No Trends in Safety

"Success is a lousy teacher. It makes you think you know what you're doing." - Bill Gates

A few years ago I was asked to spend some time with a company that had recently fired its safety manager.  For two years or more the guy had simply been marking time, taking credit for other’s work.  One of the first things we did was to implement a policy of the workers wearing safety glasses.

A manager of one manufacturing department told several of his people that they did not have to wear glasses because they had never had an eye injury.  He prepared a very impressive spreadsheet for me to demonstrate that they had not had an eye injury in the past few years.  That is very nice, but completely meaningless.

Injuries are not like horse races – history is absolutely no predictor of the future.

The four levels of protection from hazards is the subject of another article, but most agree that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is effective.  Bulky, hot, uncomfortable, possibly.  But effective in protecting the various body part which are commonly exposed to danger.

A vehicle seatbelt is probably the best example of PPE we wear daily.  I had driven for over 20 years before manufacturers began installing seatbelts as standard equipment.  When the government began mandating that we actually wear them, many grumbled about how they were restricting, uncomfortable, etc.  I would venture that most of you know at least one person who has had a car accident where injury was minimized or death prevented by the seatbelt.

But it never had before.  Like Mr. Gates said, not being hurt made many think they knew what they were doing.  Make sure you and your workers are protected the first time something happens.  Their family is waiting for them at the end of the day.

See our Web site: SafetyRich