No Room for Complacency
July 1st, 2004 by Hal
Work Injury Free
A Portland, Maine landscape construction worker died. He was sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck. The tailgate gave way. He hit his head. Three days later he died. OSHA fined the company $3,550 for contributing to an unsafe work setting. [See story] My first reaction was You gotta be kiddin'! But I wasn't there. I don't know the conditions of the work site. I've learned OSHA is quite deliberate in assessing fines. How could this have happened?
Here's one theory. [Remember, I don't know the specific circumstances.] I call it a confluence of unsafe conditions. When one unsafe condition is present with another, and another, and … then you have a site that is ready for an accident. The frayed extension cord, in the presence of an 8-foot ladder, next to a few pieces of extra rebar can be a deadly setting. Each one is rather benign. Taken together we can imagine a situation where a brief interruption in power could result in a jerk on the power cord which comes in contact with the ladder sending the worker falling onto the rebar. Far-fetched? Not at all.
Our complacency is the leading contributor to construction worker injuries. We can't let there be rebar lying around. We can't have a worker on an 8-foot ladder unattended. We can't have frayed power cords on our worksites. Yet, too often we tolerate each one of these problems. None may be a threat, but taken together they contribute to 3 deaths everyday.
Next time you're on a job site look for the "little things". Stop. Do something to remove the hazard. There is a child somewhere expecting a parent to come home. Do your part to see that the worker does go home.
Read Safety Everyday's construction safety in the news sideblog.
Related Posts
- Checking In — About to Become Sport I suspect we've all had the experience of attending meetings where there wasn't full participation of those in attendanc...
- Projects at Home I'm doing a small construction project with my three sons. It started when we tore out some really bad looking 40 year-...
- John L. Henshaw Defends OSHA In today's Washington Post John Henshaw Director of OSHA writes, OHSA's Work Defended. He was repsonding to a cover st...
- IGLC-14 Underway I am sitting in the back of the room at a hotel in Santiago, Chile while authors of peer-reviewed IGLC papers get their ...
- Did BW Get it Wrong about Toyota? Is Toyota paranoid? They are according to BW. Staying Paranoid at Toyota, BW July 2, 2007 claims Toyota has become pa...
