Horseplay

There is probably at least one on every job – the practical joker. The smart aleck who likes to make a bid for laughs and attention by playing jokes on his fellow workers. He thinks horseplay is funny and clever.  Unfortunately, he can usually find a few fellow employees unwise enough to encourage him.

Actually, this joker is as dangerous as a broken ladder or a defective circular saw blade guard.  His horseplay is a hazard to all fellow employees who are trying to mind their own business and do their jobs well.  His foolishness should not be tolerated.  Such acts as tripping, pushing, throwing tools or other objects, the “hot foot” and so on, have no place on a construction job.

On one job a worker lost an eye because someone thought it was funny to throw something at him from some distance away. Fooling around with air hoses has caused many cases of ruptured eardrums or ruptured bowels.

Horseplay that results in injury could result in civil action and/or criminal prosecution.  The courts have held that these injuries are not the result of an accident but a deliberate act.