If You Can't Dazzle Them With Brilliance.....

They must be very good at WH&S look at the size of their manual... A few years ago I chaired a pre-start meeting where a contractor presented their Project WH&S as part of being granted "Possession of Site". I placed the collection of documents on top of each other and pulled out my small key ring measuring tape. To the amusement of some I declared the height the documents to be 265mm and asked the contractor "Is this safety by the centimeter?". I stated that I was not going to attempt such a hefty pile paper at this meeting and asked if they could tell me how their system worked. The 3 people representing the company included a Managing Director, Operations Manager & the Project Supervisor all shifted about uncomfortably, looked at each other then mumbled something about "somebody else usually looks after this". The meeting closed and as we left the Principle & Superintendent representatives all laughed and wished me "Good Luck with that bit of light reading" as I gathered up the documents. I spent about 20 hours over the weekend reviewing this monster and found it to be unworkable, unreadable, un-auditable and a lot of other "un's" & "non's" into the bargain, which was odd because the company had a good safety record. I discussed my findings with the Principle and said "I am very concerned about this company's WH&S System but lets see what unfolds on site in the first few days". To our surprise the Site Foreman turned up with some (much copied) SWMS sheets and held a site meeting with his team, filled out the form and started work. When I questioned the Foreman about his procedures, as it was different than the Company WH&S Manual where an SWMS was to be developed by the WH&S Officer, he laughed and said " I gave up on that pile of s##t 12 months ago - no one would listen that the SWMS was not relevant to the work or the site so I found some SWMS sheets on the internet and do my own & hand them in with my weekly time sheets".         Further discussions with the Company Director revealed they had paid a large sum of money for the WH&S system and he was determined that all field staff should be using it. I then asked if he understood the WH&S System and he admitted that he did not but he employed staff to implement the system, however that person had quit and had not been replaced. - No prizes for guessing why he quit!.   Unfortunately this situation is all too common - The company has paid good money for system that is overly complicated and difficult to use, however it is huge in size so it must be very safe! - Clients (or their representatives) who have to assess the document are daunted by the shear size of the bloody thing and approve it because it is so large it must be safe. There is an old saying that applies to this situation - "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance -- baffle them with bulls##t"