We Will Take the Time to Execute Work Safely
No one comes to work with the intention of getting injured. Injuries, even relatively minor ones, can have a huge negative impact on our lives and the lives of those who love us. First, injuries are painful and can be debilitating or even fatal. Second, an injury affects your ability to do the things you need and want to do, like making a living or enjoying your family.
The beliefs that injuries “just happen” or that they are just “part of the job” are not acceptable nor are they true. In fact, harboring these false assumptions will only promote the tolerance of accepting avoidable risk and will eventually lead to yet more injuries. The fact is, an injury is the final, though unexpected and undesired, outcome of a series of actions, or inactions that allowed or contributed to it. Do you feel that it is not within your control to prevent an injury? That is like saying that your actions in the hours, minutes, and seconds that led up to it are also out of your control. Incidents do not just happen! Experience tells us that poor decisions and tolerance of avoidable risk create an environment where factors align themselves making injuries almost inevitable.
It’s great to be a “go getter” on the job. But, safe work execution requires thought, hazard recognition, good planning, and taking the time to do things correctly and according to procedures. If you neglect proper hazard recognition, cut a corner, or ignore a safety rule to save time, you are opening the door wide to an incident and injury. Remember, a job is never done well if it isn’t done safely. Never allow anyone, especially yourself, to create an atmosphere of rushing a job. When you start sensing that the job is running you and that your actions are becoming reactionary, it is time to take a deep breath, step back, and refocus. Let’s face it; have you ever seen anything slow a job down more than to have someone get injured?
We need to focus on productivity, but always at a safe pace. Otherwise you may have plenty of time to regret the consequences of rushing.