Posted By Ian B
Hi,

Just registered and am after peoples views on wearing below the knee shorts in the workplace. This has been prompted by the hot spell we are having and relaxing our dress code to suit. We have an assembly area and a machine shop which get rather hot. The machine shop has 7 CNC enclosed machines with a couple of manual operated ones and we work most of the time in plastics and rarely in steels, so no hot swarf. Assembly do light assembly work and deburring.
What advise can you give me as people would like to work in shorts rather than trousers given an option.
Thanks Ian

Posted By Merv Newman
I think doing a risk assessment here,while perhaps necessary in the case of an "event", will only come up with the number they first thought of.

And what sort of an "event" are we talking about ? More exposed skin in case of a hot oil leak ? Clothing, unless resistant to fluids chemicals or high temperatures, tends to be an aggravating factor, holding fluids and heat to the skin and needing to be removed (preferably under a cold emergency shower) before treatment can begin.

Even on building sites I can't see too much advantage in full-length trousers over shorts. You might get a few more small cuts and bruises for the first-aiders but there will not be much difference resulting from "events" likely to cause deep wounds, broken bones or severe bruising.

So long as everyone wears the PPE required as a result of the RA, (hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, safety shoes etc) why wear anything else ? It only gets in the way. (don't forget the sun cream. But you may need to lay in extra supplies. And specialised training on how to get to that difficult bit between the shoulder blades. Maybe the "buddy" system will help there. Or a long-handled paint brush (but that would probably come under PUWER))

Merv