For your own safety

Next Tuesday supposedly there are some folks coming from some OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) thing to evaluate the safe work practices in the Physics building. Much to the annoyance of practically everybody!! Well, we are doing quite well without them, aren't we?

The lab wardens and technicians are annoyed since they are required to take care of all safety related actions and be prepared to deal with these folks, because if something goes wrong they will be partly responsible. The supervisors are annoyed since this 'monkey business' is taking up lot of useful time (research time). And students are annoyed because we are supposed to read up and be prepared to answer all sorts of possible questions they could ask, instead of doing our work! And of course this means that the lab warden would not have time to put up my optical table till after next Tuesday!!!@!?@*#&^!!?!

I don't know why we have to go through these stuff. We very well know how to use a Laser, to wear eye safety and not to poke our fingers into a high-voltage outlet! And above all, only authorised persons are allowed in the laser labs, so there is no risk of some curious passer-by getting into one of them. And of course there are those fire drills that goes off every now and then and we have to abandon all our work and go out of the building - just for fun!!! next there are those forms that we are required to fill out every now and then.

All these paraphernalia is just wasting time. I know it's better to be prepared than be sorry, but seriously there should be a limit!!

One of my colleagues actually believe that he will come down with some mysterious illness on Tuesday. And another a pure Australian, hoping to pretend that he's from France and can't speak any English! Well, he wouldn't get further than "Parlez-vous Francaise?" on that, and specially not if one of the evaluators happens to be fluent in French!...hmm......that would be fun!