Always Consider the Downside – 08/17/2020

Safety E-QuickTips

U.S. Compliance Systems, Inc.

Monday, Aug 17, 2020

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Always Consider The Downside Over the years I’ve come to understand that workplace accidents can be predicted. I say this because the stories I’ve heard over more than 25 years representing employers with OSHA make it clear that when employees work in unsafe ways day after day, an accident will happen. If you’ve read Safety E-QuickTips over the years you’ve seen mentioned more than a time or two, “I’ve done it this way for the past XX years, and nothing has happened to me yet.”

When employees have this belief and the companies they work for accept it, accidents will happen and employees will be injured, even killed. You see, when employees make this type of statement, they forget to mention how many close calls they’ve had over the years by performing their work in an unsafe manner. You know what I’m talking about. Remember the times you or someone you know were on a ladder and needed to reach just a little farther to the right, so you hopped the ladder to the right or leaned as far to the right as you possibly could, but the ladder went farther than you wanted, and you almost went over? Or, the time you shut the safety device off or removed it from the piece of equipment you were operating, and you almost got your hand caught in it? Maybe it was one of those times you decided not to clean up a spill only to have another employee slip and catch themselves just before they fell.

I could go on, but I’m sure you can come up with a few of your own close calls over the years that could have ended in disaster except you or someone else came through it without injury. What you need to understand and remember as you start work each day is that these near miss situations are telling you something and that is the next time things might not turn out so well. Accidents are predictable. If you perform your work in an unsafe way, the odds are something bad might happen. So, please always consider the downside before you commit to performing your work in an unsafe manner. It could save your life or the life of another.

Have you received your first Safety E-QuickTip or just want to look at 300+ past issues? Check out our Safety E-QuickTips Archive Page on our website.

If you know of someone or a company that might benefit from receiving Safety E-QuickTips, please take a moment to share this with them so they can sign-up today.

Thanks for Reading and Please – Stay Healthy and Work Safe This Week!