The totally off-topic thread

[medhead]

It's a non divisble 8 car train. I'd be rather concerned if it only showed 4 cars!

I didn't say it only showed 4 cars. I said someone told it there was only four cars. Just assuming that there is some kind of weight sensor to work out passenger numbers and trying to think of a reason it'd heavier that it thinks it should be, by that much.

 

[JohnK]

big difference between bucket list and dependence!!

Apologies.

The 2 statements followed one another but were not meant to be related in that sense.

 

[JessicaTam]

Is "A league of their own" going to be in the same league as "Celebrity splash"? Looks horrendous.

 

[Princess Fiona]

On your bucket list?

I have seen people depended on it for the majority of their adult lives to the point where they could not function day to day without it. No thanks....

I completely agree, see many of them at work.
I also know many infrequent users of same drug and they remain blissfully unaffected and productive members of society. Problem is it's difficult when you are young and impressionable to figure out which type of user you will turn out to be.

 

[JohnK]

You do not seem to be a dope all the time....after all you are an AFFer.

Are you saying there are no dopes on AFF?

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

 

[Simo]

Drug usage would be hard in today's modern working environment due to more and more businesses doing random drug testings.

 

[marki]

I deal with very often !! A lot of very stupid mistakes like taking a sleeping pill. Given by girlfriend. It was prescription medicine. Lost his job telling the truth. Was not prescribed to him. That was the issue..... The rest is history.

 

[marki]

Yes it is. Zero tolerance workplace. Would you like your pilot to be taking these during A380 engine blow out.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes it is. Zero tolerance workplace. Would you like your pilot to be taking these during A380 engine blow out.

i deleted my post because I wasn't sure of the exact law.

as for a pilot taking a sleeping pill? ABSOLUTELY!!!! I would much rather have my pilot take a short acting sleeping pill (such as temazapan which only lasts four hours) so they can get a good sleep before turning up to work. even taking half a short acting tablet can be enough to overcome jet lag and put you to sleep.

and if a pilot wants to take an 8 or 12 hour sleeping tablet when they're off duty then sure, go for it!

as long as you're not still under the influence of the drug when you turn up to work what's the problem?

 

[JohnK]

Is "A league of their own" going to be in the same league as "Celebrity splash"? Looks horrendous.

Do people follow reality shows because there is nothing else to watch on TV?

 

[anat0l]

as long as you're not still under the influence of the drug when you turn up to work what's the problem?

The problem is whether you can tell if you're under the influence of the drug or not.

The company's proxy for judging this is to determine whether, via a testing procedure, you have any traces of the drug in your body (e.g. in the bloodstream).

It's the same with any other drug, including alcohol. You can drink all you like as long as you turn up to work with 0.00 BAL. How you judge that - there aren't any silver bullet rules, and it depends on the person. It's much easier just not to drink in some cases, and some airlines (not sure about Qantas etc.) have policies where a certain number of hours before reporting for duty, no alcohol consumption is allowed.

 

[whatmeworry]

I deal with very often !! A lot of very stupid mistakes like taking a sleeping pill. Given by girlfriend. It was prescription medicine. Lost his job telling the truth. Was not prescribed to him. That was the issue..... The rest is history.

A guy I know, drug testers turned up at his work, him and another 2 guys quietly slipped away and never turned up again.

There are a few businesses out there, that do drug with the goal of eliminating a number of workers when they need to get a rid of a few workers.

Do people follow reality shows because there is nothing else to watch on TV?

This is why I download shows, so I don't have to put up with the cough that is reality TV.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The problem is whether you can tell if you're under the influence of the drug or not.

The company's proxy for judging this is to determine whether, via a testing procedure, you have any traces of the drug in your body (e.g. in the bloodstream).

It's the same with any other drug, including alcohol. You can drink all you like as long as you turn up to work with 0.00 BAL. How you judge that - there aren't any silver bullet rules, and it depends on the person. It's much easier just not to drink in some cases, and some airlines (not sure about Qantas etc.) have policies where a certain number of hours before reporting for duty, no alcohol consumption is allowed.

i agree with the basic principle... but I was just talking with a cabin crew friend of mine tonight... they returned basically crippled by jet lag and tiredness.

they had a late night departure from Europe with an 11 hour dight time.

now if the pilot and or crew can't sleep during the day, I'd much rather have them take a four hour sleeping tablet (one where it's entirely worn off after 4 hours) and sleep from say 3 till 7 and then come in for the flight. i DON'T want them up all day because of jet lag and then trying to fly the plane.

i think certain drugs could be helpful. I'm not advocating they take a mercyndol that knocks most people for 6 for 12 hours... just something light IF they need it.

I'm not a chemist... but I'd imagine the remnants of a short acting tablet are probably still in the bloodstream, even if they are no longer active? I think there's a difference between 'influence' and the ability to find prior drug use. doesn't marijuan_ show up for like weeks or something if you take a hair sample? but I don't think think anyone assumes you'd be impaired or under the influence if you had one or two puffs of a joint two months ago?

 

[anat0l]

I'm not a chemist... but I'd imagine the remnants of a short acting tablet are probably still in the bloodstream, even if they are no longer active? I think there's a difference between 'influence' and the ability to find prior drug use. doesn't marijuan_ show up for like weeks or something if you take a hair sample? but I don't think think anyone assumes you'd be impaired or under the influence if you had one or two puffs of a joint two months ago?

Certainly there's a difference between under the influence of a drug and whether you can find traces of that drug. I don't know how such testing regimes work; perhaps they will find traces and they can estimate how long since you took the drug (and hence compute the relative risk of letting you do your work). Of course, they may press you whether you have taken such drugs or not; it's then a case of do you tell the truth and potentially implicate yourself anyway, or do you tell a "lie" and hope that they understand when they view the result?

At one mine site I worked at, if we were randomly selected for alcohol testing, we had to register 0.00; no exceptions. Not 0.05, not 0.01 - zero. Anything except 0.00 instigated misconduct investigation procedures - no compromises, no ifs or buts. Needless to say, some activities, even timed, are verboten before going on site; for example, using mouthwash.

I think you're right about marijuan_. Mind you, that has been used as a reason against people who have been tested as such (or at least make their lives / passage more difficult).

 

[Flashback]

My newer trains can talk - usually to tell the passengers where the train is going,

If there's a fault or an error message, there's an annoying noise.

On the newest trains, the train controller can make a remote announcement if needed to the train.

That's been standard in London for a long time :shock:

 

[The Rok]

For us, its a case of blow in the breathalyser at the start of EVERY shift. Sequence number is recorded and you sign your name against it. Reading must me 0.000. A reading of up to 0.050 will see you stood down for an hour without pay, then re tested. If you still blow over 0.000 at that stage then its instant dismissal. If you are 0.000 BAC after the hour then you return to work with a First & Final Written Warning.

The drug testing is totally random. You might not get tested for 6 months, then you might get tested twice a week for 3 months. Pee in the cup, supervised. A Positive reading for any drug without an explanation will see you get a window seat, never to return. A positive result with a explanation will result in you being stood down pending GCMS results. If the results match your explanation then you return to work and you get paid for the rime you were off, if they don't match, its a window seat.

In terms of how they tell how much you had and when the limits are set I think by the Australian Medical Council or some other similar body. Drugs like most opiates will of disappeared from the urine within 3 - 7 days, in some cases as low as 3 days. marijuan_ will show a positive reading for up to a month, that one causes the biggest dismissals. heroi_ funnily enough has a very short half life and can be gone from the urine in as little as 12 hours.

 

[straitman]

I think I have been a dope at various times

I am a dope all the time....

I thought of a number of answers but decided not to use any of them after all :!: :shock:

 

[medhead]

For us, its a case of blow in the breathalyser at the start of EVERY shift. Sequence number is recorded and you sign your name against it. Reading must me 0.000. A reading of up to 0.050 will see you stood down for an hour without pay, then re tested. If you still blow over 0.000 at that stage then its instant dismissal. If you are 0.000 BAC after the hour then you return to work with a First & Final Written Warning.

The drug testing is totally random. You might not get tested for 6 months, then you might get tested twice a week for 3 months. Pee in the cup, supervised. A Positive reading for any drug without an explanation will see you get a window seat, never to return. A positive result with a explanation will result in you being stood down pending GCMS results. If the results match your explanation then you return to work and you get paid for the rime you were off, if they don't match, its a window seat.

In terms of how they tell how much you had and when the limits are set I think by the Australian Medical Council or some other similar body. Drugs like most opiates will of disappeared from the urine within 3 - 7 days, in some cases as low as 3 days. marijuan_ will show a positive reading for up to a month, that one causes the biggest dismissals. heroi_ funnily enough has a very short half life and can be gone from the urine in as little as 12 hours.

That's pretty harsh. One place I worked allowed 2 or 3 positives in 12 months. First strike got you put on a management plan. Off work until the level reduced to zero, on sick leave if you had it, then the management plan. Interesting story of one guy with heaps of sick leave. His levels keep going up when he came in for his weekly test during the initial period. He had plenty of sick leave.

Legend says the introduction of drug testing turned a workforce of pot smokers in to heroi_ users, due to the clearance times. Funny having 40+ degree heat in summer and people still arriving at work in jumpers.

 

[erkpod]

Until recently, alcohol limit was 0.02. It is now 0.00. I have heard of people with very high readings losing their job & winning it back on appeal.

We have random alcohol & drug testing. For years, the union has been fighting for swab tests rather than urine without success. If it's ok for a motorist to have a swab test, why do I need to pee into a cup?

 

[erkpod]

I didn't say it only showed 4 cars. I said someone told it there was only four cars. Just assuming that there is some kind of weight sensor to work out passenger numbers and trying to think of a reason it'd heavier that it thinks it should be, by that much.

It was strange. Each 4 car block was showing around 3000 pax. Especially on the older trains, you can feel the difference between a peak train & an off peak train. This train felt off peak.

A lot of it has to do with the suspension. On the older trains, there are load compensators & levelling valves. There's probably an electronic version on a newer train with a 4 letter acronym that I can't think of right now.

Normally you can see the numbers going up and/or down when stopped at a station, mainly the larger ones.

I haven't seen enough people move between the 2 halves in between stations to see the figures greatly change while on the move.