The Old Soft Shoulder.

Every fortnight we get the latest incident & accident analysis report stapled to our payslips. They are read with interest and often gossiped about. My favourite, "sledgehammer slipped, handle hit me in groin causing eyes to water..." Most are machinery damage. Backing into each other is pretty popular, diggers hitting pipes or cables will always feature, and there has been a spate of "tipping incidents" to which I have contributed. "Spreading metal at roadside, soft shoulder and load hang up caused truck to tip. Cab damage". It is one thing to smash something up, but another to be injured. A lost time injury causes all sorts of unwelcome attention from the company, and if serious, the authorities, mainly OSH. I am in favour of a "Save Yourself First" attitude. It is constantly drummed into us. This suits devout cowards such as myself. These days they would throw Casey Jones into the slammer if he survived, dying with "One hand on the whistle and the other on the airbrake lever" would be a big No No.