What Do You Mean It’s Broken – 9/5/23

Safety E-Quick Tip

OWYN Safety Mgmt Platform

What Do You Mean It’s Broken

Why is it that companies and their employees don’t take the time to find and fix hazards in the workplace before there’s an accident?

Before I answer that I’d like you to think about this.

Say you found out that the temperature was going to drop last night, so you turned your furnace on for the first time and found it didn’t work.

Then, you go out to start your car this morning to go to work and it wouldn’t start.

And when things couldn’t get any worse, when you walk in from having your car fixed, you find water dripping from your living room ceiling onto your favorite chair. The water is coming from a leak in your roof.

You’re probably thinking, “Ugh! I need to start looking for problems around here and get them fixed before I have another day like this.”

 But what if:

• You had an HVAC company do annual inspections every year and they found an issue that would have prevented your furnace from working.
• You had your car in for service and during their inspection they found your battery needed to be replaced so your car started today.
• While you were cleaning leaves out of your gutters you noticed a couple of shingles missing, so you called a roofing company to do the repairs resulting in no leak.

Now what are you thinking?

You’re probably thinking about everything else in your life because nothing went wrong. Right?

When it comes to workplace safety, we tend to think the same way.

If a serious accident takes place on the job, everyone has a heightened awareness for safety and they do a little extra to keep things safe, at least for a week or so.

Then as time goes by, if there are no other serious accidents, everyone goes back to our old ways – until the next time.

So, why is it that companies and their employees don’t take the time to find and fix hazards in the workplace before there’s an accident?

Because without seeing an issue once in a while (a serious accident), we don’t see the problem.

How can you fix this?  You perform regular and frequent safety inspections – find the hazards. Then you fix them before there’s another accident.

Because if you don’t, there will be another accident – one that could have easily been prevented just like the furnace you needed to work when it was cold outside.

Employee QuickTip

Your safety is up to you.  Making sure your workplace is safe is not just up to the company, it’s your job.

Look around and make sure you do what’s necessary to protect you and your coworkers every day.

Employer/Management QuickTip

Most accidents can easily be prevented with a simple find and fix approach.

Although it’s always a good idea to document safety inspections and how things are fixed, don’t let that get in the way of eliminating hazards when you see them.  Fix the problem now and if possible, document it later.

But at a minimum – Just Fix It!

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Thanks for Reading and Please – Work Safe This Week!