by geeves » Sat Jun 28, 2014 2:37 pm
"Sadly we get this sort of thing all the time, what I would consider unsafe tyre wheel combos. I complain but the boss says do it so I do. One day that sort of thing will come back and bite a tyre company in the ass then something might get done about it. But probably only after a heap of innocents gets killed first."
Actually the osh rules are quite simple Should something bad happen due to a blatant error by a worker the gun is aimed at the employer and worker and boss. But simply if said ute failed to stop at a pedestrian crossing killing someone and it was deemed that the tyres were a significant cause and the driver said they were fitted by xyz tyre services then xyz tyres gets a fine up to $100000 or more boss gets 6 months jail plus a $20000 fine and because you said the boss said you must fit them despite your protests they will be lenient on you only giving you 3 months jail and $5000 fine.
Does your boss own the tyre company? If so then he will be treated the same as a former boss of my sister. He was sole owner of a drainage company and foreman on a job site where a trench collapsed killing his employee and best friend. Company fined $50k pretty much bankrupting it then the foreman fined $100k in a separate case taking no heed of the other case plus some jail time. They tried to argue the double jeopardy thing but the law was clear that the first fine was the company not the person and the second the person not the company. The fact they were effectively the same thing didnt matter.
The company I work for is a multinational and its things like this why they introduced a thing called a stop work card. Basically if an employee thinks a task unsafe they can stop the job overriding what any boss says. It would mean you could say no to fitting the above tyres but its not foolproof. A fellow worker called stop on a job that had included driving up a snow covered road. He was in a 4wd but not 4wd qualified/experianced. Boss first said buy some chains. None available so second call was to send a experienced 4wder. I got nearly twice as far up the road before I crashed into the bank doing quite a bit of damage. It was a Ford so no matter
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them