Posted By Martin Mulholland
Whilst I am occasionaly amused by funny safety-related annecdotes on this forum I do get particularly bored and frustrated by those who insist on writing a "blog" of their daily life.

I am not interested in what people have had for tea or what they are doing this weekend.

Set up an internet blog if you like - but on this forum - KEEP IT SAFETY

Posted By Philip McAleenan
Does the proliferation of Friday rants, humour etc. mean that industry can reduce its need for and expenditure on safety bods by 20%?

wkd ;-)

Posted By Gilly Margrave
All this seems to have conme as a response to a letter in SHP. It seems to me that the complaint was not about a bit of harmless wibbling but about personal and belittling comments made by some posters who seem to regard themselves as arbitors as to who may or may not have an opinion.

Gilly

Posted By Robert K Lewis
I suppose to "Keep it to safety" requires us to know where safety starts and ends. Is it purely a technical set of standards and related comments/questions? Or is it a much broader issue which includes what makes us better practitioners, what drives our attitudes and behaviours or how the home and the work interact? All are solid CPD topics which may be taken up by any who wish to do so or left as undesirable fare for our particular tastes.

I find some of the Friday issues inane and irrlevant but I choose to then ignore them. Sometimes however the de-stressing urge to make a response to a thread has to be satisfied. Life is a rich mix of the thrilling, the boring, the exciting and the totally non-understandable - But should that be curtailed?

Bob

Posted By gham
Spot on

I've still got the receipt for my tweed jacket and I've cancelled the order on my Volvo c70, I'll trade in the 75 for something else more exciting (Type R Grrrrrr) and I'll take my Diploma and Post Grad off the wall in the hall. Nanny State (not Just the State)

Posted By Descarte
Not wihtout wearing your nomex flame resistant overalls!

other brands are available :D

Posted By Clairey O
I find the non safety comments help to rid the stereotypes - the typical image of elbow patched practioners at 20 paces dueling with their clipboards.

After all we are human, and do have a little bit of humour in us somewhere.

Frankly - i'm just jealous of Merv's dinners.

Posted By Saracen11
Hi Martin, you must have some interest in the 'Blogs' to begin with, otherwise you'd simply ignore the titles such as "Friday rant" and click on something more safety related?

Regards

Posted By Merv Newman
artis

I'm with that. I've been trying to be a good boy (ie more professional) since I managed to get two threads locked down in one day. (I thinked I racked up four in a fortnight)

That gives me three days to come up with a decent menu for Friday.

I think I have spent (not wasted) at least half of today on this site. MUST get back to that boring power point presentation. Just as soon as I've got through the other threads. Promise

Merv

Posted By Steve B
Martin, the majority of use who visit these forums sleep, eat and live safety 24/7 its good to let off a little steam now and again... on none related safety topics for a bit of fun (remember fun its when the sides of your mouth tend to curl up) smiling I think they call it... I am not having a snipe but: I have said it before on these forums if you dont like the topic or you dont have any opinion about a topic... its a free country (almost) dont read it and dont reply...... P.S Its Friday :)

Posted By Al..
I agree with Martin. Keep it safety!

This forum is accessible to anyone to read, searchable by Google and is part of the IOSH website. Its content should be health and safety matters only which are addressed in a professional manner and which reflect well on the profession. Part of the current problem, I feel, is that this Forum is called a "Chat Forum" and it is treated as such by some people.

I acknowledge however that there is a need for a place where members can relax a little, exchange ideas, vent frustrations, enjoy each others company etc etc. However this needs to be in a password restricted area which is not going to be trawled by search engines - what we need is a restricted access "Chat Room".

I suggest that this forum be renamed "OSH information exchange" and it be much more tightly moderated. But an "OSH Chat forum" should also be created which anyone can join (not just members) but which is password protected and can be read by only those who have joined. The moderators would exercise a much lighter touch in this area.

Just a thought!

Al

Posted By Diane Thomason
Would just like to say I think Al's idea is great. I have often cringed at some of the argumentative threads that have developed, knowing that Joe Public, my bosses and everyone else can read them, and go off thinking that this is the mindset of safety people. But this is not to say that safety people shoudn't have a chat forum - it's just a case of separating some of the (maybe non-safety) free-expression type debates from information exchange.

So I think Al's idea of an info exchange is good - this could be public and used only for requests on safety topics. Then the Chat Forum could be separate, membership/password only, and more free in what can be posted.

I've never liked this forum being called "chat" - as it automaticlly gives the impression of some moronic chatroom!

Posted By stuart williamson
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting.php

you need the sound on, but the rules make sense.