The internet is full of hilarious images and videos of people doing ‘safety’ completely wrong. You know who we are talking about… These welders that use plastic bags as face shields, carpenters that use their mates’ backs as workbenches or electricians who use just about anything to climb and reach a faulty cable… Yes, we are talking about these guys and gals (super rare because they’re actually smart)!
But what is it about these images and clips that makes them so funny to us? Is it the lack of common sense? The little regard for safety? The wrong and ridiculous scenarios captured? How silly and thoughtless we think these individuals are?
Maybe it is one of these questions where you tick “All of the above”?
After all, the second rule of the Darwin Awards is “Excellence” through an astounding misapplication of judgement.
But, you know what else makes it so easy for us to laugh at these scenarios? Their remoteness.
It’s always another country, another culture, another state, another company, another store, another warehouse, another street… It’s Allan the tradie, it’s Ross the plumber, it’s Julia the neighbour… it’s THERE… it’s not here… so it’s just as good as any other comedy – until it hits home. And we are all mature, responsible and smart adults, and surely these things could never happen to us – until they do. Maybe not to these extremes… Maybe not with these consequences… but the point remains.
Another aspect of these images that makes them so comical to us, is that they often don’t show blood, lacerations, broken bones, empty eye sockets or missing limbs… All we see is someone doing something very unsafe and extremely silly.
Behind each one of these scenarios there is a story. And often the story involves a company that did not provide employees with any suitable tools, training on safety and risk management or PPE. Alternatively they made them undertake risky and unsupervised activities in order to get the job done quickly and cheaply, with the likelihood that their employees were underpaid as well!
They also often involve funerals, spouses telling their kids why mum and dad won’t be coming home and individuals dealing with lifelong disabilities and excruciating pains…
Finally these stories involve criminal charges, massive fines, imprisonments and more.
While we strongly agree that laws, regulations, standards and codes of practice are all very important in regard to safety and risk management, the long pages of information can be boring and dry as a desert. And one picture is often better than a thousand words! So, this is why in our new series ‘Things That Shouldn’t Be Happening In 2022’ we will look at various work scenarios through the “What if” eye of the Law and make references to how they fit within and help us all better understand the CoR SMS, the ISO 45001:2018 Standard and the ALC Codes of Practice.
Let’s do this!
In this series you will learn about our human resources management software, document management system, electronic forms and signatures, road maps, timesheets, audits, Risks & Opportunities, Quality Objectives and more.
Speak to our team today to see how we can implement safety management into your company.
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