But It Wasn’t Going To End The Typical – 06/15/2020

Safety E-QuickTips

U.S. Compliance Systems, Inc.

Monday, June 15, 2020

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But It Wasn’t Going To End The Typical Way

Jack was a carpenter.He had been in the trade for close to 25 years and he was very good at his job.He had a family with 2 children and one of them was in their senior year of high school and was heading off to college in the fall. Something he was very proud of.

During his 20+ years in the trades he had seen a lot and had been a part of hundreds of projects from small commercial projects to large industrial projects.

It started out a typical workday as he headed out the door with his coffee in hand for his 20 minute drive to the project.

But it wasn’t going to end the typical way.

Jack was one of those guys who always arrived early to work so he could have a little time to get ready for the day.Part of that was to make sure he had everything he needed to get the job done efficiently and in a safe manner.

Yes, when it came to doing a job, Jack always took safety into consideration because over the years he had seen how shortcutting safety often ended in a bad way.

This was a larger project that spanned over 50 acres and today Jack would be working off in the far west corner of the project.He knew he would need to make sure he had everything he needed to get the job done because, if he didn’t, the trip back to where all the equipment was stored would be a long one.

Like he had done every workday over the years, he reviewed everything he would be doing that day to make sure he had all the right equipment to get the job done.

The day went off without a hitch until just about a half hour before quitting time. His foreman came over to where he was working and told him that some bad weather was moving in tonight so he needed him to secure a second story area with some plywood.

When he got over to the area he was going to be enclosing, he realized that his ladder may not be tall enough for him to secure the plywood safely. Since it was close to the end of the day and it would take some time to get a taller ladder or an aerial lift, he decided to try it anyway.

As he climbed up the ladder, he realized that this was not a good idea. But for the sake of time he continued anyway.It was only when he stepped up on the top rung of the ladder and he felt the ladder slipping away below his feet that he realized how bad an idea this really was.

Jack spent a week in the hospital and over 12 weeks recovering from the fall, but I’m glad to say he was able to see his daughter off to college in the fall.

The moral of this story is that you can’t work in a safe manner 99.9% of the time.It must be 100% or you might find yourself laid up in a hospital or even worse.

Work safe this week, right up to the end of each day. 

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Thanks for Reading and Please – Stay Healthy, Stay at Home When You Can, and/or Work Safe This Week