Years ago manufacturers had 'safety officers'. My mate still works as one. Their job is to examine any new products or inventions to ascertain their safety and suitability for use by the public, who are considered as accidents waiting to happen. If they consider something potentially dangerous they write a report and suggest certain changes to make them more safe although nothing can be idiot proof.
Sadly, due to financial restraints many companies no longer employ safety officers or indeed, quality controllers, and even those that do often do not take the advice of the safety officer if it costs money, so it is possible for potentially dangerous products to be inflicted on the unsuspecting public.
This only comes to light when somebody is badly injured or killed. Trapping a finger, or nipping the skin in a folding chair is commonplace but when the mechanics are sharp enough to cut a finger clean off then one has to question the suitability of that product for public use. These days, just advising a company doesn't work so the only way forward is to use the Trading Standards or a solicitor to get something done.
At the moment we all have to abide by EU standards which in many cases are not quite so tight and safety conscious as the British Standards. Many goods come from abroad where standards are not quite so high as they could be. Hopefully that will change when we leave the EU and British Standards will again insist on strict rules regarding the safety of products.
Aren't Safety Officers part of Human Resources, and generally oversee the safety aspect of the factory environment and that of the employees?
I worked in development engineering, and acceptability of product design was the joint responsibility Product Design, R&D and Quality Control.
The works Safety Officer was never part of that discipline.
Bertie.
------------- The 2 Tops
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Quote: Originally posted by The 2 Tops on 03/9/2018
Aren't Safety Officers part of Human Resources, and generally oversee the safety aspect of the factory environment and that of the employees?
I worked in development engineering, and acceptability of product design was the joint responsibility Product Design, R&D and Quality Control.
The works Safety Officer was never part of that discipline.
Bertie.
I deliberately put the term 'Safety officer' in inverted commas and used it as a loose description as I haven't a clue what the correct terminology should be. Perhaps if I had just written companies employed 'special people' or 'specific people' the term 'Safety Officer' would not have troubled you
Quote: Originally posted by freeatlast on 30/8/2018
Is it any wonder we have so many badly designed caravans when people accept such shoddy designs as some in the posts above would indicate?
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is it any wonder that we live in a nanny state when someone hurts themselves the first line of advice is "call a solicitor"
cars are more dangerous than caravan tables, because more people get hurt by cars.
Quote: Originally posted by freeatlast on 30/8/2018
Is it any wonder we have so many badly designed caravans when people accept such shoddy designs as some in the posts above would indicate?
This is a puzzle, I would agree. Getting our van "right" after one repair under warranty and several 'rectifications' by myself, we have decided to keep the van and NOT be conned into buying another new one.
Surely most owners could abstain from buying for a couple of years - that would make the manufacturers sit up and take notice.
The Clubs don't help. either. Too consumed with concerns about revenue from ads, and various palm-greasing with manufacturers, if a member posts a factually-proven criticism on their forum it immediately gets erased. And any comments on manufacturers' forums is similarly treated.
So, one way or another, the game is played so that the manufacturers win.
Bertie.