Enthusiasts in Hi-Vis

[Debs.]

'Amateurs' wearing HiVis........Pah!

 

I often wear one......but, In my defence, it is the most rain and wind proof coat I`ve owned; perfect for beach walkies.........and visible from absolutely miles away

 

 

 

Thanks and picture-credit to Wally1 from ShipAIS forum

[Southernman46]

'Amateurs' wearing HiVis........Pah!

 

I often wear one......but, In my defence, it is the most rain and wind proof coat I`ve owned; perfect for beach walkies.........and visible from absolutely miles away

 

 

 

Thanks and picture-credit to Wally1 from ShipAIS forum

 

To avoid be hit by the bl**dy enormous tanker speeding past ?????????????

[beast66606]

To avoid be hit by the bl**dy enormous tanker speeding past ?????????????

 

She likes to give the seagulls a target ...

[cromptonnut]

I guess the ultimate is wearing a hi-vis whilst operating a model railway. I wonder what comments that would bring?

 

I've done that before in the past when operating my layout at exhibitions... also when I was exhibition manager for a few years for our local club I would wear a hi vis vest, simply so that if anyone needed to get hold of me for any reason during the day they could easily see where I was in the hall(s)

[The Stationmaster]

'Amateurs' wearing HiVis........Pah!

 

I often wear one......but, In my defence, it is the most rain and wind proof coat I`ve owned; perfect for beach walkies.........and visible from absolutely miles away

 

Also very useful when stepping very carefully into a ship's workboat (yes - that ship!) especially if it's waterproof and you're off for a mile or two up Milford Haven. But what is the safety helmet for? (there's very good reason for it)

[James]

you don't rely on the driver seeing the PPE and warning you

 

By that point it's an absolute last resort and it won't just one horn but a continuous horn -

 

I've been involved in a near miss (tight curve on a track inspection with a freight train coming at me - turned out the lookout had stood down to have a p*ss!)

 

I'm convinced the last minute warning saved me - I'm sure those of you used to working on track can imagine the arguments which followed!

[Happy Hippo]

I think there is a lot to say for someone's previous suggestion about the difference between HV on a highway and HV on a railway. Stand at the edge of a highway in HV clothing and drivers are more likely to see you and are also able to take evasive action (I'm not suggesting you try this at home, as I suspect the risk is still significant).

 

It certainly is Edwin,

 

I have been hit twice by vehicles on our stretch of road (30 mph/no pavements) and on both occasions it was in broad daylight and I was wearing a class 3 HV jacket. On both occasions it was door mirror to arm, so just a bit of bruising.

 

I'm considering stopping wearing it, as I fear it has some sort of magnetic attraction for the morons in cars who cannot understand that when driving through a village you are likely to encounter pedestrians.

 

However, two of you standing on the grass verge with HV jackets on, has a remarkable effect on the speed of passing motorists!

 

Regards

 

Richard

[Happy Hippo]

Mike,

 

Before I gave up dinghy sailing, I seriously considered wearing a hockey helmet to stop my head getting smacked by the boom (it was a suggestion when I was at risk of a detached retina.but I gave up instead).

 

But the bright yellow jacket and trousers is also useful when you have tipped into the cold wet stuff and the rescue boat is looking for you.

 

Regards

 

Richard

[newbryford]

 

I've done that before in the past when operating my layout at exhibitions... also when I was exhibition manager for a few years for our local club I would wear a hi vis vest, simply so that if anyone needed to get hold of me for any reason during the day they could easily see where I was in the hall(s)

 

No problem for stewards at shows - we use them at our ex.

Maybe I'll try wearing one whilst barging in front of layouts to take photos..................

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Tony_S]

 

I'm considering stopping wearing it, as I fear it has some sort of magnetic attraction for the morons in cars who cannot understand that when driving through a village you are likely to encounter pedestrians.

 

My brother was convinced that for some reason his hi-vis clothing had a strange attraction for some drivers. Once upon a time he used to do "out of hours" emergency work on the motorway (matrix sign stuff) and emergency service communications systems. His call out area was England south of Lancashire/ Yorkshire down about as far as the M4. He got clouted a few times by vehicles that don't sound their horn when they don't see a HiVis dressed person with illuminated cones, and a van with flashing lights. Once he got knocked over the crash barrier into a ditch at a service station. Fortunately for the driver who did it, my brother didn't find him to explain the error of his ways. My brother did wonder if camo gear would be safer on the motorway. Perhaps that is why most of the work he did after that was military contracts.

[coachmann]

Hi-Vis has become a uniform....It was innevitable! Gawd knows people like dressing in uniforms to make themselves feel more important than others. Railway workers should be naked for their own safety......

[Rugd1022]

All the hi-viz gear in the world won't help you if you don't acknowledge a Driver's warning on the horn.... I've lost count of the number of times it's happened to me when I've been blasting about at 60mph on the mainline. There's definitely a touch of complacency in some quarters which has resulted in a few choice words being bandied about at high volume, followed by a report going in through the usual channels!

 

On the flip side though, two nights ago I felt a bit of a numpty when I didn't spot a hi-viz adorned chap half hidden behind a gantry on the Midland Mainline till the very last minute... he put his left arm in the air just as I passed him and we both looked at each other a bit sheepish....

[Boris]

Hi-Vis has become a uniform....It was innevitable! Gawd knows people like dressing in uniforms to make themselves feel more important than others. Railway workers should be naked for their own safety......

 

I'll oblige you, and then bet a tenner you sharp change your mind again.

[coachmann]

I'll oblige you, and then bet a tenner you sharp change your mind again.

Okay then, metal protective clothing shaped like Daleks.... Now come on, how many photographers would photograph trains dressed like Daleks...?

 

"There's an A2/2 approaching"

 

"Exterminate..."

[CWJ]

Railway workers should be naked for their own safety...

What a horrible thought... have you seen some of our railway workers? We look distressing enough with our clothes on, thank you!

 

I felt a bit of a numpty when I didn't spot a hi-viz adorned chap half hidden behind a gantry on the Midland Mainline

We sometimes have to dive behind an obstruction if it's the only safe place; not your fault!

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[Southernman46]

We sometimes have to dive behind an obstruction if it's the only safe place; not your fault!

 

A necessary precaution in Wessex to avoid potential flying Desiro shoegear.

 

Adding more of my tuppenceworth,

 

It is ALWAYS necessary to have a system to ensure that you are clear of the track in a place of safety before that passing of any train, OTM or OTP regardless of clothing - it is was and always has been - even in the "good old days"

 

The purpose of PPE is only to serve as a (hopefully) last resort (mentioned above) should the protection system fail. It has become a uniform for legitimate track workers whom are required to wear it at all times within the boundary fence.

 

Its' purpose on station platforms for TOC staff is to render them visible to the public and plays no part in "protection" - the TOC's responsibility ending at the white line.

 

As for the lads working on the roads - I personally wouldn't do that for all the tea in China, give me 600t moving at 125mph any time - at least I know which direction it's going in and is driven by a competent individual.

[faulcon1]

If I'm challenged on a preserved railway station platform filming then I'll leave the railway and continue filming from an public right of way path. I would never ever stand near the edge of a platform to get my footage but well away from the edge.

I'll film from outside the railway boundary. That would probably be better from a filming point of view as station platforms tend to get very crowded with people all milling around and getting in front of the camera to get their shot.

These days people aren't allowed to think for themselves and expect the state to do it for them. This thinking of "if I have an accident then I have the right to sue" is a blight on society. People tend to think that this right to sue is like winning a guaranteed lottery where you can't lose. People should get their faces out of their iphones and concentrate on what they're actually doing. If you aren't concentrating and you trip over things and your camera goes flying to be smashed on a solid surface, then you shouldn't be entitled to any monetary compensation. The laws need to be changed and people should be made aware of the fact that if your trying to do more than two things at once and you come a cropper then you aren't entitled to anything in a monetary sense. In fact if you damage anything through your own lack of common sense then you will be made liable for that damage. 

H&S has made it so expensive for companies to operate with constant training and retraining that many companies have moved the manufacturing operations overseas where such rigorous H&S just doesn't exist. Most reputable companies like having H&S but where they draw the line is where an employee can sue the company and win a huge cash payout for a very minor incident often sending the company to the wall. Horrible things now happen where if one is of an ethnic minority they can go for a job and be refused for not being suitable and then sue that company for hurt feelings and win. How stupid is that.

It's the same for preserved railways. If you wish to film from the line side then you wear a HV vest. However if you get hit and seriously injured because you decided to stand right next to the running line because the loco approaching is one of your favourites then no you aren't entitled to any monetary compensation. If you leave your camera too close on it's tripod to the action and it gets hit you're not entitled to any compensation. If you're walking along the line side and you're not looking where you're walking and you trip over signal wires and fall flat on your face and smash your face up on the ballast once again it's your fault not the preserved railway and you're not entitled to any compensation from that railway. If you decide to walk through a tunnel and you fall over debris in that tunnel or you get killed when you're run down by a train you or your family aren't entitled to any compensation from the railway. Filming from the line side is putting oneself in a potentially dangerous area. But if you want to film from the line side it's your choice. No one is insisting that you do so. But if you have an accident and survive it will most likely be through your own stupidity and you can't be entitled to any compensation. In other words just use common sense and be aware of where you are and never take risks just to get that perfect shot.    

[Melly]

I'm leaving for the UK in a few days time and if I'm challenged on a preserved railway platform for filming without a Hi Vis vest on I'll tell them to shove their H&S policy where the sun don't shine. If they want they can call the local plod and I'll tell them to shove their EU H&S policy too and then they can throw me out of the country.

It seems that these days common sense is not allowed. If you get in the way and get run down and injured or killed, you and your family had no right to compensation no matter how much you or they protest. In 2000 I bought a line side permit at Winchcombe on the Gloucester Warwickshire Railway. I had my own brand new Hi-Vis vest and that was that. No I didn't stand in the four foot or the six and didn't go anywhere near the running lines. Most of the time I was up an embankment near to Greet Tunnel well away from the running line. But now with this stupid PTS permit one has to answer questions and pass an exam before one get their permission ticket which is only good for two years. But it's not done for safety. It's done as a money spinner. Before long in the UK people will have to have exams and pay money to get a PTS ticket just to walk down a footpath in front of their house.  

Or it may be done as part of the approved risk assessment for the activity that the railway board or insurers have to sign off.  Don't be so quick to say it's a money spinner.  Legislative restrictions are an unfortunate consequence of modern life and the compensation culture that exists.  The Board could have decided that the effort to get approval for permits was too time consuming and decided to stop PTS permits altogether.  Things change. . . . cest-la-vie !

 

Melly

[Boris]

I'm leaving for the UK in a few days time and if I'm challenged on a preserved railway platform for filming without a Hi Vis vest on I'll tell them to shove their H&S policy where the sun don't shine. If they want they can call the local plod and I'll tell them to shove their EU H&S policy too and then they can throw me out of the country.

It seems that these days common sense is not allowed. If you get in the way and get run down and injured or killed, you and your family had no right to compensation no matter how much you or they protest. In 2000 I bought a line side permit at Winchcombe on the Gloucester Warwickshire Railway. I had my own brand new Hi-Vis vest and that was that. No I didn't stand in the four foot or the six and didn't go anywhere near the running lines. Most of the time I was up an embankment near to Greet Tunnel well away from the running line. But now with this stupid PTS permit one has to answer questions and pass an exam before one get their permission ticket which is only good for two years. But it's not done for safety. It's done as a money spinner. Before long in the UK people will have to have exams and pay money to get a PTS ticket just to walk down a footpath in front of their house.  

With an attitude like that I hope they paddle you out the door and tell you never to darken the place again, its not a money spinner or health and safety gone mad, they are not toy train sets but pieces of heavy equipment that have the potential to kill.  That piece of paper that you are moaning about is the evidence the operations manager requires if/when they need to demonstrate that actually yes, you should be there and yes, you have had some training so you are not a danger to yourself and others.  Potentially it could keep them out of prison if someone does something seriously stupid.

 

I can't believe you resurrected a 5 year old thread to come out with that.

[PenrithBeacon]

I've never been asked to wear hi-viz on a station. All railways that I know of ask enthusiasts to remove hi-viz on stations so there isn't any confusion between enthusiasts who are visitors and enthusiasts who are volunteers

[jjb1970]

The importance of wearing appropriate PPE when necessary can NEVER be over-emphasised!! That is why when I had to work on deck doing welding repairs, oxy-acetylene cutting, repairing cranes etc when I was at sea I ALWAYS wore the correct PPE of Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts, flip flops and bush hat. Sadly however, I must report that even at sea there were people who abused the system by failing to use approved PPE, my good friend Bagpuss liked to flaunt rules by wearing a straw boater instead of a bush hat whilst my associate Skeletor was a real troublemaker, wearing a Panama Hat. Stuff like that gets seafarers a bad name. 

[Boris]

I suppose you have a point, people obviously wear hi-vis whilst taking photographs on a station platform to avoid being hit by a train, and being hit by a train on a platform is a pretty rare event.  Perhaps we should give all passengers an orange hi-vis to make sure trains stay off the platforms?

[Southernman46]

I suppose you have a point, people obviously wear hi-vis whilst taking photographs on a station platform to avoid being hit by a train, and being hit by a train on a platform is a pretty rare event.  Perhaps we should give all passengers an orange hi-vis to make sure trains stay off the platforms?

In slam-door days on the SR it happened more that you'd think - although technically the train wasn't actually on the platform

[Owd Bob]

Thankfully no one wore any hi-vis this morn' on the ELR thus making this 'Warship' 832 photo' a bit more period looking for once. 

[28XX]

Some people wear hi-vis on their way to or from non-railwork work. If your hi-vis is also your coat would you take it off to travel home if it was cold?

I do always. Hi Viz is getting like crying wolf. Eventually everyone will wear them at all times unless they are indoors at home. At which point they will all be useless.