Let’s Be Honest…

What is your first physical response when you see a police car behind you? You look at the speedometer and let off the gas, even if you’re not speeding. Chances are, your heart probably will start to race a little until you see the officer pass by you.

Or how about you answer this question, honestly of course. Cell phones while driving, do you still use it when you are driving, or at that traffic light that seems to take FOREVER… really quick, respond to that missed text or found yourself sucked into the abyss of scrolling through your news feed until you realize you are now sitting at a green light.

Drinking and driving, I am not talking about slamming a 30 pack and getting into your car. I am talking about a couple glasses of wine over dinner, you drive home. Have you done it? Be honest…

What are your thoughts on these laws, speeding, cell phones maybe even the seatbelt? I am sure most of us think they are great, because why? They help to keep us safe while we’re on the road.

Have you ever wondered why or what caused these basic and very common laws to actually become “a thing”? Most likely it had to do with accidents, injuries or even worse, a death and a lot of them! Have you ever been honest with yourself about why you don’t just blow past a cop with a complete disregard for the speed limit? You don’t want a ticket.

If we are honest with ourselves, we all believe we are in control doing 80-85 mph on the freeway, or after a glass of wine or a couple beers after work. Most of us think a lot of ourselves and our capabilities. We have some sort of ego driven thought process, nothing will happen to me, if we are being honest.

I will never forget as a new Deputy Sheriff very early in my Law Enforcement career I was working in the jail, in comes this woman maybe in her early 20’s she was not the typical person you’d think would walk through intake in handcuffs. She was clean, cute outfit on, pretty, educated and vacillating between hysteria and shock. She had just been arrested for the first time in her life for a DUI. Like many of us have done, she went to happy hour after work with some of her coworkers. Unbeknownst to her this would forever change the trajectory of her life. A motorcycle slammed into her car and ultimately that driver passed away. Her charges grew from a DUI into manslaughter.

I raise these questions and share that very relatable story because it’s easy for me to corollate safety in policing to safety on construction sites in my own brain, my goal in all of this is to help you do the same.

Why do we as a society need to wait for something catastrophic to happen before we do something? Why do we take good days or accident-free days for granted, and shocked when something tragic happens? Why do we rest on the ever-powerful subconscious thought, “it won’t happen to me”? Until “it” does.

To me and many other safety professionals, along with human beings who have common sense and reasoning skills with zero safety or construction background. If you see a person on a 10-foot ladder framing a wall and a 2-foot steel blade PAINTED orange (sometimes) below this person on a ladder sticking out of the concrete vertically, chances are they would be seriously hurt if not killed if they were to fall.

Here is another scenario, same situation as above. You are the owner of the construction company or the safety manager or consultant for a massive homebuilder that this person is working for. You personally worked so hard to start your own business to support your family, or went to college, hours upon hours of training and certification classes to advise business owners on liability and construction site safety and how to avoid accidents, these people have depended on you and your skill set. Your family is depending on you to provide basic needs, in each of the scenarios I laid out.

Now you are paying out the nose for court litigation costs, OHSA fines because, let’s face it, this was your responsibility to provide a safe work environment. How much time is it going to take you to recoup this money spent, that is if you even can. We have all heard the saying “sh@t rolls downhill” for those who were hired to prevent this sort of accident from happening. Let me tell you, orange paint on the sharp tip of this blade is not going to prevent an impalement or a laceration Capt. Obvious!

The entire purpose of this post is to bring awareness and vigilance to an industry that is so needed. This is a double-edged sword, a no winner at the end of the day situation that can so easily be prevented by a little forward thinking.

A couple hundred dollars up front can save a life, your business, your career and several hundred thousand dollars if or when an accident happens. Why not be prepared?

At the end of the day, if you are that caring of a person who just has a heart for your employees and doing the right thing or you are the person that just wants to avoid the fines and disgruntled about a new cost, it all has the same end result. Protect yourself, protect your business and career and protect your employees.