't fix it because all the poles had been condemned about 5 years ago and he wasn't allowed to go up it. I offered to go up (the pole showed no sign of rot or looseness in the ground), but was told that was not allowed. The next day 2 vans arrived, same story, so they cut the line at the base and ran a wire across the ground to the house. A week later another van arrived, the engineer checked all the poles and condemned the lot of them again. I asked him when they'd replace them, he advised me not to hold my breath as, being pitch treated, they'd probably last another 30 plus years or so and it was to do with "liabilities". I was left a bit confused..... and a bit more careful with the strimmer.

What a lot of bull dust!

 

[Pat]

Apparently it’s still used on railway sleepers and was also used on telephone poles for years but not sure if it still is.

In NZ the treatment is Tanalising which is arsenic based but the idiots say
Creosote is too dangerous.

 

[SteveJB]

Pat what is it like where you are is it getting toward a blame culture or you shoudnt have been there

 

[Pat]

when i lived in Denmark Our old timber framed house and all the out buildings from the word go were painted in Cows Blood.. It was built in the 1700s and the cows blood was still visible on the Barns and stables and the Timber frames were good as New.... So if there are any Dairy Farmers in the area.?... You can ask.. Pretty sure its Legal.......If not Messy.. Probably cheaper than Creosote

That’s interesting,I never heard of that before.But we used to use
Blood & Bone fertiliser so i guess there must have been a market for cows blood.

 

[Pat]

Pat what is it like where you are is it getting toward a blame culture or you shoudnt have been there

It is worse in NZ we have absolutely insane health and safety laws and with the
Greeny government we have now it gets worse by the day.
I took my oxy and acetylene out to get tested and refilled and was told that they no longer test acetylene but you had to hire bottles from one of three suppliers and the bottles I paid good money for can no longer be used.H&S.

 

[Rob Cowell]

In NZ the treatment is Tanalising which is arsenic based but the idiots say
Creosote is too dangerous.

Tanalith stopped using arsenic in the UK about 15 years ago. I think their replacement stuff is OK, but a lot of timber places switched to water with green dye in it for fence posts. Unusual that any posts we had after 2005 lasted more than 10 years, usually a lot less. Most people I know went back to Creosote a few years ago. It's much more expensive but not havin to dig in strainer posts half way up a mountain every 5-8 years is worth a lot of money.

 

[SteveJB]

Being GREEN and converting to whatever next big thing on its way does cost the Earth and whats left in you pocket so its of to the landfill or recycling site to dispose of you bottles only to be told you cant do that as its unsafe for the enviroment so take it home and put it with all the unsafe goods you have been forced to accumulate and unknowingly make your own napalm never mind Holiday in Cambodia its bbq at Pats

 

[Shayne]

As a kid used to play on building sites and derelict buildings and loads of times got hurt rusty nails broken glass splinters and such when got home mum said how did you do that told her the usual answer was Your own bloody fault shouldnt have been there she did never kiss it better

I wasn't allowed to hurt myself as a kid i'd get a hiding if i did !

Twice i snuck out of hospital because they wanted to know who my parents were , not an easy thing to do with 2 sprained ankles but luckily we didn't live a mile away and my bedroon was on the 4th floor so i could hide .

When i was 30 odd years old i was told after a CT scan of my brain that i'd been hit so hard around the age of 10 its a miracle i lived without medical treatment and i'd lost the ability to hear 50% of tones as a result . That was my uncle but mum never knew nor that i got caned in school the next day for "pretending" i couldn't hear the teacher .

Happily though they can talk all day to me about health and safety because i won't hear a word of it

 

[Higgy]

That’s interesting,I never heard of that before.But we used to use
Blood & Bone fertiliser so i guess there must have been a market for cows blood.

I think the Scandinavians loved splashing it about, I think thats why now in Denmark and Sweden every barn /Out House/summer house is painted with, What they Call Swedish Red... Its a bit Darker than Red Oxide... Im only Guessing Like!.... Stems from the old Cows Blood Days