It’s Up To Us!
1/13/2020
Recently, I went to a political rally. It was the first time I ever attended such an event. Who was the featured candidate? Not important. Just that after all my years of seeing political rallies on television, I felt it was time to see what really goes on at such venues. And when the evening concluded, I knew one thing for certain; that is, those pollical rallies back in the 1960’s and 70’s do not come close to what goes on today. I mean, I don’t think I would be out of line if I believed that the music in those “black and white” days consisted of such stuff as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “When Johnny Comes Marchin’ Home Again.” Today, DJ’s begin the evening and soon having everyone out of their chairs and on their feet. I mean people were shakin’ and having a good time (of course no alcohol or other refreshments were served).
OK, I know I’m getting a little off track. The reason for this SafetyShare is not to talk politics but rather to communicate an incident – quite a small incident at that – that occurred as we (that is, my wife and I) were ready to go into the rally, which was held at a high school gymnasium.
As one can imagine, these days, anything where there are large gatherings of people in public places, security is “a must.” So, everyone had to go through a metal detector and place personal items on a tray for examination. And, just like the airlines, flammable materials and ignition sources, such as cigarette lighters, cannot be taken inside. As it turns out, the guy that was in front of us, had a butane lighter and, as he verbally berated himself (to us), it was kind of an expensive lighter.
“I knew I shouldn’t have brought this with me. I know that they always check these things out.”
Obviously, we’re talking about a veteran of political rallies. And after our ensuing and albeit, brief conversation, it was apparent that this guy belonged that elite group of people commonly referred to as political junkies.
Of course, he then proceeded to tell us (or really my wife) his life story. As he explained, his parents both passed away some time ago. One parent, he explained, died from lung cancer as a result of being a heavy smoker. He then said that he became an orphan at age 32. The pressure he felt was so great that he decided that only way he could hope with life was to start smoking, himself.
This incident kind of reminds me of a time when I worked at the Hanford DOE site and a few radiological control technicians were talking at me (yes, I did say, “talking AT me”) with raised voices, articulating their concern of being exposed to beryllium due to the project they were assigned to was categorized as a beryllium site. They were a notch or two below the point of yelling at me as they did not think they were being properly protected and they had a concern for their health – all this said to me with an impassioned plea while each one had a cigarette dangling from their respective lips.
The point is, we can enact laws that institute comprehensive health care; however, at some point, we, as individuals, need to take an active role in our own health. As we have all heard too often, that for a healthier life and to reduce our risk to certain illnesses, eating right, regular exercise and abandoning some habits are essential. I’m not saying we all need to run off to a 24-Hour Fitness Center and buy a lifetime membership. Or, even to train for a marathon or to become a vegetarian and to meditate twice a day chanting AUM while burning incense. However, rather than rely on something outside of ourselves to keep us healthy, we do have the ability to take control of many aspects of our lives.
And this same concept can be applied to workplace S&H. While such organizations as OSHA can promulgate standards that mandate employers to develop programs or enact specific processes (such as lockout/tagout and confined space practices), these are no guarantee that workers will be protected. After all, people still enter confined spaces without properly monitoring the air or decide they can bypass an electrical circuit to perform maintenance without taking the time to shutting equipment off. “After all, it will just take a second!” Yes, famous last works.
If one may recall, last weeks’ SafetyShare was a presentation about the top ten OSHA regulations for which companies received citations. And it seems that this list has been quite consistent over the past few years. Hazard communications, fall hazards, LOTO, powered industrial trucks (aka forklifts), etc., remain a problem in the workplace. One would think that after a few years, the message would get through. And while some of the violations were a lack of written programs, the majority of these S&H infractions were based on improper operations as well as not following the written protocol.
The point is, an integrated work document or job hazard analysis or even a safety and health plan are merely words written on a piece of paper. For any workplace to truly be a safe and healthful environment, it comes down to us – those out in the field – to work within the controls and if we see something that doesn’t look right, stop and talk it over with a coworker. If our concern cannot be addressed with an appropriate remedy, then it is time to pause work and find a solution. And while this may possibly take considerable downtime where productivity halts, imagine how much time would be lost should a fellow employee suffer an injury? The bottom line is this: all too often when a workplace incident occurs, after we look back at the event, we can see that at least one of us had the opportunity to do something. We are truly empowered to make a difference.
A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks