What’s Wrong With This Picture? – 6/13/22

Safety E-QuickTips

U.S. Compliance Systems, Inc.

Monday Jun 13, 2022

What’s Wrong With This Picture

Here’s a blast from the past, the year 2013, that I’m sorry to say still holds true today.

Have you ever walked into a facility where a sign posted read, “Safety Glasses Required Beyond This Point” and you only saw a few people, if any, wearing eye protection? Or how about a construction site where the sign at the entrance read, “Hard Hats Required Beyond This Point,” but few if any were wearing their hard hats?

Well, as a safety consultant I can tell you that I often found myself walking into shop areas or construction sites where these postings are ignored by employees and not enforced by the employers.

So, let me ask what’s wrong with this picture, or should I say these postings?

Before you answer that, let’s review these 3 questions:

• 1.Why would any employer feel that they should post a specific safety requirement and then not require their employees to follow it? Some of the reasons I have heard for the postings are:

·They thought it would let their employees know they were serious about safety.

·Someone told them the postings were required by OSHA.

·The postings had been in place for years and no one is exactly sure why they are in place.

• 2.Why would any employee not take the safety posting seriously and make sure they followed all posted safety requirements? The reasons I’ve heard from employees on this one are:

·I don’t need a poster to tell me how to be safe.

·No one ever told me that I had to comply with the postings.

·Why should I comply? No one in management does.

• 3.Is there any value in posting safety requirements that no one must follow?
• ·The answer to this question is simple: no! In fact, by posting a safety requirement and not requiring employees to comply, most would assume that the employer never took the potential hazard seriously in the first place. Not to mention that this situation could lead to OSHA citations and possible liability issues should there be an accident.

So, let me ask one more time, what’s wrong with this picture, or should I say these postings?

If you answered “everything,” that just about sums it up. There is no way an employer or an employee can justify not complying with any safety posting requirements. If an employee or the employer finds there is no justification for the posting then it should be removed, eliminating the need for anyone to comply with it.

Employee QuickTip

If you see a posting that says you should do something to protect yourself from a hazard at your worksite, the smart thing to do is comply, even if it’s a little uncomfortable, you don’t look good, or others aren’t doing it.

Employer/Management QuickTip

Safety requirement posters are a great way to inform employees of a hazard in the workplace, but for them to have real value everyone, including management, needs to abide by them.

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Thanks for Reading and Please – Stay Healthy and Work Safe.