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Posted By paulw71
Just had a quick look at the Ranulph Fiennes item and saw that, if I am not much mistaken, the president elect of iosh calls him a true health And safety hero.
I do recall hearing of how Sir Ranulph once stole some explosives and blew up a bridge as a protest, oh and removed the ends of his own frostbitten fingers off with a hacksaw in his shed, (what a guy).
What would Ranulph, sorry, Sir Ranulph make of the dangers of mown grass and banning footballs in the playground and also does iosh now approve diy amputation.
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Posted By bill strachan1
Quite an interesting chap really. I suppose he must be pretty good at carrying out risk assessments considering the amount of exposure and adventure he has crammed into a very active and exciting life. And he's still alive to tell the tales!!!
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Posted By Graham Bullough
What item? Please tell us where it can be seen.
As for DIY amputation of fingers look at the context: Sir Ranulph did the right thing at the time considering that he was somewhere in the Arctic or Antarctic at the time and far away (in both time and distance) from conventional medical support.
The same applied to the guy who amputated his arm after it was trapped by a large boulder falling on it somewhere in a very remote mountain area of the USA. He was alone and nobody else knew where he was. His various attempts to move/lift the boulder were unsuccessful so he was left with no other option than amputation if he wanted to stay alive.
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Posted By ScotsAM
Ran amputated his fingers when in Britain, not on an expedition.
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Posted By Colin Reeves
Frostbite in Britain - blimey, whatever happened to global warming!
Colin
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Posted By ScotsAM
Amputated following an expedition! He kept knocking the dead ends of his fingers against things causing pain whilst he was awaiting an operation. Can't remember fully but I think surgeons were waiting on skin to grow a bit longer so they could cover the stumps. All told in his autobiogrpahy 'Mad Bad and Dangerous to know'
I reckon Ran would advocate sensible risk management and believe that kids should learn about hazard, risk and consequence naturally whilst young.
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Posted By paulw71
the article is on iosh website,
he amputated his fingers in his shed at home after he had returned from a trip unicycling blinfolded to the north pole while juggling handgrenades.
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Posted By Raymond Rapp
I believe he had suicidal tendencies and when he phoned a help line they asked him if he could drive a truck.
Not with these fingers...
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Posted By Tabs
I think it just shows the superb adaptability of the concept of risk assessment and risk management.
Don't belittle someone being injured whilst slipping on grass because a council want to cut costs by comparing it to Arctic juggling (nice image :-)
Just admire that both can be handled by the same principle.
As to whether Sir R is a good role model (should IOSH call him safety hero?) well, I think I would like people to take a little from him and a little from the more cautious ... we can't all be heroes and it is obviously much overused.
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Posted By Pete48
He is assuredly well versed in using risk assessment to achieve things rather than simply control or prevent things, that must be worthy of support.
On a construction site I would want people who know what they are doing, the risks that it is sensible to take, those that are only used when there is no option and those that are just plain daft.
On an expedition in some far flung corner of the globe, I would want the same thing.
In both, there is much pre-planning but people make decisions based on what is in front of them at the time and sometimes get it wrong.
If you are good, you don't get it wrong too often. You also need some luck sometimes. An ability not to be cowed by circumstance and to act with courage help a little as well.
That looks like a pretty good approach to me.
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Posted By Brett Day
But on the flip side whilst he does things that are very risky, when the Top Gear lads did thier arctic challenge, they really were not taking things seriously, who stepped in to explain exactley what could go wrong and why they needed to do this training and stop messing about !
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Posted By steven bentham
SECOND HAND IT EQUIPMENT - Now you see that the Director who wanted a new Blackberry because of the germs on a 2nd hand-one was right!!!!!!!! Look what can happen to your fingers!!!!!!!!
[Good posting Paul]
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Posted By C. Wright
So that's why I'm venturing into H&S! to set a good example whilst trying to stop my mum from telling my kids what I used to get up to as a kid, god forbid they try any of the crazy stunts I used to get up to. I see a sudden rush of grey hair comming
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Posted By Peter F
Isn't it strange that safety applies to those we only want it to, why is someone a hero and great fella because he doesn't have the ability to risk assess and keep himself safe. Frost bite is a sign that he didn't take everything into consideration. His PPE was inadequate. Cutting the ends off your own fingers is not something you should be proud of. OK if trapped and a matter of life and death then needs must. But to do it so you can type your book and let people know how you don't have the ability to carryout a dynamic risk assessment, please.
I let my kids be kids, they are even allowed to climb trees without a harness and inflatable under the tree. I was going to hire a cherry picker to assist them but with the cost and training and all I thought let them climb.
It's us (and I don't mean safety professionals) that stop people, kids etc doing things for fear they may be hurt, but we seldom look at what can be achieved by them doing it.
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Posted By Graham Bullough
Some notable news to add to this thread: Sir Ranulph Fiennes got to the top of Everest yesterday (21st May). At the age of 65 he is the oldest Brit to have done so. It was also his third attempt to scale Everest – a reflection of his extraordinary determination.
Sorry about getting it wrong in my response to this thread on 2nd April about where and when Sir Ran did his digital self-surgery. I did have a quick skim through his autobiography “Mad, Bad & Dangerous to know” last year, but missed the bit about his fingers. For a concise and readily accessible account about him, have a look at the interview article “I am not a madman” at
http://www.guardian.co.u...07/oct/05/features11.g21
dated 5.10.07. It includes how his frostbite occurred (not inadequate PPE as suggested in one response above) and why he did the self-surgery.
During the interview he comments that his expeditions and exploits involve careful planning, appropriate physical ability, technical skills and the ability to remain calm under stress. He evidently knows and understands the hostile environments he visits. Therefore, I reckon he isn’t mad,even though he might appear so to most people, especially those who know nothing of natural hostile environments. The fact that he’s survived various expeditions over some 40 years cannot be ascribed purely to luck because this would surely have run out long ago.
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Posted By A Campbell
I would not say that 'grit determination' and perseverance to conquer and explore is any ingredient of madness
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